Liz Lambert: Playing too aggressively or playing to win?
I have no background in school sports and have never done anything rougher than kick boxing at the Y.
In a big game last week, BYU forward Kassidy C. Shumway (21) is pulled to the ground by New Mexico defender Elizabeth Lambert (15) as she tries to maintain possession. Lambert was suspended Friday for her infractions during the match. (AP Photo/Daily Herald, Patrick Smith)
So, I am not sure what to make of University of New Mexico soccer player Elizabeth Lambert’s aggressiveness in a match last week against Brigham Young, scenes of which are all over the Internet.
Lambert has become the Cruella DeVille of school sports. And she has been suspended from a game that she apparently loved.
Here is what I do know. I have attended lots of kids’ sporting events as well as high school games. Aggressive teams win more, whether it’s rec league soccer or varsity lacrosse.
In fact, the most frequent advice from the sidelines to my son’s soccer team is to play more aggressively, to get in there and fight for the ball.
I also have been amazed at what coaches allow and referees either don’t see or tolerate in children’s sports. (One of my theories about the unchecked roughness is that many refs in youth sports are high school players. The aggressive tactics likely doesn’t faze them as that’s how they play the game at the varsity level. I have seen elbows thrown, collars yanked and kids tripped with no response from refs.)
Among the response to Lambert’s fierce video:
From an ESPN blog: While it’s easy to paint Liz as some hysterical loose cannon hell-bent on wrecking havoc on all who cross her path, she deserves to be seen as a fierce competitor looking for an advantage.
From the New York Times soccer column: But too few ask what blame should be bourne by Lambert’s coach, Kit Vela, or the referee, Joe Pimentel, and assistant referees. How could it be that Vela did not remove her player when the emotions quite clearly were getting the better of her?
How could Pimentel, a referee of some standing locally, stand by when such appalling and deliberate foul play was afoot?
He issued one yellow card in the match, for possibly the least of Lambert’s misdeeds, a trip on Payne. He took no action against Lambert’s team mate who in that same incident kicked the ball into Payne’s face as she hit the ground.
He ignored, or perhaps he and the other officials did not see the punches, slaps, high tackles and pony tail yank.
For those of you who are coaches and for those whose children play at the most competitive levels in school sports, when is aggression a winning strategy and when is it a problem?
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25 comments Add your comment
Ann
November 12th, 2009
5:44 am
If you have to ask this question, perhaps you shouldn’t let your children play sports for a while, or at least not with their current coaches, until you figure out the answer. Try to think hard of the values you want to instill in your children. Is it winning at all costs? Will their behavior then be only limited in sports?
clyde
November 12th, 2009
6:34 am
I would have written the ESPN blog differently.I would have said.”Liz could be seen as a fierce competitor who thinks nothing of cheating to gain an advantage”. The coach condones cheating as does the referee.The rule book was torn up and the game was played.Winning at whatever the cost was the only rule.Maybe the next time one of the players will carry an axe,or a gun.That would definitely give someone an advantage.Why not use it?
The Forgotten Man
November 12th, 2009
6:43 am
Lambert clearly crossed the line. Aggressive play is one thing violent intimidation is another. Punches and the head-snapping ponytail pull were clearly acts of violence intended to hurt the opponent rather than merely gain some advantage.
I agree that the coaches and referee share a little blame.
Chris Murphy, Atlanta, GA
November 12th, 2009
7:04 am
“Aggressive play” has more to do with the energy expended and the risk-taking strategy than illegal play. Actions that are against a sports’ rules are illegal, and the ref is at fault. The coach is merely an idiot.
Reality 2
November 12th, 2009
8:03 am
Of the three plays on the video, the first one was probably the only one the ref would have seen – and he should have at least yellow carded her. The other two appeared to have taken place away from the ball and those are hard to see. Even the one where she pulled the other player’s hair, because the other player has long hair, it is hard to see why the player fell down. In soccer, taking a dive (faking a foul) is also considered unsportsman like conduct. So, if I were refing, I probably couldn’t call a foul on that one. I might have gone in to talk with the players and possibly warn them, but not much more.
There is a difference between “agressive play” and “cheap shots.” The three plays shown on the video fall in the latter category. Calling her as an “aggressive” player is glorifying her way too much. She seems to be a cheap shot artist.
Jennifer
November 12th, 2009
8:15 am
There are specific rules in soccer for what parts of your body can and cannot touch another player and intent is part of equation. Playing like this causes a mental advantage for the aggressive team, so there is an obvious incentive to play using illegal means. Players will use to their advantage illegal playing as long as no one calls it and the coach encourages it. So – the refs are there for a reason – to stop the illegal play.
