3. Stacked Teams
In one of our classes we had substitute teachers, the students got to choose their own teams for a game of volleyball. As a result the teams were unfair or ‘stacked’. A group of boys got a team together; all of them were sporty and have a lot of skill in the game. Where as the other teams were made up of a mix of both genders and different skill levels. This created no fair competitions because the boys were determined to win had had the advantage to do so. I was on of the other teams and it was boring as the games ended quickly.
4. Sledging/ Psych-out opposition
Over the term while we have been playing volleyball individual higher skilled players often made nasty remarks such as ‘you won’t hit that’, ‘miss it’ and ‘you suck’ towards opposition. This intimidates the opposition making them feel as if they can’t do and ruins any confidence they had for the game, others just ignore the rude unneeded comments. I have been against psych-out opposition and when you do something wrong you do feel embarrassed but it’s all part of the game and shouldn’t be taken to heart.
Task 2: Article Discussions
1. Go on, be a sport
The article “Go on, be a sport” discusses bad sportsmanship in Australian teams and how it shapes the Australian identity. One of the stories in the article was when Australian Cricketer Adam Gilchrist ‘walked’ in a world cup semi-final saying it was time players took responsibility. I agree with the article, bad sportsmanship is a disgrace in Aussie sporting teams.
Task 3: “What matters the most – winning or playing the game?”
The following statement “What matters the most - winning or playing the game” means people can either play sport to win or play for the fun of it because they like the sport. This essay will discuss sportsmanship, gamesmanship, fair play, ethics and values, playing by the rules and role models implicated in sport. As well as why playing the game fairly matters more than playing to win the game.
People play sport for a number of reasons; the main ones either to win or for the fun it and to keep fit. Sportsmanship can be defined as “sportsmanlike conduct, as fairness, courtesy, being a cheerful loser, etc.” On the other hand Gamesmanship is defined as “the technique or practice of manipulating people or events so as to gain an advantage or outwit one's opponents or competitors”. After that you can see sportsmanship is playing the game for fun and gamesmanship is playing to win.
Fairplay and ethics and values are alike - they are both behaviour you should acquire whilst playing sport. Fair play is the honourable action of competing according to the rules of the game e.g. fairness and politeness. The most important terms that are used to define ethics are: respect, integrity, justice, fairness and equity. In sport playing ethically includes to stay positive and don’t worry about your mistakes. While values in sport can be defined as having loyalty, sacrifice, equal opportunity and free speech for your team. While playing sport, value is accepting and forgiving your team mates mistakes and draw backs.
Playing by the rules is the big one, if you don’t play by the rules you get disqualified it’s that simple. If you play by the rules you gain a lot of happiness rather than to cheating and winning. When a sportsperson plays sport professionally they want to win, rigging the game also known as cheating is one of they ways some of them get to this. Though do you think they would gain much from cheating? No, this also shows viewers of the game that rigging the game is okay.
Famous sportspersons are role models for everyone by performing unacceptable gives a bad impression on all ages. Children might copy your actions so when playing sport you have to think about other people not only yourself. When you’re determined to win you forget about everyone around you. In the FIFA world cup, 2006 Ghana’s goal keeper missed the ball in their final game. The opposition than won the world cup. A few days later the goal keeper was murdered. This just goes to show how low some people act when it comes to winning in sport.
The sporting career has faced some good to bad times. Though when playing sport you have the two options winning or playing the game. In the end playing the game fairly definitely matters more then having your mind set on winning. By playing a game with great sportsmanship and ethics and values you are being a good role model.
References:
- Ethics in Sport [Online] 2010 – last update. Available: ezinearticles.com/?Ethics-in-Sport&id=1921824 [Accessed 7 Nov. 2010]
- Values of Sports [Online] 2010 – last update. Available: ezinarticles.com/?Value-of-Sports&id=1301733 [Accessed 7 Nov. 2010]
- Definitions: http://dictionary.reference.com/ [Accessed 7 Nov. 2010]
Values and Morality in Sport Jade Hemmings -
