| February 26, 2007 | Volume 82, Number 9 | |
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Poor sportsmanshipOnce again an outraged parent has besmirched a school athletic event and has demonstrated not only poor sportsmanship, but boorish behavior. Nick Nasenberry, age 11, and another boy were in a wrestling match at a school in Rolling Meadows, IL on Feb. 14. On the mat, in front of a large group of spectators, Nick pinned the other boy and held him for a few seconds. Ray Hoffman, the pinned boy’s father, races onto the gym floor and lifts Nick off his son and throws him backward at least five feet in the air. Fortunately, the boy lands safely, but obviously is stunned at the unexpected freefall he endured. Meanwhile, Nick’s father, Dan Nasenberry, who was videotaping the match, is confronted by an angry Mr. Hoffman who points directly at the camera and moves forward. He declared angrily, “I don’t like this. I don’t like this.” The videotape made national news and has since had more than 2,500 hits on the internet. Neither boy was hurt. Wrestling Coach Dan Bogess told reporters that the pinning move, while uncomfortable to the boy being pinned, is not illegal in wrestling. Security personnel quickly removed the angry father from the floor. Mr. Hoffman later apologized for the incident. Both he and young Nick are fortunate that the boy was not injured. Throwing someone in the air and dropping him could have caused a serious accident. What if Nick had landed on his head or if his knee had hit the floor? Mr. Nasenberry told Today anchor Matt Lauer on the Feb. 16 broadcast that he had watched some wrestling matches in which his son, Nick, was the underdog. He admitted that it was hard to watch it happen, but he knew it was a fair competition and he just had to endure it. We’ve seen what can happen when parents take a game too seriously. Last fall one father had even brought a gun to a high school baseball game and threatened to shoot when he didn’t like a call by the umpire. It sends the wrong message to youth. Competition is part of life. We have all learned a lesson in how not to react.
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