Some athletes love getting into it with the crowd. For example, the Holland College men’s basketball team played STU at the beginning of the season. The game was rough and the fans were into it. A well-disciplined team would able to tune out the opposing team’s fans and focus the game. I guess no one told the Holland College Hurricanes.
One player for the Hurricanes felt anytime his team was up, everyone needed to know which team he played for, so he was constantly sticking out his jersey. He mustn’t have realized that the fans could read and they could tell he wasn’t from St. Thomas. Other players stared down STU fans as they went by, possibly thinking that if the fans were intimidated, the Hurricanes would have a better chance of winning.
To me, getting involved with the other team’s fans seems to only end badly. My high school basketball coach would tell us to tune out the crowd, home or away. If some nut bar was chirping us about our shooting skills, we weren’t to chirp back. We were on a basketball court, not Twitter. The only people that mattered were the ones in the game.
You might say, “But Phil, he says I can’t shoot, but I totally can!” Then show him, don’t tell him. The solution is simple, hit your next shot. It’s hard for a fan to say you can’t shoot if you’ve just knocked down a jumper. I’m no scientist, but that seems like a good solution.
I understand fans can be annoying. The higher the level of play, the more vocal the fans tend to be. If there is some grump telling a player he is the worst piece of trash, and the player is in middle school, that certainly isn’t right. By the time you get to the university level however, you’re going to need to be able take some heat. If not, get out of the kitchen.
An easy way for players to get hecklers to zip their lips is by making it a joke. A Holland College player was getting chirped by the fans for being skinny. Instead of looking over at STU’s fans and making reference to the fact that their team was down, he grinned and mimed lifting weights. I know it made me laugh.
It’s easy to heckle someone who thinks they’re all that. It’s hard to heckle someone who has a smile on their face.
