Good Sportsmanship Before All Else
Posted: Tuesday, January 26, 2010
by Ellen McCormick
"Out!" the referee shouted. My team threw their gloves up in the air. Our coach was smiling – it was a double play that would win the game. I was the only one who knew that Number 8 was safe: no one had seen me fumble that catch. I wanted to please my coach; I wanted to make my team proud and to win the game. But I knew that wasn't enough. "Fair play and good sportsmanship before all else. That's where a sports true greatness lies." That's what my coach always told us. Today kids start playing sports as soon as they can walk. Even before they are able to carry a conversation, we find little children competing to see who can throw a ball further or harder. Very soon, this innate desire is directed into organized sports leagues, and starts to shape the child's life. The shape it gives is based largely on the coaches' example. The coach is the one who can best show the players that there's more to sports than the air of energy and cheering crowds surrounding a good game. There is more than the good plays and the final score. There's a way of living, "an ideal of life, courageous, positive, optimistic" as John Paul II, an athlete in his youth and a man who loved sports to the end, would state. Coaches, who deal with the kids during games, warm ups and practices, who state the rules and decide how the team will play, have the duty to use their influence to help the players develop these values and noble aspirations.
Any player serious about a game tunes out all noise and distractions when on the field. A player on second base may hear the crowds going wild and shouting at him to take third. But he waits… In spite of the din, he can distinguish perfectly well the voice of his coach – "Stay there," and he stays. The coach has a natural ascendancy over his players. For the child, he is not just a coach, but a hero, someone to imitate and follow. If the coach is upbeat and positive, focused on playing well, the players will follow suit and these good dispositions will carry over into daily life.
As I looked at my coach, I knew that I couldn't let him down… and I knew that I would be letting him down even if he never found out what had happened. "No, wait." I ran to the infield and turned to the referee. "I fumbled the catch. Number 8 was safe." I felt my cheeks burning as my team put their gloves on and went back to their bases. I looked at my coach. He seemed puzzled for a moment, and then threw me a smile. "Good call, kid!" And he slapped me on the back. I remember this coach with gratitude every time I find myself in a pinch, struggling to do what I know is right. "Good sportsmanship before all else…" With his words and example, he taught me much more than baseball; he made the sport an ideal of life.
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