Sportsmanship

Sportsmanship is, in a basic sense, conforming to the rules of sport. More grandly it may be considered the ethos of sport. It is interesting that the motivation for sport is often an elusive element. For example, beginners in sailing are often told that dinghy racing is a good means to sharpen the learner's sailing skills. However, it often emerges that skills are honed to increase racing performance and achievements in competition, rather than the converse.

Sportsmanship expresses an aspiration or ethos that the activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors.

Often the pressures of competition, individual achievement, or introduction of technology can seem to work against enjoyment by participants.

The conflict between sportsmanship and paid sports is explored further in professional sports.

Poor sportsmanship is the converse of good sportsmanship.

Poor sportsmanship can either be the winners "rubbing salt in the wounds" of the losers, or the losers expressing their frustration at not winning, even to the point of holding a grudge.

Another example of poor sportsmanship is booing national anthems, or failing to congratulate the winners.

Sportsmanship typically is regarded as a component of morality in sport, comprised of three related and perhaps overlapping concepts: fair play, sportsmanship, and character (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995). Fair play refers to all participants having an equitable chance to pursue victory (Weinberg & Gould, 1999) and acting toward others in an honest, straightforward, and a firm and dignified manner even when others do not play fairly. It includes respect for others including team members, opponents, and officials (Canadian Commission for Fair Play, 1990). Character refers to dispositions, values and habits that determine the way that person normally responds to desires, fears, challenges, opportunities, failures and successes and is typically seen in polite behaviors toward others such as helping an opponent up or shaking hands after a match. An individual is believed to have a “good character” when those dispositions and habits reflect core ethical values.

Sportsmanship can be conceptualized as an enduring and relatively stable characteristic or disposition such that individuals differ in the way they are generally expected to behave in sport situations. In general, sportsmanship refers to virtues such as fairness, self-control, courage and persistence (Shields & Bredemeier, 1995) and has been associated with interpersonal concepts of treating others and being treated fairly, maintaining self-control in dealing with others, and respect for both authority and opponents. Five facets of sportsmanship have been identified:

• Full commitment to participation (e.g., showing up, working hard during all practices and games, acknowledging one’s mistakes and trying to improve)
• Respect and concern for rules and officials
• Respect and concern for social conventions (e.g., shaking hands, recognizing the good performance of an opponent)
• Respect and concern for the opponent (e.g., lending one’s equipment to the opponent, agreeing to play even if the opponent is late, not taking advantage of injured opponents)
• Avoiding poor attitudes toward participation (e.g., not adopting a win-at-all-costs approach, not showing temper after a mistake, and not competing solely for individual prizes)

(Vallerand, Deshaies, Cuerrier, Briere, & Pelletier, 1996; Vallerand, Briere, Blanchard, & Provencher, 1997).

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