If one simply steps back and looks at the big picture, what is the point of poor sportsmanship. While I admit there are some gyms that seem to just want to give off the bad-a__ image and seem to corporately encourage that attitude, (why, I will never know) they are exceedingly few and far between. The more common problem is a few athletes and a few parents and an occasional coach that through their individual actions can seriously harm a good gym's reputation. Regrettably, it takes only one or two bad apples to leave a very bad impression of the whole group - not fair, but reality. Everyone wants to win and it is human nature I suppose to look at the "threats" to that win as the bad guys standing between you and that jacket. But it is so much more enjoyable to treat all the other people there as fellow sufferers of the same ailment - cheer obsession. None of us would be there without it. Who else practices (or pays for or drives
Heaven only knows how many hours over the course of a season) for a whopping 35 minutes TOTAL of actual performance time. (this presumes an average of seven 2 day comps a season). I've been on both sides: A. Fuming about a loss and munching on a whole lot of sour grapes, which do nothing but leave a long and unpleasant taste in the mouth and B. Sucking it up and realizing today was not our day and gym X beat us and searching for members of that gym to congratulate them. Option B makes me feel a whole lot better about myself and it is very nice to see the looks of surprise on the other gym's member's faces and their genuine pleasure at being congratulated by an opposing gym. [in the spirit of full disclosure, option A is probably my default, but I'm trying to go with more B ;)]. Okay, sorry for the rambling Pollyanna moment, but I loved how this thread started and the example of poor sportsmanship just made me sad.