Sportsmanship in the Spotlight At Lower Cape May Regional

ERMA – Lower Cape May Regional (LCMR) High School Principal Lawrence Ziemba sees a disturbing trend of poor sportsmanship by sports fans across the country. He wants to take proactive steps at his school to ensure LCMR students know the boundary between appropriate school spirit and bad behavior. 
To that end, Lower Cape May Regional High School is participating in a “week of respect” event at the school auditorium that features a program provided by officials from New York’s Met Life stadium. The goal is to promote respectful school spirit that supports the team in a fun and positive way.
Ziemba has done some research into fan behavior at all levels and areas. He has seen examples of students forming groups in the stands and chanting inappropriate taunts towards opposing players and fans.
He has also noted that there are reports of fights breaking out between fans that often cause some schools to schedule games at times and locations to avoid student attendance at the contests.
“I think students sometimes hide in these groups for anonymity and feel emboldened,” Ziemba added.
While he does not see any particular problem at LCMR, he wants to proactively provide guidelines to students before a problem develops.
Last summer, Ziemba wrote letters to all the major professional sports teams in New York and Philadelphia asking if they would like to participate in a program designed to address poor fan sportsmanship.
The New York Giants responded enthusiastically and placed him in contact with Met Life Stadium Vice President of Security Daniel De Lorenzi and Consultant for Operations for the Giants William Squires.
Squires had conducted similar programs in northern New Jersey. They offered to travel from north Jersey to speak to LCMR students.
Hundreds of students from all four grades attended the program after school Oct. 3.
The two guests from New York then opened a dialogue about why bad sportsmanship occurs, and how everyone can enjoy the game, root for their team, and avoid unruly behavior that sometimes escalates into physical violence.
De Lorenzi noted that the rules for fan behavior already exist and can be found at the New Jersey State Interscholastic Athletic Association.
When De Lorenzi asked the students if they had ever witnessed or been the butt of poor behavior at games, many raised their hands.
When asked if anyone present had themselves engaged in that sort of conduct many also raised their hands. 
De Lorenzi added “Sometimes the fun of rooting for the home team takes a bad turn” and that “often begins with foul language directed at opposing fans.”
Squires added that foul language often lights the spark for escalation of behavior to physical confrontations. De Lorenzi also advised students “If you see a confrontation starting that cannot be controlled easily, you should just leave and tell your friends that you need to go to the bathroom,” and wait 20 minutes or so before returning.
Ziemba was heartened and gratified by the turnout by his students for this after-school activity.
The school encouraged student attendance at the program by providing free T-shirts, designed by the students that support sportsmanship, and free water bottles.
Ziemba added that any student that attends a sporting event for the school this year gets free admission by wearing the T-shirt, and by adhering to the spirit of what that shirt means.
To contact Jim McCarty, email jmccarty@cmcherald.com.