To me there is almost nothing greater in athletic competition than acts of sportsmanship. There are so many virtues found in sportsmanship and there are usually an incredible number of positive ramifications that flow from these actions. Fairness, generosity, respect, kindness and even love for one another go hand in hand with sportsmanship. My personal motto in athletics (as well as business and relationships) is “Any victory accomplished without integrity and sportsmanship is in fact no victory at all.”
Many popes have addressed the importance of sportsmanship in recent memory. In 2017 Pope Francis encouraged football champions to be models of “Loyalty, honesty, harmony and humanity.” He implored professional athletes to “show balance and respect for the rules” as he stressed how much influence they have on young people.
In his address to the FIFA World Cup he stated “Sports, above all, is a tool for communicating values that promote the good of the human person.”
Pope Benedict in his address to Italian athletes before the 2012 London Olympics stated, “Any sporting activity requires loyalty, respect, solidarity and altruism. The athlete who lives this experience pays full attention to God’s plan for his life through his training and competition, seeing God in his teammates and adversaries.”
St. Pope John Paul II, who was a fine athlete himself, emphasized that “Athletes must practise the virtues of temperance and sacrifice while having respectful attitudes, the appreciation of the qualities of others, honesty, and humility to recognize one’s own limitations.”
Even Pope Pius XII commended sport in 1945, writing “Sports, properly directed, develops character, makes a man courageous, a generous loser, and a gracious victor … all in the service and praise of his creator.”
All of these Church leaders have also seen sport as education, which has led to many conferences on sports and the laity including the 2009 seminar “Sport, education, faith: towards a new season for Catholic sport associations.
While the dark side of sports is usually highlighted (much like bad news in society often makes up the news) there are many examples of excellent sportsmanship. Here are just a few:
- Former Grand Slam tennis Champion Andy Roddick let thousands of dollars slip through his hands when at the Rome Masters he lost a match that he had already won. His opponent Fernando Verdasco double faulted on match point against him, giving victory to Roddick. Except Roddick thought the serve was good and gave him the point. Verdasco ended up coming all the way back to win. Afterward, Roddick insisted he had done the right thing.
- The Vancouver Canucks have been involved in several games in which prominent players playing their last game were honoured by the opposing team at the final buzzer. The Calgary Flames came on to the ice to congratulate Trevor Linden, the Edmonton Oilers honoured the Sedin twins, while the Canucks did the same for the Oilers’ Ryan Smyth.
- Canadian cross-country ski coach Justin Wadsworth handed a ski to Russian athlete Anton Gafarov who broke his at the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi.
- In 2016, Boston Red Sox pitcher Steven Wright felt so badly about hitting an opposing batter that he checked on him between innings and sent him a gift after the game.
- Players on the ATP tennis tour are often gracious in post-match press conferences after a loss, praising their opponents’ performance. The top players on the men’s side, namely Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, and Novak Djokovic, lead the way in this respect.
In my own kids’ sports experiences I see many good examples within coaching at the local level, but that wasn’t always the case. One incident I was very proud of was when one of my son’s baseball coaches told the team they will not shake hands with the opponents after the game because of his dislike for the opposing coach.
My son did not listen and went ahead to shake their hands anyway.
I hope we all remember the real purpose of sports, as our popes have reminded us, practising and preaching sportsmanship.