by Scott Shaffer

Created on: May 30, 2008

It has been said that sports is a mainstay of our society, and that we can learn a great deal by what our society believes based on how we play during our games. With that being said, look at your attitude toward sports and think about what message you are sending to our youth as you play.

It would be easy to say that in Sports across America we want to establish the concept of Fair play when we step onto the playing field. However, we all know that "Fair play" is something that has to be taught, and taught at a very young age, for the concept to take hold in a person. How many times can a child sit and listen to a parent complain about what an opponent did or how we curved the rules so we could win at all costs. The idea of Fair play is one that we, as athletes, have heard about. Maybe we even hope in our hearts that we are fair minded enough that if the opportunity arises, we would rise above conflict and show that we are fair and impartial in our playing. How many times have we seen the arrogant person on the field taunt the other team or destroy another individual with a total annihilation of the opponent in an effort to show that that individual or team is so much more dominant than the other? What message does this send? When a child is given examples of fair play it is more often than not that they will grab onto that example and use it in their own lives. By showing the attitude that we can play at a level to beat someone while allowing that person to learn we are instituting fair play and much more than that, we are allowing all involved to enjoy the sport. All too often if we encourage the idea of domination we are destroying the very desire for a person to play the sport if they are the one being dominated. I have heard too often how a child decided that he or she didn't want to continue in a sport because they could never win.

Teamwork is another concept that has been beaten, battered, and abused in our society. Let's face it, the individual is the hero of the game, not the team. The parent often touts his child's accomplishments over that of the teams in an effort to promote that individual. The fact that there were 9 or 10 other players on the field at the time doesn't seem to matter, as long as that one individual collects the accolades and the honor, we are ok with this. Also, if a parent decides that there child is more important than the team, the blinders come on and we fail to realize that that child may not be the best on that given day to

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