Exploratory Research Assignment: Sportsmanship

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Sportsmanship, a word so often used that it became worn out in some way, what does it mean for the modern society? According to a definition in Merriam-Webster dictionary, the sportsmanship means “fair play, respect for opponents, and polite behavior by someone who is competing in a sport or other competition” (“Sportsmanship. Merriam-Webster Dictionary” par.1).

Is every part of this definition true for everyone involved – the professional athletes, sports fans, coaches, parents of children who make their first attempts at sports, and the young sportsmen themselves? Some time ago, these issues became important and peculiar for me, so I decided to dedicate my time and efforts to investigate them and probably find answers. This paper is a result of my investigations and to some extent to an exercise in introspection, because I believe that the answers to some questions can be found only when an individual searches inside oneself.

In general, sportsmanship is considered to be a type of behavior that befits a person involved in sports activities. It is based on the principles of “fair play” and a certain grandeur of character of the participant. The key elements of such behavior include the obligations to follow the ethics code, to respect the opponent, to strive for victory but to prepare for a dignified loss, and to keep the fairness. Martin Lee and Michael J. Cockman in a book “Values in Youth Sport and Physical Education” point out that: “fair play and its related term “sportsmanship” appear to refer to patterns of behaviour in sport which are characterized by justice, equity, benevolence, and good manners while striving for athletic superiority.

The behaviour which defines fair play may be considered to be a manifestation of prevailing attitudes, and of values” (37). However one of the essential elements of sportsmanship, the will to win, does not only serve as a foundation for the concept but also consistently confronts its other values. The middle of XX century has unveiled the dialectical confrontation between the actual sport and idea of “fair play”. On one side there was an idealistic view of the ancient athlete who masters his body and spirit. On the other, there was a cynical approach to the sport which implies victory at any cost, including deception, doping, and biased refereeing. A modern postindustrial society less often associates the sports with entertainment. On the contrary, in the public mind nowadays sport is associated with business and profit.

For me this controversy became apparent only after I began to research the negative trends of the “fair play” in sports, including the youth sport. It is common knowledge that sometimes sports fans show the examples of undesirable behavior which sometimes can even influence the athlete or team they follow in the negative way, for example, being a reason for a default loss. Nevertheless, when I spoke to some of my friends and acquaintances, it was a surprise for me to learn that coaches and parents of young athletes can be so possessed by the desire to win, that they may consciously or unconsciously inspire the unworthy attitude in their students and children.

Yet a greater danger lies in the fact that a parent or a coach are supposed to serve as role models for young sportsmen, which means that the concept of sportsmanship is being disrupted at the very beginning of a sports career. Another problem is the lack of respect among the participants. When a coach does not show due respect to the officials or to one’s own students, when a parent raises his or her temper, or tells a child that cheating will help to gain victory – all of these are the signs of unsportsmanlike behavior that should not be tolerated. Unfortunately, things like trash talk, verbal and physical violence, harassment, bragging, and brawling have become an everyday occurrence on the sports field, this type of behavior is even promoted in the media, for example, in TV translations of the games.

In an article about sportsmanship, the necessary qualities for a sportsman are emphasized once again: “Good sportsmanship is when teammates, opponents, coaches, and officials treat each other with respect. Kids learn the basics of sportsmanship from the adults in their lives, especially their parents and their coaches. Kids who see adults behaving in a sportsmanlike way come to understand that the real winners in sports are those who know how to persevere and to behave with dignity — whether they win or lose a game” (“Sportsmanship” par. 3).

Still, however true these words may sound – the reality is that such code of conduct is not often adhered to. Some of the people I was interviewing did not think of sportsmanship and ethics in sports as something noteworthy. Various articles, blog posts, books and reliable researches that can be found both online and in libraries acknowledge this issue, as well.

The problem of unsportsmanlike behavior in American sports has become an acute topic, and the debates over it do not cease for a while now. At the same time it should be noted that this problem is not as new as it might seem. Almost a century ago, Pierre de Coubertin and other founders of the Olympic movement were aware of the cheating and unworthy behavior among athletes, which eventually lead to an introduction of the Olympic Oath. The article on the brief history of the Oath describes it this way: “In the July 1906 edition of the Revue Olympique, Coubertin referred to the urgent need to introduce into the few but very important Olympic ceremonies an athletes’ oath of fairness and impartiality.

