Yelling and sports. It may not be as well known a combination as peanut better and jam or peas and carrots, but, in life, raising your voice and athletic endeavours are undoubtedly a combination.
I’m not exactly a soft-spoken person, so it shouldn’t have been a surprise when my kids entered athletics that I might cheer — even a little excessively.
Like those men in their easy chairs yelling at their teams of the television, it somehow makes the act of being a spectator a little more involved. There’s somehow that feeling that by cheering loudly, you can have a say in the outcome — which, in general is totally out of your control.
My oldest daughter is a speed skater and needed to make or break the three-minute mark in a 1,200m race to qualify for the provincial championships. As she was racing, I was keeping tabs on the stopwatch and I knew she was on pace, but it was going to be close. Then I saw her stand up a little bit out of the speed skater crouch, a sure sign she was slowing down and I couldn’t help myself.
In desperation and with the desire only a mother can have to see her child succeed, I couldn’t keep my mouth shut.
With not a moment to lose. I had to do something.
“Skate faster,” I yelled – no, more like screamed – as she went past. The sheer obviousness of this sparked a loud chuckle from the other parents sitting nearby, who good-heartedly mocked my spirited, but redundant, remark. After all that really is the point of speed skating in an nutshell.
At least, the onlookers said, my remark could have helped every racer on the ice.
I have also been called out by my daughter for embarrassing her with over-enthusiastic cheering. It wasn’t so much what she said, but the evil eye I received as she passes her mother’s seat.
I’m also a hockey mom, and this year my son has taken to being the goalie. I personally hate when my children are in goal, hockey, soccer or other. There is something so inherently stressful about knowing your child is the last line of defence between a save or a goal, and often, a win or a lose. While other parents might feel some anxiety over their child’s performance, goalie parents seem to an entirely elevated state of nerves.
“No, no, no,” I have emitted, as some little pint-sized Gretzky-in-the-making streaks down the ice on a breakaway towards my waiting nine-year-old net minder.
Of course, cheering needs to be tempered with the respect. While I might raise the volume, I always endeavour to be on the respectful side of the line.
No one wants to be subjected to someone spewing negativity about another team or player, and no child, coach or referee should have to be subjected to denigrating comments yelled from the stands, players benches or other opponents.
There’s a real place in sport for cheering. It should be encouraged. But abuse not condoned.
The good thing for me is my other daughter’s favourite extra curricular activity is dance, where clapping is the usual method of showing appreciation for your child’s performance. I haven’t been caught yelling cheers at ballet recitals — yet.
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