Unruly crowd behavior at high school sporting events is a product of school systems that don't hold their fans, players and coaches to a higher standard of sportsmanship, speakers at a Lakota Nation Invitational educational workshop said Saturday.

"It goes back to the administration," Porcupine School Board Chairman Paul Iron Cloud said. "How strong are you to make some good things happen in your school?"

School and athletics officials who aren't strong and responsible enough to demand polite, informed and respectful behavior - even during emotionally charged athletic competitions - are failing their schools, their sports programs and especially their students, Iron Cloud said.

"As adults, we have to set the example," he said. "You play to have fun. And when you take the fun out of the game, that's probably the worst thing you can do."

Some school officials, parents and adult fans place athletics above academics in school systems that are supposed to stress learning above winning, Iron Cloud and other speakers said. And the responsibility for that failing goes beyond the school itself and into the community that shapes and supports its local educational system, they said.

"It comes down to what the community thinks is important," state high school activities official Wayne Carney said. "Is it important that kids get a good education or that a school has a great football or basketball team?"

As executive director of the South Dakota High School Activities Association, Carney worked with LNI officials to set up programs on sportsmanship Friday and Saturday, in conjunction with the Native American tournament. Ongoing problems with sportsmanship focused on Indian Country last spring when the Little Wound Mustangs left the court without receiving their runner-up trophy and individual medals after their 71-61 loss to St. Thomas More in the Class A high school boys basketball tournament. The SDHSAA Board of Directors placed Little Wound on probation for a year because of the walk-out, and the school has developed a sportsmanship program that Carney praised and encouraged other schools - Native and non-Native - to emulate.

"Sportsmanship is probably the toughest issue we deal with in our office," Carney said. "It's not a Native American schools issue. It's all schools."

But the issue is especially complicated for Native American athletes, South Dakota Indian Education Director Keith Moore of Pierre said. Moore, a Lakota whose family moved from the Rosebud Reservation to Presho when he was in grade school, starred in high-school basketball there and went on to excel in the college game.

Moore said the history of prejudice against Natives in South Dakota heightens the already volatile mix of emotions at athletic competitions. Success in sporting events can be magnified among people who are trying to prove their worth in a society where they have suffered oppression, a reality that adds emotional weight and suspicion to questionable calls by officials, he said.

"The toughest issue to deal with is the oppression I think we feel as a people," Moore said. "The one place I found that I could be equal or better was sports. I wanted to be the best individual on the court, to prove to the whole community that I was somebody."

With a history of prejudice and so much self-image invested in a sport, Native kids are already inclined to react to decisions that don't go their way. Adults must teach kids to accept those calls without becoming disrespectful and unruly, Iron Cloud said.

"I'm not going to beat around the bush. There are some bad calls out there," he said. "But nobody's perfect. When you have your hopes up and get some bad calls, it really takes it out of a kid."

LNI director Bryan Brewer said that although some calls by officials might indeed be incorrect, many are simply misconstrued by people who have misplaced priorities and, in some cases, simply don't understand the rules. That lack of knowledge goes beyond fans, Brewer said.

"Sometimes, our high school coaches don't know the rules, either," Brewer said. "It's very embarrassing."

The LNI, SDHSAA and tribal schools have been working to improve that with educational programs about the rules and respectful behavior. But problems continue.

One member of the workshop audience Saturday complained that unruly fans for one team in the LNI seemed to be without supervision from their school. Carney said that should never happen.

School administrators for each school should attend all home, away and tournament games, or delegate others to represent the school and handle crowd control in their place, Carney said.

Parents should support administrators in setting higher standards of behavior for players and fans, as well as in requiring athletes to elevate academic performance to their first priority, Carney said.

"I think we show kids that we care when we hold them responsible," he said. "People who put sports ahead of academics and don't hold them responsible, those people are cheating our kids."

Contact Kevin Woster at 394-8413 or kevin.woster@rapidcityjournal.com