The IOC’s task would be to ensure that the oath was strictly upheld. The Olympic Oath was pronounced on behalf of all the athletes for the first time at the Games of the VIIth Olympiad in 1920 in Antwerp” (Wendl 1). The Oath then became mandatory for all athletes. Despite the actions taken, the problem has not been solved, and the modern discussions of this topic aiming to find a solution, have been mostly unsuccessful so far. For me, it seems probable that the key to solving this problem lies in determining the roots of the issue. For example, Joel Nathan Rosen in his book named “The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos: Shifting Attitudes Toward Competition” states the following:

Within the modern theoretical interpretations of the once inviolate sportsmanship paradigm, the notions of overly competitive conduct, increasingly referred to as hypercompetitiveness… the lack of proper guidance on the part of sport’s overseers, and many other elements of behavior associated with competitive sport find resonance in today’s interpretation of matters relating to on-field restraint and its effect both within the sporting environment and within the larger social environment. (104)

Indeed, the competitiveness can be considered the basis on which the principles of the sports lie, and the loss of balance among the key elements of sportsmanship may lead to the disruption of the “fair play” concept as it was mentioned above. However this is not the only reason that many programs promoting sportsmanship among athletes and coaches often fail. Many researchers speak about a social code of conduct into which the sportsmanship should fit but basically, for most of the competitors this code does not lie at the same level of morality as the desire and will to win at all costs. The researchers D. Shields and B. Bredemeier in an article reviewing this topic, make a point of this fact:

One reason why such well-intentioned efforts [to proclaim the value of ethics] may have little long-term effect is because coaches and athletes typically put “sportsmanship” into the same mental basket as being nice, polite, gracious, and courteous … Sportsmanship programs often crash against the hard rock of belief in the “nice guys finish last” aphorism. If you have to be bad to be good in sports, then being nice will never sit atop the priority mountain. To get ahead, you do not have to be a good sport. Instead, according to locker room mythology, you need killer instinct. Competition is a battle, not a dance, and you had better be ready for combat. Given this common belief system, is it any wonder that the “sportsmanship” trophy handed out at the season-ending banquet is viewed … as a consolation prize? (par. 3-5)

According to their interpretation of the issue, the main trouble is that the competitors are often unable to see the value of the “fair play”, which may further trigger the balance upset in terms of competitiveness. One of the solutions that can be proposed is the selection of individual groups of competition participants, with further identification and a more direct approach to those groups, for which the usual rules of conduct and proclamations have little or no effect. It may also be useful to establish a completely new system of encouragements and punishments for following or discarding the rules of “fair play”, accordingly.

To conclude this research, I can say that while the issue of unsportsmanlike behavior is still a major, although underestimated problem of the modern society, the discussions and arguments about this issue are certainly helpful in defining its roots, and, perhaps, will eventually lead to a better solution. It is important to mention that good sportsmanship is a difficult path to follow because to stretch the rules a little further, to make compromises with oneself is always easy.

It takes a brave person to play fair, and one should not forget the proverb, that says: “You need years to build a reputation but minutes to ruin it.” So, despite the profound contradictions within the idea of “fair play”, most experts do not see any alternative to it, and here I must agree with them. Without a set of ethical regulations, the sports lose its meaning and appeal. Sportsmanship axiologically justifies sports, taking it away from the simple needs of a consumer society and ranking it among the highest spiritual values of man.

Works Cited

Lee, Martin and M. Cockman. “What sport values do young people hold?” Values in Youth Sport and Physical Education. Ed. Jean Whitehead, Hamish Telfer and John Lambert. London: Routledge, 2013. 37-49. Print.

Rosen, Joel Nathan. The Erosion of the American Sporting Ethos: Shifting Attitudes Toward Competition, Jefferson, NC: McFarland, 2007. Print.

Shields, David L. and Brenda L. Bredemeier. “Why Sportsmanship Programs Fail, and What We Can Do about It: We Need to Redefine People’s Understanding of Competition, Which Should Be about Striving for Excellence.” Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance. 82.7 (2011): 24-29. Questia. Web.

Sportsmanship. Merriam-Webster Dictionary. 2015, Web.

Sportsmanshipn.d. Web.

Wendl, Karel n.d. The Olympic Oath – A Brief History. 2015. Web.

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Exploratory Research Assignment: Sportsmanship

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