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Here is an informative page I found dealing with the issue of sportsmanship, well worth a read. Though this has to do with RL sports, it can be adopted really for any competition real or virtual.
NATIONAL SPORTSMANSHIP DAY TUESDAY MARCH 1, 2011
http://www.internationalsport.com/nsd/index.cfm
http://www.internationalsport.com/nsd/guideposts.cfm
THREE GREAT GUIDEPOSTS FOR BETTER SPORTSMANSHIP
NSD founder and author Dan Doyle offers three guideposts for encouraging and maintaining good sportsmanship. The guideposts are the Five Principles of Honorable Competition, The Dirty Dozen, and the Nine Rules of Competitive Self-Restraint.
GUIDEPOST I: The Five Principles of Honorable Competition
1. Respect the game. This includes showing respect for opponents, referees, coaches and fans.
2. Play by the rules, and within the spirit of the rules. Don’t try to get away with cheating or taking shortcuts just because you think no one will notice or catch you. The only real victories are honest victories, untainted by cheating or gamesmanship.
3. Play your best, and understand that doing your best does not mean embarrassing or humiliating your opponent.
4. Don’t punch back, play harder. When provoked, an athlete should ascend to the highest level of honorable competition by increasing focus and intensity, not by reacting in an undisciplined, unproductive way.
5. Employ competitive self-restraint – play hard but with self-control.
GUIDEPOST II: THE DIRTY DOZEN
1. Fighting, even if another player starts or attempts to start a fight.
2. Any form of cheating, such as dishonest line calls or fouls.
3. Gamesmanship tactics, including harassment, heckling, trash talking, or other questionable methods to gain competitive advantage.
4. Scolding, bullying, teasing, or humiliating one’s teammate. At times, high school and college players, especially team captains, appropriately exhort or chastise other teammates, but this is different from simply scolding a youngster who is less skilled or makes a mistake.
5. Arguing with referees, coaches, teammates or fans.
6. Blaming others for your personal errors.
7. Throwing tantrums or otherwise displaying anger after a mistake, loss, or poor performance.
8. Selfish behavior, including ball hogging, bragging and failure to respect team rules.
9. Intentionally aggressive physical acts which are not part of a competitive, fairly played game. This includes contact intended to hurt someone, illegally stop or impede a player, or retaliate and get revenge.
10. Confrontational stances or faces conveying an “I dare you” or an “I can intimidate you” attitude.
11. Extreme attention getting or self-congratulatory posturing after a touchdown, home run, or basket. This is different from hugging or congratulating a teammate.
12. Profanity or vulgar language.
GUIDEPOST III: The Nine Rules of “Competitive Self-Restraint”
1. There will be times when you get bumped, hit or shoved. Be prepared for such possibilities, and try not to take them personally or allow them to upset you.
2. Whether you are accidentally or intentionally hit, tripped or hurt by someone, do not hit back, retaliate or argue with other players.
3. You must step back and let the officials and coaches deal with any problems. When stepping back, avoid confrontational eye contact, posturing or nasty comments, because they can provoke a fight.
4. Very few athletes play well when they lose control. If you become angry, upset or hit someone, negative consequences could result, including:
· Hurting another player or yourself.
· Losing your focus on the game.
· Embarrassing yourself, your team, your coach, and your family.
· Getting penalized or kicked out of the game.
· Getting suspended from future games.
· Getting kicked off of the team.
· Disrupting your team’s concentration.
5. Self-control requires mental practice to prevent being caught off guard when an incident occurs.
6. Practice the “don’t punch back, play harder” motto. Whenever you are provoked in a practice, scrimmage or game, repeat this motto to yourself.
7. Never use profanity or trash talking when addressing other players, coaches, officials or spectators. Such tactics could spin out of control and provoke a fight.
8. Never assume it is acceptable to copy poor behavior of sports professionals, whether it is fighting, verbal or physical intimidation, or arguing with others. Athletic skill alone does not make someone a true role model. A true athletic role model is one who combines athletic skill with good sportsmanship, good character, self-control and hard work.
9. Play as hard as you can, but within the rules. |
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Thanks Jack! I stumbled across this quote just this morning, seems to fit the theme:
| Character is doing what's right when nobody's looking. |
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