Integrity in Sports
We can play a sport or we can watch - spectate- at a sporting event. We can participate in or watch solo sports such as running or team sports. Many of us have participated in youth sports. At the highest most elite level most of us are spectators
So why do we watch and why do we participate? It is so easy to watch now that there is TV and other electronic means. We watch to be entertained, we watch to observe seemingly giant egos, very successful people. We watch at a family gathering. We watch to relax and take our mind off of ourselves for awhile. It is a diversion.
But that can't be quite all. After all why that particular form of diversion? Athletic competition is an ancient occupation. Why all the training, why all the sacrifice for an entertainment, a diversion? There are many other forms of diversion, a sitcom for instance. When we ask these questions it begins to be obvious that there is something unique about sports. It is in fact the constant training, the mental and physical focus, the goal orientation, the wholeheartedness that is demanded that is at the heart of the meaning of sport. It is not only a diversion it is a vicarious or participatory experience of what it takes to be champion.
The word athlete originally had the meaning of striving for a prize. When a team wins a prize there is a trophy awarded. When a runner wins a race he/she stands on a podium and in some cases is given a gold medal. As it has always been winning represents, dedication, sacrifice, determination, teamwork, practice, learning and skill development. But going back thousands of years writers have called our attention to two kinds of winning, that which fades and that which lives on and two types of awards, the perishable and the imperishable. There are really two types of rewards as Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying "All of the noise and all of the glamour all of the color all of the excitement all of the rings and all of the money. These are the things that linger only in the memory. But the spirit, the will to excel, the will to win, these are the things that endure." And as the apostle Paul stated "Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown." The real value of sport is as a metaphor for life. A clear illustration of principles that can be carried over into all areas of like. This is why love to see athletes overcome great adversity, it inspires us as to what could be. This is why we love to the beauty of movement or skill that is mastered.
There is a goal to win, perhaps to win at all costs.There is another goal to excel, to persevere to practice to learn to master. Cheating is rampant in sports. Anything in any form to give an edge to help assure a win. We can be disappointed when sports heroes turn out to have very little of the character that we might admire. We become cynical when it is all about money. But that doesn't change the fact that much can be learned from the discipline, dedication and practice that produce great victories.
The word athlete originally had the meaning of striving for a prize. When a team wins a prize there is a trophy awarded. When a runner wins a race he/she stands on a podium and in some cases is given a gold medal. As it has always been winning represents, dedication, sacrifice, determination, teamwork, practice, learning and skill development. But going back thousands of years writers have called our attention to two kinds of winning, that which fades and that which lives on and two types of awards, the perishable and the imperishable. There are really two types of rewards as Vince Lombardi is quoted as saying "All of the noise and all of the glamour all of the color all of the excitement all of the rings and all of the money. These are the things that linger only in the memory. But the spirit, the will to excel, the will to win, these are the things that endure." And as the apostle Paul stated "Now everyone who competes exercises self-control in everything. They do it to receive a perishable crown, but we an imperishable crown." The real value of sport is as a metaphor for life. A clear illustration of principles that can be carried over into all areas of like. This is why love to see athletes overcome great adversity, it inspires us as to what could be. This is why we love to the beauty of movement or skill that is mastered.
There is a goal to win, perhaps to win at all costs.There is another goal to excel, to persevere to practice to learn to master. Cheating is rampant in sports. Anything in any form to give an edge to help assure a win. We can be disappointed when sports heroes turn out to have very little of the character that we might admire. We become cynical when it is all about money. But that doesn't change the fact that much can be learned from the discipline, dedication and practice that produce great victories.
The word integrity has as one of its definitions adherence to a moral code and it originates from integer or intact. It is also related to the word integrate which is to blend into a unified whole. The idea of value to us is that a true athlete, a true human most of all integrates, blends into a whole the goal of winning with the commitment to and love of the process. The true athlete /human is the same on the inside as the outside, he/she is seeking the enduring prizes, the lasting rewards.
Don't we want our children to learn values from sport and yet don't some youth coaches go all out to win with little regard to lasting life lessons other than the score? Don't some parents want their children above all to be on a winning team and accrue all the possible benefits of winning? How many times do each of us pursue only an outward goal with little regard for what we might be learning along the way. Is it not time that society develops a different paradigm, a different way of defining fitness and success, a more integrated one?
Don't we want our children to learn values from sport and yet don't some youth coaches go all out to win with little regard to lasting life lessons other than the score? Don't some parents want their children above all to be on a winning team and accrue all the possible benefits of winning? How many times do each of us pursue only an outward goal with little regard for what we might be learning along the way. Is it not time that society develops a different paradigm, a different way of defining fitness and success, a more integrated one?
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