Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data 
Clifford, Craig Edward, 1951-Coaching for character : reclaiming the principles of sportsmanship / Craig Clifford and Randolph M. Feezell. 
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references (p. 108).
ISBN 0-88011-512-2

1. Sportsmanship--Study and teaching. 2. Coaching (Athletics)
-Moral and ethical aspects. I. Feezell, Randolph M., 1950-.

II. Title. GV706.3.C55 1997 796’.07’7--dc21 97-9534 
CIPISBN-10: 0-88011-512-2 ISBN-13: 978-0-88011-512-4 
Copyright © 1997 by Human Kinetics, Inc. 
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Acquisitions Editor: Jim Kestner; Developmental Editors: Marni Basic and Jan Colarusso Seeley; Assistant Editors: John Wentworth and Henry Woolsey; Editorial Assistant:Amy Carnes; Copyeditor: Bonnie Pettifor; Proofreader: Erin Cler; Graphic Designer: Robert Reuther; Graphic Artist: Angela K. Snyder; Photo Editor: Boyd LaFoon; Cover Designer: Jack Davis; Photographer (cover): Anthony Neste; Printer: United Graphics 
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Contents

Preface vi
Acknowledgments x
Becoming Reflective: An Invitation to Coaches xi

Part I ThInkIng abouT SPoRTSManShIP 1 
Chapter 1 Reflecting on Your own Experience 2 
A Challenge to Reflect 3
Respect Starts With You 3
Thinking About Reasons 5
Common Objections to Teaching Sportsmanship 5
Wrap-Up 7

Chapter 2 Sportsmanship and the nature of Sport 8 
Why Sportsmanship? 9 The Nature of Sport 11 Three Perspectives on Competition: Finding the Middle Way 12 Sport and Virtue 14 Sport, Good Judgment, and Self-Understanding 17 Sport, Humility, and Wisdom 21 Wrap-Up 24 
Part II ThE PRInCIPlES of SPoRTSManShIP 25 
Chapter 3 Respect for opponents 26 
Why Respect Opponents? 29 
Opponents Provide Opportunities to Excel 29
Human Excellence Is Worthy of Respect 31

Showing Respect for Opponents 32 
iii 
iv ◆ ConTEnTS 
Giving Your Best Effort 32
Avoiding Displays of Disrespect 33
Refraining From Gamesmanship 34
Celebrating Victory Respectfully 35
The Silver Rule 36
Rituals of Respect 37

Wrap-Up 38 
Chapter 4 Respect for Teammates and Team 39 
Why Respect Teammates and Team? 41
Showing Respect for Teammates and Team 43

Being Truthful About Abilities and Playing a Role 43
Making Individual Sacrifices and Playing a Role 44
Emphasizing the Little Things 45
Coaching and Intrasquad Competition 45
Team Rules and Team Unity 46

Wrap-Up 47 
Chapter 5 Respect for officials 48 
Why Respect Officials? 51
Showing Respect for Officials 54

The Norms of Civil Discourse 54
The Silver Rule 55
The Principle of Charity 56
Officials and the Level of Play 57

Wrap-Up 58 
Chapter 6 Respect for the game 59 
Why Respect the Game? 61
Showing Respect for the Game 63

Respect for Rules 63
Respect for the Spirit of Competition 65
Respect for the Spirit of Play 66
Respect for the Game’s Traditions and Customs 68
Respect for Achievement and Excellence 70

Wrap-Up 72 
Chapter 7 Respect between Players and Coach XX 
Chapter 7 Respect between Players and Coach 73 
The Role of the Coach 75
The Players’ Respect for the Coach 76
The Coach’s Respect for the Players 79

Knowing and Teaching the Game 79
Understanding, Teaching, and Exhibiting
the Virtue of Sportsmanship 80
Resisting the Temptation to Overcoach 83
Exhibiting and Teaching the Proper Balance of Playfulness
and Seriousness 85

Wrap-Up 86 
Part III ThInkIng abouT SPoRT and lIfE 87 
Chapter 8 beyond Sport 88 
Putting Sport in Perspective 90 
“It’s Only a Game” 91
Winners and Losers in Life? 92

Reconnecting Sport and Life 94 
The Virtue of Sportsmanship and the Virtues
of a Life Lived Well 94
Sport and the Virtues of the Mind 94
Sport: Escape or Revelation? 95

