Sportsmanship

In an effort to emphasize coaches' responsibilities, the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has made ten rule changes in field hockey to reduce gamesmanship and improve sportsmanship.

One should not taunt an opponent - even by invoking Jesus.  Yet, that's exactly what one all-boy's Catholic school recently did, prompting an unfortunate reaction from the coach of their co-ed public school opponent. 

The practice of "preventive officiating", if executed well, can minimize the chances of game forfeiture, but there is no guarantee. Preventing forfeiture is squarely the responsibility of the coach and the players, says a high school basketball official.

In 1989, Spike Lee earned an Academy Award nomination for his drama, "Do the Right Thing."  As Douglas E. Abrams writes in this month's installment of his series, Youth Sports Heroes, more than 20 years later, the command perfectly describes the noble split-second decisions made by three pairs of high school athletes and their coaches who set a standard of sportsmanship in following their best instincts to do what was right. 

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The winning-is-everything philosophy of youth sports is a major reason why children have such low moral reasoning abilities: in an environment in which winning is paramount, our children internalize the value that it is acceptable to do anything to win, even if it means intimidating officials, cheating, bullying teammates, breaking the rules, intentionally injuring an opponent, or faking an injury to get a time out.