In high school soccer encouraging this kind of play is very dangerous because most kids on the field have no idea what they are doing, they are not highly skilled and playing aggressively gets kids hurt – sometimes career ending injuries.
crazymom
November 12th, 2009
10:04 am
Elizabeth Lambert should be suspended permanently from further collegiate level play in any sport. What she did to the opposing players was not only grossly inappropriate, some of her actions were dangerous and could have/may have inflicted lifelong injuries. The coach and refs have some stake in this, but EL is a big girl and she should know better. Check out her facial expressions as she is executing the meanness. That is enough to make your blood chill a little.
Beth
November 12th, 2009
10:16 am
I agree with Jennifer’s comments that the referees are there for a reason, and to stop the illegal play which they failed to do. Lambert crossed the lines so many times with the clear intent to hurt –heck forget the hairpulling, my favorite play was when she kicked the ball into the face of the fallen player. Her aggressive play was supported by the head coach. I can’t believe that Lambert just lost it in this one game. Her “aggressive” style shows that she has played this way before and the coaching staff at UNM allowed it. The elbowing, short & shirts pulling I’ve seen and is one level of fouls and cards, but Lambert took it to the next level. She didn’t aggressively go after the ball, she tried to intentionally hurt the two players who scored. Suspend her for the next season.
RFP
November 12th, 2009
11:28 am
Maybe Brandon Spikes could teach her the eye gouge?
Tom
November 12th, 2009
11:45 am
Conceding that the New Mexico player “crossed the line” then Carlee Payne (BYU #7) likewise crossed the line when she elbowed the New Mexico player with a closed fist. Referees are trained to observe things like a “closed fist” vs. “an open hand” to distinguish between a careless elbow and one that crosses the line. Likewise Kassidy Shunway (BYU #21) crossed the line when she grabbed the shorts of the New Mexico player. A short’s grab is the type of tactical foul that seem to be minor to the uninformed but that can lead to a goal (not such a minor thing). The hair pull was clearly in retaliation. While the hair pull looks sensational on YouTube it did not prevent Kassidy from playing 2 days later and taking 4 shots including two on goal.
The attention the New Mexico player has received is disproportionate to her transgression when compared to the transgression of the BYU players and Joe Pimentel and the rest of the ref crew.
My daughter was the most petite women’s college soccer player I ever saw. She was frequently the victim of hard fouls by amazons. If I tried to discuss those fouls with her after a game she would snap “The game is over, get over it.” I think that is good advice and I suspect Carlee and Kassidy would agree.
V for Vendetta
November 12th, 2009
11:49 am
Maureen,
Competitiveness, playing to win, and giving your best effort is one thing; however, what Lambert is doing is clearly out of line. Perhaps this thread needs a new title.
As a coach, I am often dismayed by the attitudes of many kids and parents who seem to feel entitled to some form of athletic success–regardless of talent. They want maximum reward with minimum effort, and they become irritable or frustrated when they don’t attain certain goals. I think this is a far greater problem than too much aggression. I would give anything for a little more aggression.
dood
November 12th, 2009
11:59 am
Watch the video- it’s great! Two hot chicks in shorts goin’ at each other!
Ted Striker
November 12th, 2009
12:16 pm
I thought Lambert was hot.
Dewi
November 12th, 2009
12:29 pm
There’s aggressive, and then there’s dirty. That’s dirty.
Tom is right, it goes both ways. There’s a lot of fouls that the referees missed in that game, on both sides of the ball. But as Tom said, the hair pull was clearly in retaliation, which by definition falls into an automatic red card and ejection from the match. None of the players on these teams are saints, I’m sure, or they probably wouldn’t have gotten to this level of play. It’s unfortunate, but the players that know how to bend the rules and push the envelope, play a little dirty and not get caught, are the ones that tend to get to the higher levels of play.
And Tom, so you know, it’s not this one transgression, but rather the systematic manner in which she went after the BYU players that garnered all of this attention to Ms. Lambert. She lost her cool, crossed the line, whatever you want to call it. But this attention didn’t come down on her just because of the hair pull, or just because she hit the elbower in the back. It came down because of a consistent and persistent disregard for the rules of the game and the welfare of the other players.
Gunk
November 12th, 2009
12:43 pm
There is a difference playing aggressively and playing to hurt an opponent. Lambert was playing to hurt her opponents. Her intent was malicious. You don’t come from behind after the player with the ball has passed you and cleat their legs. That’s not playing aggressively. Also, look at the video clip where Lambert comes crashing into her opponent and socks her opponent twice in the head with closed fists as both of them are crashing to the ground. I can understand running into the opponent, but hitting your opponent with a closed fist twice in the head as both of you are falling to the ground? Why do that unless you were out to hurt the other person? Lambert crossed a line and everyone defender her is naive.
