The youth soccer tournament might have fielded several teams, but the eventual finalists had really been a foregone conclusion.

As expected, the championship game featured two of the top girls teams from the western United States — who also happened to be from the same community. Their rivalry extended beyond the local soccer pitches. Many of the 13-year-old players from the opposing teams attended the same schools. A few had actually been teammates in past seasons. Their parents likely owned homes in the same neighborhoods.

National club rankings and local bragging rights were at stake.

The game was heated from start to finish. Fans from both sides accused the other team of dirty play. A vocal coach was silenced by a referee's red card and banished to a distant field to watch the remainder of the contest.

The match was tied 1-1 at the regulation's end, so the tournament final was decided by penalty kicks.

By the time a champion emerged, the emotions of the moment had reached a crescendo. The winning team's wild celebrations were taken as taunting by the losing side. Violence became a distinct possibility as opposing coaches stood chest-to-chest, hollering and jabbing fingers in faces. Even a pair of soft-bellied fathers — years past their own athletic primes — squared off in a fighter's stance.

Within minutes the police arrived to restore order. Plans for an award ceremony were scrapped. The players returned to their homes with no tournament medal but, instead, memories of silly, profane behavior from child athletes and grown-ups alike.

Why had a spirited athletic competition between talented, hard-working girls digressed into something ugly and pathetic? A simple answer: the adults had lost control and their children expectedly followed suit. The examples of adults — parents, teachers, coaches, or Church leaders — continues to play a pivotal role in the behavior of a child, for good or ill.

In his remarks at the priesthood session of the April 2008 general conference, President Thomas S. Monson spoke of the importance of young people having good examples from parents and other adults. While his priesthood message targeted fathers and Young Men leaders, the spirit of his message undoubtedly extends to mothers and all others who have influence over boys or girls.

"To you who are fathers of boys or who are leaders of boys, I say, strive to be the kind of example the boys need," he said. "The father, of course, should be the prime example, and the boy who is blessed with a worthy father is fortunate indeed. Even an exemplary family, however, with diligent and faithful father and mother, can use all the supportive help they can get from good men who genuinely care. There is also the boy who has no father or whose father is not currently providing the type of example needed. For that boy, the Lord has provided a network of helpers within the Church — bishops, advisers, teachers, Scoutmasters, home teachers. When the Lord's program is in effect and properly working, no young man in the Church should be without the influence of good men in his life.

"The effectiveness of an inspired bishop, adviser, or teacher has very little to do with the outward trappings of power or an abundance of this world's goods. The leaders who have the most influence are usually those who set hearts afire with devotion to the truth, who make obedience to duty seem the essence of manhood, who transform some ordinary routine occurrence so that it becomes a vista where we see the person we aspire to be.

"Not to be overlooked — and in fact our primary example — is our Savior, Jesus Christ. His birth was foretold by prophets; angels heralded the announcement of His earthly ministry. He 'grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace of God was upon him.'"

The Church's Presiding Bishop, H. David Burton, noted that the decline of "personal traits of virtue" could be found beyond youth sporting events.

"Reflect on the behavior of drivers on crowded highways; road rage happens all too often. Civility is all but absent in our political discourse. As countries around the world face financial and economic challenges, fidelity and honesty seem to have been replaced with greed and graft. A visit to a high school will often subject you to crude language and immodest dress. Some athletes display poor sportsmanship and seldom show humility unless publicly exposed for legal or moral infidelities. A large segment of our population feels little personal responsibility for their own temporal well-being.…

"We need not be a part of the virtue malaise that is penetrating and infecting society. If we follow the world in abandoning Christian-centered virtues, the consequences may be disastrous. Individual faith and fidelity, which have eternal consequences, will diminish. Family solidarity and spirituality will be adversely impacted. Religious influence in society will be lessened, and the rule of law will be challenged and perhaps even set aside. The seedbed for all that plagues the natural man will have been planted, to the sheer delight of Satan.

"We need to stand tall and be firmly fixed in perpetuating Christlike virtues.… in our everyday lives" (October 2009 general conference).

As Bishop Burton pointed out, teaching virtuous traits begins in the home with parents who care and set the example. A good parental example encourages emulation, he said, while a poor example gives license to the children to disregard the parents' teachings and even expand the poor example.

An adult's good example is a priceless gift.