Putting Ethics Back into Sports
We have heard it since we were children. School
athletic programs help students learn sportsmanship and unselfish team
behavior. They build character. But do sports really do that
anymore? You wouldn’t think so by perusing the flood of
news reports on athletes these days. It appears at times that
athletes from high school to professional sports consider
themselves above the standard of acceptable behavior. Let’s go
back to the beginning of the school year:
September: Roberto Alomar spit on an umpire after
a disputed call in a playoff game and was suspended–at the beginning of
the next season.
October: University of Rhode Island President
Robert Carothers ordered his university’s football game against
the University of Connecticut forfeited due to unacceptable behavior by
numerous players, stating: “This is about community standards. This is
about character.”
November: Little more than a year after winning a
national collegiate basketball championship at the University of
California, Los Angeles, the team’s coach was dismissed for “ethical
violations.”
The cases have continued at a steady clip
throughout the year, from betting scandals and assault
charges to the antics of Dennis Rodman. A popular radio station in the
Los Angeles area has even instituted a segment called “athlete arrest of
the day.” Is this what sports have come to?
Professional athletes, college athletes, and,
yes, even high school athletes are role models. Younger students follow
their lead and model their behavior. What, then, is the standard of
behavior we are willing to accept? And how will we tailor our athletic
programs to ensure that we convey the appropriate expectations?
Years ago, when concerns about the academic
progress of athletes became an issue, the 2.0 grade point average and
other standards of academic competence were instituted in nearly every
athletic association and school district in the country.
Scholar-athlete programs and similar incentives supported the idea that
athletes must be able to compete academically,as well as athletically.
The National Collegiate Athletic Association Clearinghouse was
established with minimum academic requirements to ensure that athletes
could be successful in the classroom as well as in their
athletic endeavors as they moved from high school to college. In short,
things were done to help overcome and alleviate the problem.
The issues today center around sportsmanship,
character, and ethical behavior in athletics.Students nationwide still
believe that sports and athletic programs offer them unique
opportunities. In Minnesota, for example, the state high school league
has released the results of a survey of 4,800 athletes. Ninety-one
percent of them said that students who participate in
school activities tend to be school leaders and role models; 92 percent
said that participation in school activities provides an opportunity not
found in a regular classroom setting to develop self-discipline.
Many schools have done self-assessments of their
athletic programs, critiqued those of others, and tried to apply the
best ideas to improve the ethical behavior and sportsmanship of their
student-athletes. The Florida High School Activities Association has
developed the “Thumbs Up to Sportsmanship” program, which rewards good
sportsmanship among its athletes, coaches, and spectators. In Dallas,
“Character Counts” week has been instituted, with the focus for students
and athletes on the importance of being a SMORE (not the treat made from
graham crackers, marshmallow, and chocolate, but a “Student Modeling
Responsible Behavior”). The Dallas model includes six pillars of ethical
behavior: trustworthiness, respect, responsibility,fairness, caring, and
citizenship.
Ethics education can be controversial, but there are certain
values we all can agree are common and should be taught and
reinforced in our schools: Honesty, responsibility, and respect,
for example, are valued as characteristics essential to a civilized
society. They may be rooted in family upbringing, religious
training, strong role models, or a combination of all of these,
but they come basically from the individual. Whatever term we
use–ethical behavior, values, character,
sports-manship–schools have to take a stronger stand in
imparting to student-athletes the high value they and society in
general place on developing such fundamental personal
characteristics.
Two critical factors will ensure a high-quality, ethically sound
athletic program on our campuses. First, we must provide
Are the coaches controlled, well-mannered, and professional,
or do they use profanity, scream at the game officials, and lose their
composure easily? Do they exemplify good sportsmanship, or is it “win
at all costs”? Are the athletes treated with respect or as tools to
further the coach’s goals? Does the administration support and exemplify
the goals of the program, including holding the coaching staff
accountable, or do school officials look the other way when ethical
violations occur? It is ofutmost importance that high ethical standards
are modeled by authority figures.
Occasionally, situational ethics drives some
coaches’ and administrators’ behavior. They rationalize breaches in
ethical standards because “everyone else is doing it,” or the pressure
to win takes priority over character. Are we ethical only when we are
ahead in a contest and the outcome is not in doubt? Only when it is
convenient? If student-athletes are collecting unsportsmanlike penalties
or personal fouls at an unacceptable rate, or one or more of the coaches
are continually “misinterpreting” the rules, the red flag should go up.
Conversely, if an athletic program and coaching staff possess and
display high levels of good sportsmanship, that fact should be
reinforced and rewarded.
The second critical factor is the communication
of expectations. What should parents expect from the program? From the
coach? What are the expectations we have of the athletes and their
parents? The ideal time to answer these questions is at the very
beginning of a season. Certified educators have a code of ethics. Most
official associations have codes of ethics. There is certainly nothing wrong with an athletic program’s having a code of ethics or
a sportsman’s creed. It helps set the tone for the expectations of
all participants.
( refer to Gene Bedley’s “Athletes Pledge” at this web site)
Specifics about the athletic program should be
communicated to parents and athletes. What is the mission of the
program? Why does it exist? What are the standards of conduct for
athletes, parents, and spectators? How can parents address their
concerns regarding the program? What are the eligibility standards? What
are the chances for scholarships? All of these should be on the table
from the beginning of the school year. The final step is to put all of
these program standardsand beliefs on paper–and then live up to them.
If we believe that athletic programs are an
integral part of the high school experience and not just an “extra”;
that the most important result of competition is not winning, but the
development of lifelong values and skills; that sportsmanship leads to
positive athletic experiences; and that students are the highest
priority in an athletic program, then we must all move quickly and
decisively to reinforce a faltering truism: Sports do indeed build
character.
Rob Voors is the assistant principal at Temple
City High School in Temple City, Calif., and is responsible for the
supervision and administration of its athletic programs.