WEBELOS

Sportsman
Sam Houston Area Council

Sports are high on the list of favorite things to do for the Webelos Scout-age boys. You can be certain of instant interest by most members of your den.  Chances are that they spend much of their leisure time in organized sports and loosely organized neighborhood games.  Some of them probably know enough already about rules, scoring, and techniques for several sports, so that they could pass those requirements immediately.

But that is not really enough!  One of the prime purposes of Cub Scouting is encouraging good sportsmanship and pride in growing strong in mind and body. If your Cubs learn all the skills and rules involved in every sport this month, but do not get an inkling of what good sportsmanship means, then the den, and you, have wasted your time.

Agree on the importance of learning sportsmanship.  What does it mean in practice?  It means that the least skilled gets just as much instruction and encouragement as the best athlete.  It means that the better athletes learn not just to tolerate the awkward boy, but to help him.  It means that all boys can win and lose with grace and good sportsmanship.

Your own example will help to achieve these goals.  Stress the fun of the game, not the winning.  When you have intra-den competition, compose the teams so that the strength is about even.  If you let Cubs choose teammates, there is a good chance that most of the good players will wind up on one team.  Encourage the less skillful players.  Discourage others from belittling them.  Sports in a Webelos den should be fun for all.

Sportsman Thought

Where does a sports star get his skills?  What is the formula for winning honors?  It is simple, you earn them! To earn something, you work, and if you want to be a winner, expect to work.  Getting to be good often means lots of practice.  You will need determination and spirit to follow any training program.  If your big sports thing is baseball, then throwing, catching, base running and hitting are the four big skill areas.  All of them can be practiced alone if you have an automatic pitching machine.  Otherwise, you can have someone pitch to you.  Determine to be a winner and then just practice hard.