Wrap-Up 98 
appendix Suggestions for Teaching Sportsmanship 99 
bibliography 108 
about the authors 1 1 2 
about aSEP and the aSEP/nfICEP Citizenship Through 114 Sports Course 

Preface

It seemed inevitable that we would write this book. Anytime we talked, the conversation would turn to the topic of sport—and then, inevitably, to sportsmanship. We talked about trying to teach it to the kids we were coaching and the kids we were raising; we talked about watching its occasional display and its frequent absence in college and professional athletics. Expressions like “respect for the game,” “respectfortheopponent,” “respectforofficials,” repeatedlysurfaced. We apologized to each other forinvoking sportsmanship clichŽs inour conversations, until one day we realized that expressions that sound like clichŽs to us many young athletes today have never heard. 
Twenty years ago Gerald Ford remarked: 
Broadly speaking, outside of a national character and an educated society, there are few things more important to a country’s growth and well-being than competitive athletics. If it is a clichŽ to say athletics build character as well as muscle, then I subscribe to the clichŽ. (Ford, p. 247) 
A generation ago many people might have nodded approvingly when such views were expressed. Twenty years later it is difficult to be as charitable when thinking about the moral possibilities of sport participation. What are our children learning as they turn off ESPN and hurry off to practice? There was a time when they may have had the good fortune of watching Mickey Mantle trot around the bases after hitting a home run, head down so as not to show up the opposing pitcher, exhibiting a respect for his opponent and a humility and grace in relation to the traditions and reality of the game of baseball. Now what do they learn when they watch sports on TV? Respect for opponents? Humility? Grace? Loyalty? Hardly. It would be tedious to recite a lengthy list of the disturbing aspects of contemporary sports: bench-clearingbrawls,trashtalking,taunting,strutting,collegeathletic scandals, cheating, drug abuse—why go on? 
Acover story by columnist Robert Lipsyte in the April 2, 1995 issue of The New York Times Magazine even proclaims the end of American sports: 
Sports are over because they no longer have any moral resonance. They are merely entertainment, the bread and circuses of a New Rome. Nothing 
vi 
makes this more chillingly real than our current Babes: Mike Tyson and Tonya Harding. Two of the neediest, hungriest, most troubled and misguided young people in athletic history, they are the archetypal extremes of this frenzied, confused sports endgame. (p. 56) 
But merely bemoaning the situation is not enough. Something seems to have happened concerning the substance of our collective moral lives, in sports and in society at large—and some kind of response is called for. Indeed, the proliferation of recent responses indicates the growing concern. A former philosophy professor and Secretary of the Department of Education puts together a collection of moral stories, a book about virtues, for parents to read to their children. The book is a runaway best seller. A national news magazine trumpets the growth of a “politics of virtue” as politicians from both the left and right stress old-fashioned themes of moral character. The nation’s president proclaims national “Character Counts” week to promote the “six pillars of character”: responsibility, trustworthiness, respect, caring, fairness, and citizenship. On public television Dr. Laura Schlessinger lectures on “Character, Courage, and Conscience.” Even in the academic realm, ethics courses return to theclassical emphasis on virtue, and books with titles like Vice and Virtue in Everyday Life are widely adopted. 
In such a contemporary context, we think our book on sportsmanship is important and timely. We can’t expect children to do what is right if we don’t teach them. We can’t expect children to become good people unless we attempt to instill good habits in them and help them develop good character traits. Virtue, said Aristotle, requires practice. We contend that one can, and must, practice sportsmanship, just as one must practice a fast break, a base-running situation, or the timing for a poach in tennis doubles. But we can’t teach children sportsmanship and guide them in its practice if we don’t know what it is or why it’s important. While many have bemoaned the situation in today’s sports world, there appears to be little available in the way of a clear articulation of the basic principles of sportsmanship. 
Given the overwhelming numbers of young people involved in sports as participants, spectators, and fans, it is imperative to reclaim moral language for sport in order for this part of their lives to be charged with the possibilities of moral growth and excellence of character. Sport is not the only arena, but it can and should be an important one for practicing virtue. And it doesn’t just happen of its own accord. Sport can—and often does—inculcate the worst habits, the worst character. In 1962 Brutus Hamilton, the great track and field coach, said: “When ideals are obscured in amateur sports, then comes the danger of an athletic injury to the character of the athlete” (Wal
viii ◆ PREfaCE 
ton, p. 117). One thing is sure: How we conduct ourselves as players, coaches, parents, and school administrators will make its mark upon the kinds of human beings we are going to be. Sport is an expression of our culture; and because of the enormous importance we attribute to it, it shapes that culture as well. 
Being a good sport also requires proper perspective about what sporting activity is and what its central values are. In this sense, sportsmanshipinvolvesakindof wisdom thatrequires properinsight, right attitudes, and good judgment, as well as appropriate conduct. Sport can and should teach lessons, and such lessons can be crucial for self-understanding. As you will see, we believe that sportsmanship primarily involves respect—for the opponent, for teammates, for officials, for coaches, and for the game. The principles of good sportsmanship do not supply specific rules for behavior; rather, they supply the general guidelines and the context in which good judgment, relying on experience and understanding, can arrive at specific decisions in a meaningful way. It is precisely that context that seems to be missing in today’s sport culture. 
The thread that runs through the entire book is a philosophic return to the old-fashioned notion of sportsmanship as the unifying moral concept that describes good character in sport. We choose the word sportsmanship as our central concept after much consideration and muchdiscussionwithcoachesandex-coacheswho care aboutthe sorts of things we are trying to express. As for it being old-fashioned, we need a word that carries the weight of tradition, for it is our contention that we need to get back in touch with something we were once in touch with. We also hasten to say that the second syllable of the word sportsmanship should not be taken to exclude female athletes; indeed, it’s arguable that girls’ and women’s athletics has continued to place a far greater emphasis on sportsmanship than the male version. We occasionally resort to the expression “being a good sport,” but even that expression doesn’t have the resonance of the traditional noun. In an informal survey, we found several women’s basketball coaches, themselves women, who quite reasonably avoid the expression “man-to-man” defense but don’t hesitate to use the expression “sportsmanship.” Our position is simple: Excellence of character, on the playing field and in life generally, is just as important for girls and women as it is for boys and men. 
We hope this book will be useful as a basis for discussion and reflection about virtuous conduct in sport. We want this book to engage and provoke you, as well as guide and instruct. Throughout the book we provide questions and examples for further discussion and reflection. Admittedly, we tend to use examples from the sports we are most experienced in, but the general principles of sportsmanlike character derive from the nature of sport, not from a specific sport. We hope that you will come up with your own situations and examples from the sports we’ve devoted less time to—and reflect on them in light of the principles we articulate. We believe that something good happens to people when they engage in dialogue and reflection about important human concerns. Long ago Socrates argued that we should be most concerned about virtue and the greatest possible care of our souls. He exhorted his fellow Athenians to try, above all, to make themselves as good and as wise as possible. Reading a book on sportsmanship and thinking about such issues may appear to be a trivial response to Socrates’ challenge. Yet where else do we have such an opportunity to connect with young people in an area they care about and raise these questions again and again? Why not exhort young athletes to be as good and as wise as possible when they play their games, as well as in life as a whole? 

