CANDOR INSTITUTES NEW SPECTATOR BEHAVIOR POLICY (2021-08-05)

BY TIM TAYLOR
Tioga County Sports Report
CANDOR — There is a shortage of high school sports officials sweeping the nation and research reveals that abuse from spectators is the most common reason behind the problem. Inappropriate spectator behavior is no exception in the region, including here in Tioga County.

Candor has recognized this is an issue in its school district and has instituted a new spectator behavior policy which addresses first and second offenses, as well as situations where a spectator may have to be removed from an event.

"It's kind of a good time to start talking about sportsmanship and spectator policy coming into the fall season," athletic director Pete Ahart said. "So often at our AD meetings we focus on ho to make the fan experience more positive for everybody and sportsmanship is a part of that, so it's really an ongoing conversation.

"Two years ago when I started, I started asking officials questions locations they officiate at, and on two separate occasions officials said to me that Candor was one of the most challenging places to officiate because of some of the verbal abuse that they have experienced from fans and that kind of hit home to me and I have an obligation as the athletic director to address that on behalf of our community, on behalf of our kids, so I've racked my brain the last two years since I'ver been in this position to try some things that worked and didn't work.

"We've tried everything from having the kids read the pregame spectator policy announcement, and parents and spectators, they hear it but they don't listen to it. I've done ads in the pamphlets we send out at games with the rosters on them about sportsmanship. I've put pamphlets on seats. It's not getting any better as me move into the 2021 season. We felt we needed to do something about it. The new policy we have in place that was board-adopted back in May, I proposed this to our then-superintendent Jeff Kisloski about a more punitive approach to looking at spectator behavior."

Ahart emphasized the fact that the majority of the Candor spectators act appropriately at events.

"I don't want it to get lost that 95, 98 percent of our spectators are doing their job," he said. "They're coming and they're cheering on their kids appropriately. They're being good role models for the kids and the younger kids in the stands, but we really had to do something that those two to three fans — that seem to be the same fans every day — and address some of those behaviors because they weren't representative of our district, our mission statement, our athletic mission statement, so we have come up with what we feel is a fair, but somewhat punitive spectator policy and it's in three stages."

The spectator behavior policy states:

"If at any point during a home or away contest a spectator exhibits an inappropriate behavior deemed so by a school official or contest official, the following consequences will be imposed."

For the first offense, the spectator will be "verbally warned about behavior by school official or contest official" and "a written warning will be sent to the spectator. Additionally, the spectator will have a mandatory meeting with the athletic director prior to attending the next athletic contest."

Upon the next offense, that spectator "receives second warning about behavior by school official or contest official" and "a second written warning will be sent to the spectator notifying the spectator of a one year suspension from all athletic events."

Should a spectator be removed from a contest by a school official or contest official, the "spectator will have attendance privileges revoked for a period of five years from all events."

"I know our board is very supportive of athletics and they're supportive of positive spectator climate at games and we just weren't seeing it as much as we wanted to here at Candor, so we felt like we had to do something about it," Ahart said. "It's not something Candor just faces. It's every district in the region, and that led to the IAC sort of constituting its own rules to a certain extent as far as if a spectator gets kicked out.

"Section IV, I believe, has their own rules, but we go by what the IAC has, which is if you get kicked out it's only the next game you're suspended from going to, but that makes it challenging. If you get kicked out at Candor, if our next game's at Tioga, I can't enforce that spectator not going there. The IAC can, but then they need a representative to be there, which isn't always the case."

Obviously inappropriate spectator behavior isn't an issue in every sport, but the policy is in place in case it ever does become one. For example, cross country and golf draw a limited number of fans, who are spread out over a large outdoor area, leading to minimal contact between officials, athletes and spectators. However, football seems to draw a passionate following and indoor sports are played in a tightly-enclosed venue.

"To our spectator policy, we think it's a fair policy. The kids need to be shown and modeled what sportsmanship looks like and this is our way of helping that," Ahart said.

"It's an ongoing battle that we face as ADs, but like I said I don't want it to be lost that 95, 98 percent of our spectators are doing a great job," he added.

As Candor's elementary assistant principal, Ahart is also concerned about how younger kids could be influenced by watching their parents portray poor sportsmanship.

He also noted that it's the coach's job to address questionable officiating, not the spectators'.

"Since I've been here, we've had to remove just a handful of spectators who this policy applies to, but we give a lot of verbal warnings, a lot of verbal warnings and phone calls the next day," Ahart said. "We just need to stay on top of it.

"This is the last step that I wanted to take. I didn't want it to get here, but I felt like as AD, when the officials are saying it's challenging to come to Candor, out of 18 schools, 19 schools in the IAC, ours is the most challenging to come to. I don't like to hear that and our community shouldn't like to hear that."

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IN PHOTO 2: Candor's spectator behavior policy.

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