Good Sportsmanship

Are you a good sport?

We all want to win, we all want to be the best and we all want to succeed. But where is the line between competition and being a bad sport?

How do you handle losing? I tell my son he has won, he tried his best and completed the task, he won. He may not have came in first place, but he didn't give up because he wasn't in the lead. In essence the not giving up is the winning attitude I want him to have.

You can "lose" even if you come in first place. An example of this is bragging. Bragging is unsportsmanlike conduct and when I catch my son doing it, I explain that to him and he usually will apologize.

"You cheated!!" Is another example of unsportsmanlike conduct. If he cheated and won, it's ok. He needs to work on his integrity a little more. But you need to work on yours as well if you yelled out this sentence. It's ok to not come in first, and I know you feel "cheated" however, you still won, you finished the race, and it's ok.

People who are good sports become people who are fun to play with. Think back to your school days. The kid that tackled you because you beat him wasn't fun to play with. The kid that ran to the teacher tattling that you ran instead of crawled wasn't fun to play with. The kid that ran instead of crawled wasn't fun to play with. Even though you were playing you needed to follow the rules, that's part of your character.

Be polite, don't talk trash about the other team. No name calling, "losers" is uncalled for. Don't show off, do your best, the rest will fall into place. Don't break your focus, keep your eye on the prize and compete. Be fair, have integrity and follow the rules. You can compete and be fair at the same time. I like to end the contests with a "good game" congratulate the winners as well as the losing team. You're all winners in my book.

My thoughts, play fair. Have fun and teach the younger generation the rules of the court. Always congratulate yourself for a great day. In the end, we're all in the same race, the race called life, so make it count.