Good Sportsmanship: It Doesn’t Just Happen
By Cliff Odenwald, director of athletics | Thursday, August 26, 2010 8:56 PM
In today’s culture, young people are bombarded by images of celebrity athletes. Even high school athletes get caught up in believing that it is “all about me.” Students see professional athletes performing celebration dances and promoting themselves, but what doesn’t always make the news are pictures and stories of athletes demonstrating sportsmanship and integrity. Our duty as coaches, teachers, parents and administrators is to emphasize the honor of the game and to teach our athletes the meaning of sportsmanship.
School sponsored athletic programs represent amateur athletics at its best. This year coaches will have an endless stream of teachable moments with the best classroom, whether on the court or on the field. Coaches must recognize and praise displays of good sportsmanship like the behavior of Armando Galarraga, pitcher for the Detroit Tigers, who was pitching a perfect game until a bad call was made on the last out of the ninth inning. Galarraga displayed class as he respected the call made by the umpire. The umpire also displayed class as he reviewed the play and admitted it was a bad call. Both men took the high road and demonstrated what is right about athletics and sportsmanship.
Student athletes must learn that life isn’t fair, and people aren’t perfect. What great examples Galarraga and the umpire are of how to handle a setback. They have showed us how to handle a difficult event with grace and dignity. You have the chance to teach student athletes, and yourself, that one mistake or game doesn’t define you. Setbacks are only temporary.
When controversial calls are made by officials, student athletes are watching and learning as their coaches react to the situation. We have all seen coaches handle these situations well. If they question the call, they do it in a calm, rational manner and show respect to the official. The students and fans learn good habits or bad habits from the example set by the coaches.
The late Knute Rockne, who was the legendary head football coach at Notre Dame from 1918 to 1930, put it best when he said, “One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it.” The coach is responsible for setting the standard for good sportsmanship.
In preseason meetings with parents and booster clubs, coaches can clearly convey their expectations for behavior during competitions. School administrators, band directors, cheerleader sponsors, drill team sponsors and teachers can help by having the same expectations for their students and parents. If expectations are clear and consistent, the odds that a team, a student body and the fans will display good sportsmanship are greatly improved. Displaying good sportsmanship can be a matter of pride for a team.
The UIL sportsmanship information manual entitled, “Character, Attitude, Responsibility, Ethics - Sportsmanship and UIL Athletics” is a great resource for schools when setting sportsmanship guidelines for their school and community.
We all remember examples of great teams. Usually those teams did not consist of only one or two stars that were seeking the limelight. The great teams we remember were composed of talented individuals, but they were pulling together for the success of their team. When Emmitt Smith was recently inducted into the Sports Hall of Fame, he became emotional as he thanked Daryl Johnston. He knew that he would not have reached his personal goals without the help and sacrifice of his teammate. He also thanked his high school coach, Dwight Thomas, for teaching him to set goals and for teaching him to be a team player.
One of basketball’s most revered coaches, John Wooden, stressed the importance of players coming together as a team. Two of his famous quotes are “Teamwork is not a preference, it is a requirement,” and “The main ingredient of stardom is the rest of the team.”
I think we all realize that the great teams “get” this. Great players know that the team comes before any personal glory. The true models of sportsmanship put the team before themselves. All of us have coached players that did not have as much ability as someone else on the team, but who made sacrifices daily for the good of the team. And we wanted more players just like them. Those are the players who win championships; those are the players we want our student athletes to emulate.
The lessons our players learn in being part of a team are the lessons that make them future leaders and such desirable members of any organization. The lessons of hard work, unselfishness and cooperation are lessons that will help student athletes accomplish their goals in life. This is why we do what we do. We are instilling qualities in our young athletes that will help them build productive and successful lives. As we start the new school year and our new seasons, it will be easy to get caught up in wins and losses. If coaches want to make a lasting impression, they must remember that the real purpose and privilege of being a coach is in building character and future leaders.
"No written word, no spoken plea
Can teach our youth what they should be,
Nor all the books on all the shelves.
It's what the teachers are themselves."
A favorite poem of John Wooden (Author unknown)