It has been a challenging week at IFS with the signs of a long football season starting to show. Having witnessed some very interesting behaviours, I have been reflecting on my own actions and casting myself back to my time as a teenager.
When I was young, I lived in Canada and the USA for a number of years and I think this has had a large impact on my own self opinion. The culture in those countries is very different to Australia. I remember when we arrived here, really struggling to get my head around Australian humour. I did not understand why people were sarcastic and enjoyed having a go at one another. It seemed to be the done thing to criticise success. Sticking up for yourself, of course meant you were up yourself! This behaviour has disturbed me for a long time and I still struggle with how to model behaviour to my own children so they can feel confident in themselves without coming across as arrogant.
This tendency is very clearly seen when we look at professional sport in our country. Take the A-League. Here on the Central Coast we are very lucky to have our own professional football club. Can you believe a group of young men is paid a full time wage to prepare their minds and bodies to entertain us on the football field each season. Highly trained, highly specialised experts in their chosen field, they spend many years becoming masters of football and are the best our country has to offer. Given this, I am often astonished at some people’s attitudes towards these footballers. I’ve heard it said that its not worth watching an A-League game because its not as good as the EPL. How insulting. What message are we sending young aspiring players? Do we want them to believe our local heroes are no good? Is it any wonder young people today struggle with self confidence issues?
If the best we have is not good enough, then what do we have to celebrate? What are the repercussions of continually putting down those people who commit their lives to be the best they can be? Not only is it disrespectful to those players, I believe it is actually destroying the dreams of our young people. Why would you choose to work hard at something you love, and become one of the best in your field, only to be criticised for achieving the dream you had chosen to pursue?
How hard is it to see the positives around us?
One of my motivations in opening our college, was to create a culture that celebrates success. A culture where we embrace achievements and show support for each other in both good times and hard. We can demonstrate this to our children in our attitudes to our home grown sportspeople. I encourage you to help me create this culture. No, we don’t live in England, Spain or Italy with the innate advantage of a long history of football. We are only babies in the footballing sense. But we are Australian and we have our own league that needs our support to grow.
I am so excited that this A-League season, our students will have the privilege of attending every Mariners home game to express their passion for the game we love so much. Why not join us in getting behind our local club and celebrating the success of those footballers who may very well be your own child’s hero!
Yes we are very different to Canadians and Americans . We are definitely less positive in many ways. Tall poppy syndrome and sarcasm are an unfortunate part of Australian culture in a similar way to the “don’t be a dobber” (blogged here by Laura a month ago). I love to watch a quality game as much as the next person but I’m not a follower of the EPLs because its not relevant to me. The A League is something I’m extremely proud of and lookout to anyone who puts the HAL down in my presence. This negative perception of Australian football has some way to go before it changes but with the IFS and the Mariners amazing work on the coast, in many ways, it has already surpassed their ignorant view. I’m assured that next year my son will be buoyed by the positivity of like minded people at the IFS and avail himself of some outstanding life mentors in the process. Keep up the good work..