Updated August 2023
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) released in January, 2023 a Plan of Action to its membership as a framework for continuous intentional focus on positive behaviors associated with interscholastic athletics. The MPSSAA believes the ultimate indicator of the value of school athletic programs must be the level of citizenship displayed by those who participate. The current MPSSAA Respect the Game initiative, which began as a student-led task force, focuses on the importance of all individuals associated with education-based athletics doing their part to promote good sportsmanship.
This document is an update on the actions that have been taken by the MPSSAA Sportsmanship Committee. It focuses on state and local educational agency expectations, implementing a data driven focus on enhancing sportsmanship through the state and local educational agency expectations, and defining egregious conduct that will result in additional penalties for ejections during any regional or state tournament.
MPSSAA Sportsmanship Expectations
The MPSSAA Sportsmanship Action Plan has established three pillars as the basis for statewide expectations to provide a standard of sportsmanship. The three pillars are Creating Welcoming Environments, Respect, and Accountability for Actions. Under these three pillars, school-based athletic administrators can focus efforts on embracing a positive culture for the management of contests and the conduct of their school’s athletic community.
Creating Welcoming Environments
Welcoming environments are created by the actions of both the home and visiting teams. High school coaches and athletic administrators can create these welcoming environments by identifying space that exists when teaching overall respect while maintaining a high-level competitive drive. Examples include:
- Administrators or student led athletic leadership groups welcoming officials, teams, visiting spectators.
- Appropriate dialogue between coaches, officials, and competitors.
- Respect for the hosting school, taking the playing surface with determination, but not crossing the line of respect by stomping on logos, leaving trash, tape, or other items for others to pick up, and reframing from taunting spectators.
- Clearly define to spectators that admission or entrance to the facility does not provide the right to verbally taunt, bait, attack, or discredit players, coaches, and officials. Such actions should result in removal from the facility.
- Maintain professionalism for game announcing and music.
Respect
The MPSSAA interscholastic athletic community of administrators, coaches, officials, student-athletes, parents, and community supporters are all intertwined as quintessential components that enable the very existence and longevity of these valuable programs. Effective communication and working relationships between all members of the interscholastic athletic community shall be driven by Respect for all.
Examples of ways the interscholastic athletic community can contribute to enhancing sportsmanship include:
- Respecting the decisions made by coaches regarding team selection, playing time and game strategy.
- Respect the calls made by the officials. You do not have to agree with them, but you must respect them.
- Remember that everyone involved in athletics wants to provide the student-athletes with the best experience possible.
- The timing and demeanor of communication is important. Communication when emotions are high usually doesn’t end well. Consider this when concerns need to be brought to the attention of the coach. Follow the chain of command.
- Step 1: Student-athlete to coach
- Step 2: Parent/guardian to coach (24-hour rule)
- Step 3: Parent/guardian to AD/Administration
- Communication with the officials must be through the head coach.
- The officials need to focus on the safety of the game not comments coming from the sideline or stands.
- Each season the MPSSAA designates an Officials Appreciation Week. During this week, all participants in High School athletics are encouraged to show their appreciation to our officials. A simple “thank you” and a handshake goes a long way!
- Greet and provide support for opponents and their fans.
- Administrators, including principal and athletic directors, must address egregious behavior (violent conduct such as fighting, vulgar profane language, spitting, insulting/abusive language and gestures, racial language and gestures, physical or verbal personal attacks towards an officials) with stern consequences.
Accountability for Actions
High school sports are rooted in the principles of education-based athletics, creating important life lessons through participation in sport. This requires our communities of coaches, parents, fans, officials, and administrators to emphasize the development of the whole student-athlete over the wins and losses. Modeling ethical decision making, and fair play is important to this process. All entities need to understand ramifications of actions, including those in authority positions to hold all individuals accountable for their actions. Examples include:
- Manage the score.
- A win is a win whether it is by one or ten. Celebrate your team’s success and the efforts of all student-athletes involved.
- Display good sportsmanship through the respect of others.
- Support a positive social media presence.
- Use social media to celebrate sport and the efforts of those involved.
- Understand and enforce all rules (NFHS, MPSSAA, and local)
- Rules are intended to keep participants safe on and off the field. All participants need to know, follow, and be held accountable for the rules both on and off the playing surface.
- Hold your students and coaching staff accountable for their actions and address egregious behavior (violent conduct such as fighting, vulgar profane language, spitting, insulting/abusive language and gestures, racial language and gestures, physical or verbal personal attacks towards an officials) with stern consequences.
