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Five Things to Tell Athletes About Playing Ethically

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Here is a list of key points that coaches should emphasize with their players. These messages and many other practical tips and guides are included in Josephson Institute’s Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit, an all-in-one resource to help athletic programs achieve sportsmanship and character-building goals. It comes in two versions – youth and high school – and covers everything from mission statements and codes of conduct to evaluation tools and ideas for rewarding players and coaches.

Although sportsmanship comprises a core set of values and behavior, substantial disagreement exists regarding the precise content of those standards. For example, coaches and athletes know they should behave in ways that justify and generate trust, but situations aren’t always black and white. Here are five guidelines to remember when faced with an ethical situation that isn’t clear-cut:

1. Honor the letter and spirit of the rules. An athlete should not use manipulative tactics or legalistic evasions to justify prohibited conduct. This includes rules regarding recruitment, eligibility, compensation, equipment tampering, and drug and alcohol use.

2. Don’t cheat. Cheating is deliberately violating the rules to gain an unfair advantage. In basketball and hockey, however, tradition permits a player to deliberately foul an opponent and take a penalty as a matter of strategy. This is not cheating.

3. Don’t deceive in communication or representation. A coach should not deceive an athlete, parent, or official at any time. Deceiving an opponent about your plans, however, is considered part of the game.

4. Don’t fake injuries. It is improper to fake an injury to gain advantage or extra time. There is disagreement, however, on whether it’s okay to fake being fouled or hurt (by flopping or writhing on the ground), to pretend a ball was caught when it wasn’t, or to try to convince a referee an opponent touched the ball last when he didn’t. The purest interpretation of sportsmanship precludes attempting to dupe officials into making incorrect calls.

5. Call plays against yourself. In volleyball, players are expected to call a touch if a ball hits them before going out of bounds and the official misses it. In tennis, etiquette requires players to correct an umpire’s erroneous call. In golf, a player is supposed to alert his opponents when he accidentally breaks a rule that incurs a penalty stroke.

Buy the Ultimate Sportsmanship Tool Kit here.


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