Roundworm-A Serious Zoonosis

Silver Sands Veterinary Center: 

DH DeForge, VMD

VIOLENCE in AMERICA
Winning to Lose or Losing to Win

It seems like a day cannot go by without reading about another violent tragedy in America.

We have just left behind the Boston Marathon Bombing and each night we read new stories of innocent killing.  As a referee, I was saddened by the story that you are about to read.  A father and a referee who lived wanting to assure good sportsmanship and fair play has been lost.  

Each year we here about parents beating up umpires and referees.  Youth umpires and referee numbers have decreased because of the fear of being hurt.  The pay is minimal and the risk is great.  Mentors try to assist in the recruitment of young referees but cases like this have young people asking themselves if they are prepared to take on the task of official.

Knute Rockne at a different time in a different place had wonderful ideas and beliefs about sports.  His quote below has much meaning but is not seen clearly today as being significant.

"One man practicing sportsmanship is far better than a hundred teaching it!" Knute Rockne

Coach Rockne would be appalled by the violence in sports today.  The lessons of sports are to prepare youth for greater challenges in life.  Not many who play sports will have professional careers in their sport.  Parents instill in youth when they are 5-6 years old the concept of winning. Coaches take the "win-at-all-cost" mentality to the young player right into high school.  Many youngsters walk away from sports because of coach favoritism or the tiredness of the constant "win-all" mentality.  

There are good parents and there are good coaches but they are in the minority.  As the benefits of sports college scholarships continue to escalate, parents push harder.  Coaches know that if they have losing records their jobs are in jeopardy in high school coaching positions.  The parents make or break the youth coach/manager who is under pressure to win.  All of this is picked up by the player.  The anger of parents and coaches becomes ingrained into the athlete.  Fights erupt on fields and referees are threatened.

Please read the story below:

MURRAY, Utah — Ricardo Portillo's daughters had begged him to stop refereeing in a soccer league because of the growing risk of violence from angry players.

Now they must plan his funeral.

Portillo, 46, succumbed to injuries late Saturday that had put him in a coma for a week after police said a 17-year-old goalie punched him.

Authorities say the teen struck Portillo after the youth was called for a foul and issued a yellow card.

"The suspect was close to Portillo and punched him once in the face as a result of the call," police spokesman Justin Hoyal said in a statement.

The suspect had been booked into juvenile detention on suspicion of aggravated assault. Hoyal said authorities would consider additional charges since Portillo's death.

Hoyal said an autopsy was planned. No cause of death was released.

Portillo, of Salt Lake City, suffered swelling in his brain and had been listed in critical condition, Dr. Shawn Smith said Thursday at the Intermountain Medical Center in the Salt Lake City suburb of Murray.

Daughter Johana Portillo, 26, said last week that she wasn't at the April 27 game in the Salt Lake City suburb of Taylorsville, but she had been told by witnesses and detectives that the player hit her father in the side of the head.

She did not immediately respond to a request for comment by the Associated Press on Sunday.

Portillo's family said he had been attacked before, and Johana Portillo said she and her sisters had pleaded with their father to stop refereeing because of the risk from angry players. But he continued because he loved soccer.

"It was his passion," she said. "We could not tell him no."

The unaffiliated soccer league, Liga Continental de Futbol, updated its Facebook posting Sunday with a tribute to Portillo, including a number of photographs of him refereeing and playing soccer. It also set up a bank account to accept donations for his family.

Associated Press

May 5, 2013, 7:11 p.m.

I ask for your prayers tonight for referee's Portillo's family!

Carroll Academy: Not Winning to Lose but Losing to Win!
The opposite story was available over the weekend on ESPN Sports. There is a high school in Tennessee named Carroll Academy.  It is not the typical high school.  It is a high school and adolescent intensive day treatment program...i.e. a custody prevention center.  [See below]The stories of the young girls shown at Carroll Academy were heart wrenching.  Many coming from broken homes with parents who are drug or alcohol addicted or in trouble with the law.  These young people have minimal or no parental guidance and have fallen into trouble.  Most, fortunately, have not found serious trouble yet.  Carroll Academy wants to stop it from progressing or developing further.  When the Academy has completed their task, these young girls are sent back to regular high school.
I bring this Academy up because sports is a major part of the rehabilitation.  You see the Lady Jags have lost 213 consecutive games.  They never win!  They never come close.  They are beaten 100 to 6 or 75-4....but they return week after week.  Their coach states, " we don't care about winning at Carroll Academy.....I don't care if I ever win a game....we do try to win...but I do not expect these young girls to win because most have never had a basketball in their hands till then come to the Academy." 
 He goes on to explain that sports should be made to symbolize the struggles of life.  There are many struggles and not all are victories.  We learn from each defeat and we become stronger...we become better human beings.  Please view the Carroll Academy website and read the testimonials from former students who have made it in life because of Carroll Academy.....because they have found someone and found a place where people care about them; losing they find out is not bad!  In their last game in 2011-2012 they scored 29 points.  This was a modern school record.  They were playing as a team.  They were excited and yes they lost.  The team signed a ball and gave it to the coach.  They sat with tears in their eyes not because they lost but because coach cared about them very much.  At that point, the headmaster sang to them a song that coach wanted them to hear....It was "My Girl"!  Take a moment and hit the link below and see this ESPN feature....Losing to Win!  It will be the best 15 minutes you have ever spent.  Please believe me....just hit the link.  
Believe in youth.  Explain to your kids that winning is not the most important part of life.  Surviving the struggle; helping those who seek your counsel; and being happy.....that is what is important in life!

 http://espn.go.com/video/clip?id=9242142

From the Carroll Academy Website:

An integrated team of professionals providing compassionate, cost effective, competent care for at risk adolescents referred to them by five juvenile courts for the purpose of preventing more intensive court involvement and consciously teaching/modeling functional life and academic skills necessary to assume meaningful and productive citizenship in our society.

PURPOSE

Carroll Academy is an Adolescent Intensive Day Treatment Program operated by the Carroll County Juvenile Court and licensed by the State of Tennessee. We are funded by the Department of Children’s Services of the State of Tennessee as a custody prevention agency. We serve the Juvenile Courts of Carroll, Henry, Henderson, Weakley, and Benton counties, who order students to our program for six months or until they complete our behavioral plan. We transport each student to and from our program each day as ordered by that court for the purpose of behavior modification and intervention. Each student receives counseling, balanced meals, appropriate educational services, family intervention, and group life skills training while a part of our program.625 High Street
Huntingdon, Tennessee 38344
731-986-1350

Dr. DeForge welcomes comments on his blogs.
E-Mail DonDeForge@aol.com
Silver Sands Veterinary
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Animal Doc AM Multi-Media is written and produced by Dr. Don DeForge; all statements are his opinion only and do not reflect the opinion of any others.
06May2013