The MPSSAA is working with local educational agencies on student-led initiatives, video presentations, and ways to deliver these three pillars of statewide sportsmanship expectations.
MPSSAA Sportsmanship Data Driven Focus
The MPSSAA is releasing a data driven focus to enhance sportsmanship and provide raw feedback to athletic administrators and local educational agencies. The MPSSAA has set up an athletic director, coach, and official reporting mechanisms to rate their experience when hosting a contest/event, visiting another school, or officiating a contest. The following criteria will be used by all entities.
Ranking of the Welcoming Environment Created
Welcoming environment is the actions of all entities to create a respectful area that values education principles while sustaining competitive experiences. Expectations include:
- A positive environment is created by:
- The visiting team by being respectful of the hosting school facilities, warming up in a positive manner, and creating a welcoming environment conducive to fair and safe participation. The visiting team cleans up after themselves and leaves the facility in the same condition as they arrived.
- The home school supplies designated parking, someone to greet the visiting team and officials, point person if issues occur, handling of any issues if they were to occur, and post-game plan or escort to vehicle.
- A negative environment is created by actions of the either team through taunting, baiting, or gestures towards the team/spectators.
- Visiting teams’ actions of stomping on the home team's logo and being all around disrespectful of the school facilities they are visiting.
- The host school had a significant amount of cleanup of the visiting team area after the game. The home school did not provide a post-game plan or failed to handle issues that occurred.
Ranking of the Professionalism and Appropriateness of the Public Address Announcing and Music
The professionalism and appropriateness of the public address system and music displayed set the tone for the attitudes, emotions, and overall level of respect for both teams competing. Expectations include:
- Public address announcements that highlight and respect the achievements of both teams, is reflective of adhering to the messages delivered in pregame sportsmanship announcements and does not belittle teams or students.
- Music is appropriate and does not contain any offensive language, innuendos, and played at appropriate times.
- Music and PA are not amplified to create a competitive advantage.
Ranking of the Decorum of Head Coaches
- A higher score reflects the head coach always had control of his/her team including the actions of assistant coaches, addressed unsportsmanlike plays and actions immediately, agreed or disagreed with officials’ decisions in a respectful manner, and utilizes their position to create a positive experience for all participants and officials.
- A lower score would reflect a head coach that was out of control, lacked control of players and assistant coaches, constantly dissenting or provocative physical displays of officials’ decisions, used disrespectful language and decorum, and did not address unsportsmanlike behavior. A lower score would also reflect a head coach running up the score on its opposition.
Ranking of the Decorum of Assistant Coaches
- A higher score reflects the coaching staff that displays proper decorum, agrees or disagrees with officials’ decisions in a respectful manner, only addresses officials through the head coach, and utilizes their position to create a positive experience for all participants and officials.
- A lower score would reflect a home coaching staff that was out of control, constantly dissenting or provocative physical displays of officials’ decisions, disrespectful language and decorum.
Ranking of the Decorum of Student-Athletes
- A higher score reflects the home participants demonstrating a high level of moral character, sportsmanship, and winning with humility while losing with grace.
- A lower score reflects the home participants demonstrating a low level of moral character, degrading the opposition, constantly dissenting officials’ decisions, and using inappropriate language or actions.
Ranking of the Decorum of Spectators
- A higher score reflects the spectators demonstrating a high level of moral character, sportsmanship, and supporting a positive experience for all participants and officials.
- A lower score reflects the spectators demonstrating a low level of moral character, degrading the opposition, constantly dissenting officials’ decisions, and using inappropriate language or chants.
Ranking the overall experience of the teams and officials.
When schools and officials leave the facility, what was their overall experience. All schools should strive to create an overall positive experience that wants all entities of the interscholastic athletics community wanting to come back for more events and contests.
Overall positive experiences will continue to grow a positive school culture, will encourage current student athletes to enter professions of high school coaching, athletic administration, and officiating, and drastically increase coaching and official retention.
MPSSAA Enhances Enforcement Mechanism for Misconduct Detrimental to the Tournament
At the start of all regional and state tournaments, any ejection from a contest or event results in misconduct detrimental to the tournament. The MPSSAA has established criteria based on definitions of egregious behavior that will be used during the regional and state tournaments to elevate any ejections under this category to a minimum of two contest disqualification from the current state tournament, next sport season, or the succeeding year’s tournament based on the circumstances of the situation (Example of student whose team loses the first round of the next season.