acknowledgments

Many of my colleagues here at Tarleton—in P.E. and athletics, English, Social Sciences, and even administration—offered encouragement and suggestions. It would be impossible to mention them all, but I’d like to single out a few individuals who offered detailed critiques of the early drafts of the manuscript. Reed Richmond, Tarleton’s sports information director, offered numerous examples to illustrate the principles we discuss. Larry Bicket filled the manuscript with remarks and suggestions, some of which were actually helpful. My colleague and wife, Mallory Young, as always, was my best reader and critic; and I thank her for suffering through yet another sports obsession. 
Other friends were remarkably helpful. Mark Sinnett wrote more on his copy of the manuscript than the copyeditor (no surprise coming from a Presbyterian mathematician-theologian), and we spent a fine afternoon discussing his suggestions. Monty McCutchen read the chapter on respect for officials and helped us gain the kind of perspective that we advocate. His idea that referees are the “reminders of our humanness” was a great capsule statement for that chapter. 
The students in my graduate Philosophy of Sport course in the fall of 1996 were enthusiastic guinea pigs, and they helped to come up with questions for our “Time-Outs for Reflection,” as well as suggestions for the appendix. Even Barry. 
Craig Clifford 
First, I am most grateful to my wife Barb, who listened to me, gave me moral support, and even helped with some of the typing. I want to thank the people who read the manuscript in its earliest form and offered encouraging words. Special thanks to Travis and Carol Feezell, both fine coaches, for good conversations about the book and some helpful examples. I also want to acknowledge many helpful conversations with my longtime friend and coaching colleague, Paul Davis. Finally, thanks to Evan for his indirect but important influence. 
Randolph M. Feezell 
Jointly, we would like to thank Bill Stephens of the Philosophy Department at Creighton for ferrying e-mail messages from the one of us who, technologically speaking, has entered the 20th century to the one who has not. 
Finally, we’d like to express appreciation to Jim Kestner and Marni Basic at Human Kinetics. Their professionalism and dedication to the importance of the project were admirable. 
x 

