Tennis star Serena Williams recent tirade raises questions about high school sportsmanship

By Logan Bradley

This past weekend at the Women’s US Open Tennis tournament in New York City, women’s tennis icon, Serena Williams blew up at chair umpire Eva Asdaraki for a questionable call on a scream let out by Williams, post volley. This isn’t the first meltdown Williams has had on the court. In 2009 she screamed and cursed at the same lineswoman near the conclusion of the match.

Constantly in professional sports, you see players, often times stars such as Serena Williams, go on random tirades during events, leading to role models being an example of how not to act during competition.

This begs the question, has sportsmanship become a lost art? In the high school ranks, the IHSA (Illinois High School Association) does everything in its power to keep sportsmanship alive in every sport, men’s or women’s. The IHSA holds every sport to the same standard with the “Do What’s Right!” program.

Kevin Garon, a senior at Naperville North and a participant in both varsity Baseball and Basketball said, “I think that the IHSA holds all athletes accountable for their actions in regards to sportsmanship. Both athletes and fans aren’t allowed to do anything wrong or they will be punished for it.”

It’s obvious the lengths that the state is willing to go to enforce good sportsmanship in young athletes. But some could argue at times it’s too much.

“A lot of the times the IHSA seems too strict which can take away from the emotion of the game, so it’s a difficult balance to find,” said Garon