Egregious behavior is being defined as:
- Fighting;
- Physical or verbal personal attacks directed towards an official, coach, student-athlete, spectator, or school personnel;
- Use of racial, ethnic, homophobic or other derogatory or discriminatory language, slurs or practices.
Local educational agencies will be expected to note the severity of the official’s report during the post season. These additional penalties should not replace local educational agency actions. Interscholastic athletics are educational based programs that are an extension of the school day. It is the opinion of the MPSSAA that actions inconsistent with the school’s vision should be dealt with in a similar fashion as if the actions occurred during the course of a normal school day.
Local educational agencies are encouraged to provide restorative educational opportunities for individuals and/or teams who may be impacted by instances of egregious behavior and/or misconduct detrimental to the tournament. Individuals and/or teams are expected to comply and participate in restorative practices, aligned with the values and mission of education-based athletics.
The MPSSAA encourages all local educational agencies to adopt similar responses to egregious behavior during the regular season. It is important to note when researching counterpart state association regulations that those states have policies ranging from two to 30% of contests in a season (20 Basketball game regular season would result in a 6-game suspension) for actions of fighting. Curbing such actions during the regular season will only aid in creating a positive atmosphere during higher emotions of state playoffs.
MPSSAA Sportsmanship Committee Releases Plan of Action
Released: January 2023
The Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association (MPSSAA) has released a Plan of Action to its membership as a framework for continuous intentional focus on positive behaviors associated with interscholastic athletics. The MPSSAA believes the ultimate indicator of the value of school athletic programs must be the level of citizenship displayed by those who participate. The current MPSSAA Respect the Game initiative, which began as a student-led task force, focuses on the importance of all individuals associated with education-based athletics doing their part to promote good sportsmanship.
Continuous and intentional actions by all members of the education-based athletic community must be taken to persevere and protect the competitive opportunities of each generation of student participants. The MPSSAA believes taking a more proactive approach and stronger stance on sportsmanship is critical for the future operations and sustainability of interscholastic athletics in Maryland.
Ramifications of Inaction?
These are the facts . . .
Shortage of Officials
- Shortage of officials across the state and country due to inappropriate coach, student-athlete, parent/guardian and fan behavior directed toward them.
- The profession is shrinking to levels that can no longer sustain demand, forcing contests to alternative dates, times and locations and sometimes without a full officiating crew.
- Officials are crucial to the continuity of interscholastic athletic programs and sustaining the integrity of competition.
Coaching Practices Not Aligned with Education-Based Athletics
- Failure to model and promote sportsmanship prior to, during, and after competitions.
- Increase in inappropriate behavior after wins and losses - failing to win with humility and lose with grace.
- Failure to demonstrate appropriate handling of adversity in an athletic environment.
- Lack of respect towards opponents - running up scores, demoralizing defeats, focusing on winning and individual statistics only.
Unwelcoming Environments
- Continued reports of racial slurs and discriminatory practices connected with interscholastic athletics.
- Increase in inflammatory social media posts.
- Student sections focused on disrupting the opposing team instead of supporting their own team.
- Athletic competitions being moved to alternative times and locations due to crowd-related concerns.
Decrease in Coaches
- Lack of respect from student-athletes and parents/guardians.
- Parents/guardians regularly question their decision making.
- Lack of respect from opponents - running up scores, questionable coaching practices, focus on winning only.
- Frustration with “win at all cost” actions.
Immediate Action
The MPSSAA Sportsmanship Committee will support local educational agencies in the following:
High school athletics are inherently education-based so we need to TEACH and to find new innovative ways to promote and model good sportsmanship. We cannot forget about and must reward all the “GOOD” (which far outweighs all the ``bad'') that is happening throughout our state. We need to move toward a “zero tolerance” approach to poor sportsmanship. High school athletics are 100% optional extracurricular activities, and the privilege to participate or attend may be taken away from those who cannot demonstrate proper sportsmanship and/or basic civility on the field or in the stands.
Proactive Measures
- Developing new and relevant educational resources for member schools, coaches, student-athletes, parents/guardians and fans.
- Continue Fall, Winter and Spring Officials Appreciation Weeks.
Reward Focuses
- “Catch ‘em being good” approach to sportsmanship.
- Increasing recognition of good sportsmanship at both the county and state level.
Enforcement Mechanisms
- Moving towards a ZERO TOLERANCE approach to student-athlete, coach, fan and parent/guardian discipline.
- Examining and instituting additional sport-specific coaching rules which align with education-based athletics.
Resources