The Sporting Spirit

Sportsmanship is an indispensable quality not only in sports but also in our day-to-day life. It expresses an aspiration that the activity will be enjoyed for its own sake with proper consideration for fair play, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one’s competitors. A good player who shows sportsmanship is a good winner’ as well as a ‘good loser’.

Sportsmanship is regarded as a component of morality in sports which is made up of three interrelated and overlapping concepts: fair play, sportsmanship and character. Fair play is playing the sport with clear intentions, without playing foul or without cheating in a sport. It also includes acting with honesty, firmness and dignity even when the opponent is not playing fairly. It includes respect for the team members, rivals and the authority. Character refers to the attitude or temperament that a player shows when he responds to fears, desires, challenges, stress, failure and success before, in the course of or after the game. It shows the behaviour of the player before, during and after the game. It has been noticed several times that the competitors indulge in wrong practices like nudging, abusing or giving angry looks to their rivals.

Sporting spirit also refers to the virtues like self-control, courage and persistence. It has been linked with interpersonal concepts of treating others and being treated fairly, maintaining self-control while dealing with others and moving ahead in spite of difficulties. The wise rule of treat others as you want yourself to be treated’ helps a lot in the understanding of this concept.

There is no doubt that everybody feels good when he wins and bad or a little sad when he loses. The need is to regulate one’s temper in both the cases and not to go to the extremes. A little restrain over self will make a good player in any field of life-academic, sports or professional. A competitor who shows poor sportsmanship after losing a game is often called a ‘sore loser’ and the one who shows poor sportsmanship after winning is called a ‘bad winner’. Both the cases eventually label such a competitor as a poor player. The traits of such a person include blaming others, not taking responsibility of personal actions, reacting immaturely or improperly, making excuses for the loss or referring to unfavorable conditions or other petty issues. A bad winner acts in a shallow way after his victory such as boasting of his victory or showing it in the face of the one who has lost.

The lesson of good sportsmanship is very important in life. Children learn the basics of this lesson from the adults in their lives, especially their parents and their coaches. When they see them behaving in a sportsmanlike manner, they gradually come to understand that the real winners in sports as also in day to day life are those who know how to persevere and to behave with dignity when they win or lose a game. Parents can help children understand that good sportsmanship includes both small gestures and heroic efforts. It begins with something as simple as shaking hands with opponents before a game and includes the acknowledgment of good feats made by others.

Children who learn sportsmanship earn benefit from it. People who bully or taunt others on the playing field are not likely to change their behaviour in their day-to-day life. In the same way, those who practice good sportsmanship are likely to carry the respect and appreciation of other people into every other aspect of life.

Some sports have such rules that foster the sporting spirit in the players. For example, Football players shake hands after four quarters of knocking each other down. It is mandatory in Tennis also to shake hands with the opponent after the match. Boxers also have to touch gloves at the beginning of each round. All these examples show that these rules were probably made to promote and infuse the feeling of sportsmanship and healthy competition among the players.

One can demonstrate good sportsmanship in real-life situations by following certain rules. One should try to learn as much as possible about one’s sport or the field concerned. Rules of every game or activity should be followed. It should be learnt that every team member is an active member and has equal chances.

Encouraging words to the loser and acknowledgment to the winner is important in life. Last but not the least, one should learn to play for playing the game for its own sake not for winning only