I recently coached the Maranacook youth team at the Central Maine Football League championship, where we lost a hard-fought game 12-7 to a good Oak Hill squad.

Losses are tough but a fact of life, and I trust in the resiliency of youth to help the boys forget the loss and remember the fun times.

What they are less likely to forget, however, are the berating and insulting comments yelled at them all game long from adults on the Oak Hill sideline, so much so that the kids did not want to play near that end of the field.

Worse yet was the Oak Hill mom who charged our bench at the end of the game and had to be physically restrained from attacking an 11-year-old player.

What does this say about us as parents, as people, or as a society at large? Can we really take a child's game so seriously that we would attack a child verbally or physically?

Our player collapsed with chest pain (luckily only a panic attack only) and, while attending him, I missed handing out trophies to my team and, most importantly, my own son.

Sports can teach us many lessons: dedication, perseverance, working toward common goals, pride and humility.

Our job as coaches and parents should be to emulate these values and raise good people as well as good sports. The events at this game unfortunately show how short we often fall.

Rick Morand

Manchester