Sportsmanship And The Game Of Life
Episode description
My daughter who is twelve participates in a variety of different sports, and activities. She is attending middle school right now and is involved with cheerleading both at the school and community level. What never ceases to amaze me is that every sport hands every participant a book on sportsmanship. In other words how should we treat members of the other team and our fellow teammates? What is even more interesting is that you get the feeling that the behaviors like respect, and responsibility, kindness, caring, and other character qualities are only deemed important when the individual is on public display because they don’t want to make the team look bad. As an example one handbook reads:
All students who represent ___________ School on an athletic team are expected to conduct themselves in such a manner as to reflect credit upon ________School.
I think what is a concern here are the words; on an athletic team. Suppose you are not on an athletic team? Student’s need to work on reflecting credit upon themselves, that will in tern help credit the school for contributing to the student’s life. Listen in as Jim explains why sportsmanship should be a way of life and not something that is ceremoniously displayed on a field or a court.