Anna Faszcza When Winning Is Not Everything

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Have you ever seen a player who lost their temperlost their temper [lose one’s temper]lost their temper as a reaction to a lost game?  Some competitors provoke their opponents or officials, use verbal abuseverbal abuseverbal abuse, toss their equipment, or angrily kick the ball. Such situations are pretty embarrassing to watch, for the spectators as well. This is called unsportsmanlike conductunsportsmanlike conductunsportsmanlike conduct and may lead to negative emotions and even violence. True sportsmanshipsportsmanshipsportsmanship, however, is about integrityintegrityintegrity, self‑control, and respect for all people involved in the game, from the players, coaches, officials, and spectators. It’s also about being honest not only to your teammates, but the opponents as well.

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One of the most memorable moments of sportsmanship was captured during the Turin Winter Olympics 2006. Canada, Sweden, Norway, and Finland were all contenders for the gold medalcontenders for the gold medal [contender for the gold medal]contenders for the gold medal in the Cross‑country skiing race. Actually, it was a highly contested gamehighly contested gamehighly contested game and there was very little difference between the leading teams. When the race began, Sara Renner from the Canadian team took the leadtook the lead [take the lead]took the lead but unexpectedly, her pole broke making it impossible to push through the snow. Consequently, she started to lose momentumlose momentumlose momentum and her position. Having spotted this disaster, a Norwegian head coach Bjørnar Håkensmoen quickly responded and rushed towards Sara to give her a spare pole. Thanks to his generosity, the Canadian team won silver while Norway dropped out of the medalsdropped out of the medals [drop out of]dropped out of the medals. “If you win but don’t help somebody when you should have, what win is that?”, Håkensmoen asked rhetorically after the race. This act of fair playact of fair playact of fair play and sportsmanship still represents pure classpure classpure class and stand‑out expression of human and sportsman spirit.

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Ungentlemanly fraudulent actsungentlemanly fraudulent acts [ungentlemanly fraudulent act]Ungentlemanly fraudulent acts like a foul, cheating, and breaking the rules or misconduct just to gain a desired advantage over the opponent undoubtedly violate the accepted rulesviolate the accepted rules [violate an accepted rule]violate the accepted rules and still take place in the world of sport once in a while. To discourage players from anti‑fair play, participants or an entire team might be penalised forbe penalised forbe penalised for bad sportsmanship. In tennis, for instance, there is a Code Violation which involves racket abuse, ball abuse, or distracting an opponent with shouting during a game. Penalties for such conduct include a verbal warningverbal warningverbal warning or losing of a point, game, or even a match. The phrase “unsporting behaviour” is quite frequently used in football. The codified rules are mentioned in the Laws of the Game, which clarifies the regulations of not only the game length or size of the pitch, but also the nature of fouls. A yellow card might be given as a caution or warning, while a red card means that a player must immediately leave the pitch. Taking off one’s jersey is also penalised.

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It’s not that easy to control and combat your stress and emotions when you're fighting for your dreams and are determined to win. It is said that a competitor who shows poor sportsmanship after losing a game is a “sore loser” and one who shows untrustworthy behaviour after winning is called a “bad winner.” That's why role models in sport are expected to create standards and represent proper behaviours. Leaders can surely show how to follow a sense of fellowshipa sense of fellowshipa sense of fellowship and be „a good winner” or „a good loser.” The aspirational ethos will always be combined with ethics, respect, and fairness.

1 Źródło: Anna Faszcza, licencja: CC BY-SA 3.0.