Teaching Sportsmanship: Leading By Example
We all want our kids and players to play competitively. We want them to push through adversity and achieve in their sport. AND we want them to have fun doing it! A big part of that athletic experience is the atmosphere in which kids get to play. Teaching sportsmanship and expecting it from athletes and their community makes for a healthy and morally strong high school experience.
Sounding a Warning
I was reading through the most recent edition of Athletic Management magazine, and I came across a half-page article tucked away on the bottom of page 9, called “Sportsmanship: Sounding A Warning.” It’s been a while since I really thought about sportsmanship as an important part of high school sports; it might be that the crowd at my son’s school is tamer than at other schools.
The idea behind the article was that coaches and athletic directors were taking up the idea of penalizing fans for bad behavior at games through a warning system, similar to that of soccer. It’s a flexible system, and schools who choose to adopt it can decide on their own expectations, penalties, and enforcement of the policy.
Basically, when a fan engages in inappropriate behavior (like yelling obscene phrases, or repetitively targeting a specific player on the opposing team), administrators can give the fan a “yellow card” warning.
The first warning is just that: a warning, letting the fan know that they need to shape up if they want to attend the rest of the game. If that behavior continues or that fan causes trouble in a different way, the administrator can show them a “red card” and have them removed from the event.
Hopefully, your school’s fan base doesn’t have a “rogue fan” problem, and the stands are full of school spirit and positive energy. Being competitive can certainly be included in that pep: rooting on your team and challenging the opposing team is fun! But as a coach or an administrator, your main role isn’t always to let the fans have fun: it’s to build community and build character.
How Sports Become Citizens
Coaches and administrators are role models on the sidelines (or in the dugout, or on the court). Players and fans emulate your behavior, and as a coach or admin it’s your job to set the example for what’s accepted and what is not.
Let’s go back to providing a healthy high school experience. High school can be tough. For kids, you’ve got any number of different pressures from peers, parents, and even the competitive nature of the sports that they love to play. As the coach or the AD, you’ve got a pretty large amount of control over the sports environment in which these kids play, and the atmosphere they’ll be able to compete in.
Teaching sportsmanship to players and fans accomplishes several things. Yes, it can help keep the playing environment positive and encourage the “fun” of playing sports over raw competitive drive. But it also builds strong communities, and fulfills one of the responsibilities of high schools: creating good citizens.
It’s way too hard to define what being a “good citizen” really means – I certainly won’t try to define it in this article. But I think we can all agree on some of the traits that kids should pick up during their high school years: a respect for people around them, the ability to accept a defeat and move forward, and the ability to celebrate a win with humility.
These character traits can all be learned through a connection to high school sports, as a player or even as a fan. The challenge is trying to convey these important lessons to the kids themselves, especially those who might be earning themselves yellow cards more often than you’d like.
Be the Good Sport You Want to See
Plenty of schools recognize that teaching sportsmanship early on is important: the Minnesota State High School League (MSHSL) uses a thorough reference guide and plan which they call the “Good Sport Program.” This guide lays out objectives, recommendations, expectations for member schools, a timeline for the year, example templates for announcements, and more. If your school doesn’t have a dedicated sportsmanship plan or is looking to work on that in the future, the “Good Sport Program” is one of the best resources we found online.
“Good Sport Program” Example Logo
So let’s say you’ve got the resources, the plan, the dream for a healthy and positive community. Now what? Now it’s time for coaches and ADs to step up and be the example for the student body to follow. We’ll say it again: as a coach or an administrator, your main role isn’t always to just let the fans have fun. It’s to build community and build character.
That doesn’t mean just talking about sportsmanship with kids and sending out recommendations for parents in a newsletter: it means being the good sport you want to see your players and fans become. It’s about always treating opposing teams and their staff with respect, even in the face of negativity. It’s about the handshake with the opposing coach after a loss, and that same respectful handshake after a big win.
Kids pay attention to their leaders, and that’s exactly what you as a coach or AD needs to be. It’s also what you need their parents to be! Having separate discussions with parents about good character will make for a teaching system on two fronts: on the field and at home.
In the end, we all want our kids to enjoy playing sports, enjoy being cheered on by the crowd, and to leave high school as better sports and better people.
As VP of Sales, Tom Bowen’s focus and philosophy to the customer base is to help build the best possible solutions for their needs while providing the utmost in customer satisfaction. Tom has lived all over the United States, now calling Birmingham, AL home, where enjoys time with family, watching and playing sports and helping others.