becoming Reflective

An Invitation to Coaches

Whether you are a new coach or a relatively experienced coach, you have probably used the term “sportsmanship” at some time or other. And certainly you’ve heard others use the term. Perhaps some sports-caster questions the sportsmanship of running up the score to impress the pollsters. Maybe a member of the school board questions the overemphasis on winning and the lack of emphasis on sportsmanship in contemporary sports. 
Buthaveyoutakenthetimetothinkcarefullyabouttheissuesinvolved? What is sportsmanship? Why is it important? How important is it? Am I teaching this value to my players? Would I ever be willing to sacrifice winning for the value of sportsmanship? Should I be? 
These are difficult questions that every coach must face. Have you taken the time to reflect carefully about them? As a coach you are now one of the most important people in the lives of many young people. You have a responsibility to those who listen to you and who look up to you. As a coach you are supposed to be a teacher, but have you thought about what your players are learning from you besides the fundamentals and strategies of your sport? We often talk about how important role models are for our children. Do you realize that many of your players may see you as a kind of role model? Are you comfortable with this? Does your behavior reflect the kind of person you want your players to be? 
In this book we want to help you think about these things, and we’ll offer suggestions for how you might apply your insights to your actual coaching. As we have said, these are difficult issues—among the most difficult any coach must face. They involve some perplexing questions, but they are, in some sense, unavoidable. As a coach you must face tough decisions about ethical matters daily, and many of these matters ultimately relate to your most basic views about the very nature of sport—why it’s important to you, why you care about it, and how it relates to the other things in your life that matter to you. 
While you can scarcely avoid the many situations in which you 
xi 
xii ◆ bECoMIng REflECTIvE: an InvITaTIon To CoaChES 
must make important ethical decisions, you can certainly avoid thoughtfully engaging these issues. This avoidance is what we want to challenge in this book. We want to challenge you to become more reflective about coaching. We want you to think with us. You may not agree with everything we say, but that’s natural. Our goal is not to preach, but to encourage and to help. We will encourage you to think for yourself, and we’ll challenge you to develop your own answers to these questions. We believe, however, that we can help you think about these issues and give you a framework within which you can make your own decisions and help your players grow, not only as athletes but also as human beings. The ultimate goal of ethical reflection is practical: it makes a difference in how you act, how you treat others, and in what kind of person you are. 
InpartI, “ThinkingAbout Sportsmanship,” we’llprovideafoundation for the rest of the book. In part II, “The Principles of Sportsmanship,” we’ll develop a series of principles derived from the foundation we’ve laid down in part I. These are the principles that we hope you’ll apply to your coaching. In part III, “Thinking About Sport and Life,” we’ll ask you to go beyond the playing fields of athletic competition and think about the relationship between sport and the rest of life. Finally, in the appendix we’ll offer some concrete suggestions for how you might go about teaching the principles of sportsmanship to young athletes. 
Some ofthe things we’llsayinpartImight seem somewhat abstract, but the principles of sportsmanship that we’ll offer in part II—respect for opponents, for the team, for officials, for the game—must be based on something. Otherwise, they will float about as nothing more than groundless recommendations. We believe these principles of respect are not merely our subjective impressions. Ultimately, the principles of sportsmanship are grounded in the very nature of what we’re about as players, coaches, and human beings. Thinking about sport, as we’ll see in part III, will inevitably lead us to the most fundamental questions about life. So bear with us—and think with us. The beautiful jump shot you had in high school won’t help you, but the tenacity and courage that you’ve developed in the heat of athletic competition will.