Jo Ann's Blogs

August 9, 2010

Sportsmanship

With Summer Slam only days away – I wanted to broach a subject that we all think about but sometimes surpress the urged to voice our opinions or we tell one another about it but never state them to the individuals that are involved. Be aware that this is my opinion and no one has influenced my writing of this article.

Sportsmanship – what this means to me:

• Providing encouragement to those that deserve it and supporting those who are on the threshold of accomplishment
• Being honest to be able to say that I have done everything right
• Playing by the rules of the game
• Respecting the feelings of others
• Using appropriate language
• Playing under controlled circumstances of the game
• Using teamwork without blaming one another for the outcome
• Being cooperative with other players and officials of the game

Let’s take each pointer and expand on it:

Providing encouragement – to me this means support your fellow players if they are doing well cheer for them if they are doing badly cheer for them anyway. You don’t know how this will help a person in an underdog position perform better if someone is there saying ok ____ let see you hit that hat trick, they may not hit it but you have just shown that you are supportive – if you say to yourself ah we’re going to lose, you’ve already put your mind in the losing mode and you will bring down your partner. As I say think before you say because you do not know how it will affect your partner.

Being honest – to me this is how all things should be – you do not do anything that could change the outcome of the game in your favor. You play it morally true no extra marks and if someone makes a mistake on set up correct it – the old saying cheaters never win is true because sooner of later it’s going to hit you that you were deceptive and bring down your game.

Playing by the rules – we know the rules and we should follow them, this shows that we are taking everything that we learned and applying them to the game so that it is an honest and true showing of your abilities. Players who play by the rules teach others to play by the rules.

Respecting the feelings of others – not only to your partners but to the audience as well. No one respects someone who is loud and profane or abusive to the equipment or their partners. We play this game as a team we either win as a team or lose as a team. It is a team effort good or bad. If you say something mean or derogatory to your partner are they going to want to continue to play with you? Probably not.

Using appropriate language – another aspect of respecting others. Profane language whether to yourself or others affects everyone around you. Most adults have heard bad language but it should not be used when involved in a competition. You may hate this person you’re playing but when you are in game mode all of this is non existence. It doesn’t matter what you think or if sand castles are being built – beat them honestly at their own game. You will have to step up to the plate but it is so much sweeter when you win without any incident or comments. Language is English refrain from using slang profanity or another language that multiple people understand.

Playing under controlled circumstances – all games or sports are controlled by the rules and regulations of the game. This means that we must stay clear on rules and play by them and win fairly.

Using teamwork – the fundamentals of any competive sport is working together as a team and not blaming one another for a bad outcome. At that point in time, you and your partner did not work together and lost or you did work together and won – it is the team as a whole who is the winner or loser. There should not be any remarks by either team mate on how well you shot and your partner wasn’t holding up his end. It was just a match – the next match should be better or could be worse but all in all it is the team per se that wins or loses not anyone person.

Being cooperative with other players and officials – no matter what the tournament officials have the final say. Their call on disputes are FINAL. No physical contact, verbal abuse or intent to harm another player is allowed on the tournament floor. No physical contact on sports equipment will be tolerated. There is ZERO tolerance when it comes to violations of these rules.

Think about it sports and games started because people got bored and wanted something to do, as people got into it – they started competing. Rules and regulations were incorporated, sports and games now determines winners and losers. Some people feel left out and others are bad sports. Sports and games are supposed to be fun, not to say you’re good at something, but good friends having fun.

I know that when we are taught physical sports that we are to be loud and aggressive to intimidate the other team or we have the caveman mentality of making loud noise such as snoring or yelling to scare off the animals that might hurt us or our families. In a game of darts we do not need this type of mentality because who are you scaring – everyone around you including your partner. How is this going to help the game you are playing when your partner is afraid of your reaction.

Let’s have fun and a good time when we meet at tournaments and play offs, no matter what we will meet each other again – is the money really that important over friendship, I think not, but like I said at the beginning this is just my opinion.

Aloha and thank you for reading my blog

Jo Ann Dowling