Sometimes it takes a kid to be the adult in the room

Sometimes leadership emerges from the unlikeliest of places. Earlier this month, it took a high school student in La Crescent to call out fans of his own basketball team for their unruly behavior at a game. On December 13, as the La Crescent Lancers were playing their first home game of the season when things got a little ugly in the stands. La Crescent won the game, but many fans didn’t like the refereeing of the contest, and let the refs know by hurling insults and obscenities. That was disappointing to senior Noah Bjerke-Weiser, who took to social media to urge La Crescent’s fans to show more respectable behavior at their remaining games. His post went viral. Poor fan behavior is not unique to La Crescent. It happens at high school games all across the state, at a time when recruiting referees to work games has become increasingly difficult, in part because of the abuse they take while simply trying to enforce the rules of the game. Bjerke-Weiser, who hopes to himself someday become a referee, took the high road, urging fans to be nicer to the refs. That is a show of leadership, and sportsmanship. It took a teenager to remind the adults what they already know, that we need to treat each other, even the refs, with respect, even when things aren’t going our way.