Englishman
November 12th, 2009
1:09 pm
When a team plays aggressive and with style, it usually wins. When it plays rough, then penalties will result from such plays. What Lambert did was far from being aggressive. It was simply STUPID.
Leigh Oats
November 12th, 2009
4:14 pm
Says Beth (”November 12th, 2009 10:16 am”):
“Lambert crossed the lines so many times with the clear intent to hurt –heck forget the hairpulling, my favorite play was when she kicked the ball into the face of the fallen player.”
In fairness to Lambert we should all agree that the video shows that the kicking of the ball apparently deliberately into the face of the fallen BYU player at point-blank range was committed not by the celebrated student of occupational therapy but by one of her colleagues—I’ve read that it was Rachel Fields, but I’m willing to be told that it was a different colleague. The fourth estate has been vague about such details.
ScienceTeacher671
November 12th, 2009
6:17 pm
Whatever happened to sportsmanship?
GOB
November 13th, 2009
10:34 am
As a HS girls soccer coach, I can assure you that the coach knew what type of player she was, and I can also assure you that this was not the first time this has happened. This is only making headlines because the game was televised. I bet if you go back and look at game tape for the rest of the season, you’d see the same stuff over and over. By leaving her in the game, he (or she?) was complicit in everything that went on. I’ve had to kick players off teams before because they couldn’t play the game within the rules.
You could argue that one, maybe two of those plays resulted from being “aggressive,” but the vast majority were simply dirty.
Also, whoever made the excuse that the ref wouldn’t have seen the hair pull doesn’t have a clue what they’re talking about. On a free kick like that, the ref shouldn’t be staring at the ball, but rather should be in a position to see where the ball is going to be.
Beth
November 13th, 2009
12:13 pm
Leigh is correct. Lambert was not the one to kick the ball in the face of the BYU player. Lambert was the one that tripped her, and that trip is the one she was yellow carded. Phew, for a moment I thought I wrongly accusing Lambert of being a dirty player.
Does any one know if other UNM players were suspended or any actions taken against the ref or the UNM coaches?
Lee
November 13th, 2009
1:02 pm
It is examples such as this as well as the Brandon Spikes eye gouge incident that I wish the presiding league would send a strong signal that this type of behavior will not be tolerated. I don’t think a half game suspension [Spikes] of the player is going to do it. You’re either going to have to suspend the player for the remainder of the season and/or get into the coaches pocketbook with some hefty fines.
Overall, I think big money is ruining college sports. When you have football coaches making millions and their job is heavily dependent on the win/loss column, then you will have some that will take shortcuts and assume a win at any cost mentality. I’m just guessing, but I would say that a women’s soccer coach at a large university salary is in the six figure range.
I also think that some of these college presidents need to step up and say enough is enough as well. However, it has been my observation that the president of the Athletic Association probably has more pull than the president of the college. So, don’t look for any movement on that front…
Brandon Spikes video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=88WmkqrB2Go
Dewi
November 13th, 2009
2:40 pm
Beth – Lambert has been suspended indefinitely – http://sports.espn.go.com/ncaa/news/story?id=4629837. Not sure about the coaching staff.
Leigh Oats
November 13th, 2009
4:55 pm
Says Beth (”November 13th, 2009 12:13 pm”):
“Leigh is correct. Lambert was not the one to kick the ball in the face of the BYU player. Lambert was the one that tripped her, and that trip is the one she was yellow carded. Phew, for a moment I thought I wrongly accusing Lambert of being a dirty player.”
Never mind. And at http://thehoot.net/articles/7049, a page that seems to provide no room for comments from the readers and that’s dated “November 13, 2009″ and headed “Brandeis Hoot” and “Brandeis University’s Community Newspaper”, is this:
“Lambert kicked the ball into the face of a BYU girl who had just been tripped. For this Lambert finally received a yellow card.”
. . . implying that Lambert’s solitary card of either color was for kicking the ball into the face, when the truth is that it was for the trip, and that the kick in the face was committed by a different UNM player.
At the top of the page is this homily: “To acquire wisdom, one must observe.”
P. Daven
November 19th, 2009
6:36 pm
Lambert is one very disturbed young woman. She clearly has rage issues and an inability to experience sincere remorse (we call that being a sociopath …). She belongs in jail for her unwarranted physical attacks. The look on her face while she's violently abusing her fellow players is downright terrifying. She also needs some serious anger management and intensive psychotherapy.
Very, very sick, indeed.
Pathetic. Shame on her.
Gilbert
November 21st, 2009
2:36 pm
To: Leigh Oates – this is the second place I have seen you post inaccurate information. Rachel Fields is a midfielder on the UNM soccer team and was not the defender that cleared the ball that accidently hit the BYU player in the head. As I said before it is irresponsible to name players when you don’t have the facts correct.