Why Sportsmanship Matters

by: Ioanna Aspras

It's pretty much inevitable that as one gains more success, popularity, and wealth, they start to neglect to follow the unspoken expectation of sports: sportsmanship.

An example of this is the very well known Cristiano Ronaldo. Even if you don't watch or follow any soccer, you know the name; which just proves how famous and popular he has become. However, this has translated into him basically believing that he is superior and untouchable. Although, his recent behavior is proving that untrue.

A few weeks ago, Chris Lopes, '23, wrote an article about Ronaldo's current situation, which you can read here. To reiterate, the Manchester United player has not been happy with the decision of their manager, Erik ten Hag, to keep him on the bench for some games, and so, during their game against Tottenham Hotspur, he reacted by walking out before the final whistle was blown. He has very publicly indicated that he is quite unhappy with ten Hag and his place on the team, which is felt mutually by the manager. However, due to his poor and exaggerated behavior, other clubs don't seem to want him either.

This raises the topic of sportsmanship, or lack thereof. Just because Ronaldo is so well known and wealthy from all the years he's been playing, should not give him the right to disrespect and think lower of others. This is something that seems to not be brought up or thought about at the professional level. This may be because professionals know how they should be acting, or it just doesn't seem to matter as much as in the lower levels.

Even though at the professional level, it becomes more competitive, sportsmanship seems to be more on the forefront of our high school level minds. Especially here at Wooster, with the pillars of being "Gentle, Generous, Truthful, Kind, and Brave," we truly strive to be good sports and treat other teams and players with respect. Unfortunately, not all schools do the same in return.

I wanted to hear from fellow Wooster student athletes on their perspectives and experiences with sportsmanship, so this is some of the responses I got:

Cara Costigan '23

When asked why sportsmanship should be important, she said "Sportsmanship is important because it allows players to play the sport to its fullest potential. Sportsmanship also builds character, a sense of teamwork, discipline, and honor in the game. I think Wooster prides itself on being known for good sportsmanship because of the values instilled in us from school."

I also asked if she had any positive or negative moments that she had witnessed would like to share: "[One] girls lacrosse coach used to call timeouts in games with a minute left when they were up by 10 goals or more. That was a bad experience. Forman School has always had good sportsmanship and used to award our players with good sportsmanship with the Forman Award. This is random but came to mind: last week in a Wooster GVS game, I was being a ball girl and the ref turned away from the game because a girl was down and hurt, and Presley had the ball but it went out of bounds before the ref stopped the game. After the injured player was off the field, the ref asked the players whose ball it was. Presley admitted it was the other team's ball and the ref applauded her for good sportsmanship."

Presley Damiano '23

"Sportsmanship is important for fair play. It also shows a sense of respect, and safety-wise, it's really important. It allows you to be competitive in a safe environment."

"A negative experience I've had was an incident with the other team's coach that was directly screaming at me. It got to the point where their players were actually trying to injure me, so I had to be taken out for my safety."

"When I play soccer, I strive to play by the rules but also have good sportsmanship no matter what. One game, I had the ball and a girl on the other team got kicked in the face but the whistle was never blown. So, I scored but immediately after I went to check if she was okay. I had to keep playing, but I also knew to do the right thing."

"Another positive moment, I remember, is something I saw online. It was a professional women's soccer game and one of the players wore a hijab. At some point, the hijab was starting to come off, so players from her team and the opposing team surrounded her to conceal her as she fixed it."

Sophia Cilento '23

"Sportsmanship is important at all levels because everyone's there to play the sport they love. I don't understand why people get so aggressive, especially in professional leagues because it's their job, everyone's there for the same reason, why do some people have to take down others?"

"In my experience, there were probably tons of negatives that I've witnessed, but over time you learn to brush it off and to take the high road. A specific one I distinctly remember is during a lacrosse game, there were three opposing fans directly behind the goal, and they were yelling at me, Cece, and Ava. At one point, I ended up taking the ball from the sideline, and a girl from the other team ran into me and fell--not my fault at all--and I still played the ball because the ref told me to. Then, I just heard such mean comments being yelled at me by their fans."

"A positive moment I remember was during Cross Country; at the Wilton Invitational this fall. I remember watching Hanna and another girl running together for the whole race. Near the end, Hanna got the opportunity to pass her by a very small margin and at the end the two of them hugged. It was amazing, because they were the top two and even though Hanna beat her, they were truly in it together the whole time."

After writing this, I continued to get more responses, so stay tuned for Part 2!