Teach and reward good sportsmanship

By Tom Arnett

Serena Williams’ expletive-laced tirade against a line judge at the U.S. Open is yet another sad commentary for those of us in the business of promoting the dying virtues of sportsmanship and character in sports.

It seems that for every story we hear of athletes giving back — such as quarterbacks Colt McCoy and Tim Tebow doing volunteer work in Peru and the Philippines, respectively — we hear many more stories of bad sportsmanship, violent behavior and friction among teammates.

In examining what some have called the “death of sportsmanship,” we’ve first got to acknowledge the complicity of the media, who peddle stories of jocks gone wild to a voracious public, in creating this perception.

These stories dominate the headlines — Brett Favre’s divisive presence in the Vikings locker room or Williams’ recent outburst, for instance — while stories of charitable donation are lucky to make the back pages.

Whether the media’s focus is a true reflection of the state of sportsmanship or simply an attempt to attract an audience, sports culture as a whole is brazenly high-stepping into an era of individualism, trash-talking and a win-at-all-costs myopia.

We have an obligation, however, to learn from recent events and use them to educate our young athletes about the importance of appropriate conduct, both on and off the field.

This month saw the start of the new college football season. Tacitly acknowledging the precarious shift away from sportsmanship, the NCAA encouraged coaches and players alike to shake hands with their opponents before the game, an admirable if half-hearted measure as part of their wider sportsmanship initiative.

But even before the first game had kicked off, Oklahoma State head coach Mike Gundy announced that his team would forgo the pregame handshake, fearing that the gathering of opposing players before the game could devolve into a benches-clearing brawl.

For those teams who did participate, this token gesture of sportsmanship didn’t necessarily set the tone for the games that followed.

In the media coverage of Oregon running back LeGarrette Blount’s attack of an opposing player, the pregame handshake was reduced to no more than an ironic plot point in the lead-up to the postgame melee. Blount was, after all, one of the players chosen by his team to shake hands with his opponents before kickoff.

As opportunistic journalists, fans, and school administrators rush to bemoan the decline of sportsmanship in the aftermath of Blount’s transgressions — seemingly oblivious to their role in fostering a culture in which such behavior has become commonplace — we must instead create a road map for restoring sportsmanship across all levels of organized sports, from youth-oriented Pop Warner to the NFL.

The truth is that sportsmanship is a learned behavior, and is no different from other virtues such as kindness, strong work ethic, mental toughness and perseverance. It must not only be taught at an early age, but reinforced at every stage of an athlete’s development.

A college or pro athlete who has previously shown no inclination toward sportsmanship cannot be reborn as a role model simply by being forced to shake hands with his opponent. Good behavior must be taught and rewarded, just as bad behavior must be discouraged and punished.

Athletes competing at the pro or college level must be cognizant of their responsibility as ambassadors of both their sports and their teams, and should have the proper training and experience to recognize such responsibility.

The journey toward character development, however, must begin with parents and coaches. From the very first time a young athlete steps on the playing field, he or she must be taught a proper code of conduct.

Sports are one of our most effective means of character development, and whether a player has aspirations (and corresponding talent) to play at a higher level is irrelevant. The values learned on the field — resilience, hard work, team ethic and healthy competitiveness — will shape the athlete for the rest of his life.

As shocking as LeGarrette Blount’s actions were — and I am hard-pressed to think of a more egregious display of poor sportsmanship by a college athlete — we must use this as an opportunity to make character a focal point of organized sports.

Just as Latrell Sprewell’s assault of coach P.J. Carlesimo 12 years ago led us to re-examine (however temporarily) the appropriate conduct of pro athletes, Blount’s mistakes can provide a similar impetus for a renewed emphasis on sportsmanship. We cannot let this opportunity pass us by.

Just days ago, Blount was viewed as a surefire NFL draft pick. And though his actions almost certainly cost him millions of dollars he would have made as a first- or second-round pick, the sobering reality is that he will probably still get his chance to play on Sundays.

As we’ve seen countless times before, some desperate coach, whose job security depends far more on wins and losses than the character of his players, will take a chance on Blount and hope that the young running back can be “rehabilitated.”

We’ve seen it before with Maurice Clarett, Lawrence Phillips, Christian Peter, Marcus Vick and many, many others. It’s the nature of the beast, as talent so often supersedes all else in the eyes of professional sports franchises.

We live in a country of second chances, and it serves little purpose to dwell on the negatives. Instead, we should be shining the spotlight on the many positive role models in sports, while at the same time teaching the professional athletes of tomorrow the core values that we stand for.

Tom Arnett is executive director for Athletes for a Better World in Atlanta.