Each year the annual kickball tournament draws in hundreds of students, faculty and other community members. This year’s tournament generated over five thousand dollars to Cypress Assistance Ministries, but some people seem to have forgotten the true purpose. This tournament has, in my opinion, three main purposes. The first is to raise money for a specific charity, the second is for the school and community to join together and the third is for the participants to have a great time for a great cause. The purpose is NOT to be a cut-throat, disrespectful sore loser.

As someone who has grown up playing sports in a family of highly competitive people, I understand the strong desire to win. I understand the competitiveness, but I do not understand the blatant disrespect and rudeness a small portion of participants show. It is not okay for a person to tell the volunteers that they suck at running this event and they expect better. If they knew the amount of work that is put into organizing and running this tournament, and if they were the people putting in that work, I doubt they would still be saying those things. If they knew the amount of sleep that was lost by the sponsors and officers because of this tournament, they wouldn’t say they wished it was run better. If they knew the amount of months put in for the behind-the-scenes work, they wouldn’t say the organizers need to pay more attention to the details.

This tournament is for charity. This is not the world series. This is not the world cup. It is not the end of the world when you lose. End of story. There is no need to act like a fool and become outraged and petty because your team couldn’t kick a ball.

People need to take a step back and realize that the rules were changed and the brackets were divided to appease those who complained about the varsity rule. So if your team chose to play in the competitive bracket and lost while you knew your team was incredibly nonathletic, it is not the tournament’s fault your team doesn’t know their left foot from their right as they run.

One thing that circulated social media after the completion of the tournament were complaints from teams that were disqualified after breaking the rules. I know it’s a tough lesson, but when you break the rules, you will face consequences. Welcome to the real world. Also, saying “I’m never going to play kickball again!” does not impact the tournament- there is a wait list full of other students dying to participate. And to be honest, your negative attitude and disrespect is not needed at this wonderful, meaningful charity event.