Sportsmanship

A coach plays a massive role in shaping the culture of a team. If a coach instills values of sportsmanship, integrity, and respect, the team will likely hold those values close by. On the flip side, if a coach instills a ruthless mentality that is ill-willed, a team will more likely follow suit. Therefore, a coach impacts how his/her team interacts with refs, opposing teams, and teammates. By using positive reinforcement, leading by example, and creating an environment that promotes integrity, respect, and hard-work, coaches help their athletes become better people and players.

The role of coaches changes with team/player age. Coaches who operate in youth sports often act as educators and mentors. At the youth level, focus tends to be on skill development, teaching the importance of teammate chemistry, teaching sportsmanship, and that alike. At the high school and college level, the role becomes more of character development and how to handle demanding pressures.

Phil Jackson, the former NBA coach of the Chicago Bulls, has books and podcasts where he talks about how he coached his team and how he was able to lead them to multiple Championship victories. Since he was coaching at the NBA level, he didn’t have to focus on player development; rather, he focused on getting his team to work together. To get a team to work together, he had the opportunity to help his players become better people. In becoming better people, they became closer as a team and were able to leave an impact larger than themselves.

There are numerous actions a coach can do that models positive sportsmanship, but I will speak on the three actions I believe are most important for a coach to embody.

1. Every coach should hold respect for opponents and officials. If a coach remains respectful, even in the face of a bad call, it reinforces the idea that the game should be played in a place of integrity and groundedness, not in a sway of emotions.

2. There should be an emphasis on ethical decision-making. An example of this that CU Boulder, among other teams, embodies is raising your hand after a foul is called on you. It takes ownership of the call and helps normalize sportsmanship.

3. There should be an emphasis on accountability & fair play. There should be clear expectations on sportsmanship that ensure the team consistently acts in accordance with the virtues they seek to embody.

@misc{wisniewski2024sportsmanship,
  author = {Wisniewski, Kyle},
  title = {Sportsmanship},
  year = {2024},
  month = {mar},
  howpublished = {\url{https://www.kylewisniewski.com/library/sportsmanship}},
  note = {Essay}
}