Perseverance in Sport

Today's blog entry was written by TJ Jones.  TJ is a senior Film, Television, and Theater major and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching Class. TJ is also the co-captain on the Notre Dame Football team.

As an athlete, I played multiple sports growing up, all the way up till I enrolled in the University of Notre Dame. Regardless of which sport I was participating in at the time, sportsmanship and perseverance were always emphasized and encouraged by my coaches.

There is a running back named Marcus Lattimore that played for the University of South Carolina for the past 3 years. He was the #2 running back in the country coming out of high school and a Top 20 player overall. The expectations for him were literally sky high, and he seemed ready to step up to the challenge.

For the majority of his collegiate career, however, Lattimore was plagued by serious injury. Marcus blew out both of his knees within a year of each other. After coming back from his first knee injury and being the leader on the Heisman list, he blew out his other knee. Only this time doctors told him that he’d never be able to play football again and would be lucky if he was able to walk. This was painful news seeing as he was expected to be a first round draft pick in last year’s draft after exceeding expectations as to how he’d recover from his first knee injury.

When Lattimore hurt his knee a second time, viewers could see that his leg appeared broken in half at the knee, which was turned the wrong way. The clip of the injury was replayed only a couple times because the seriousness of the injury was nauseating to many. Both teams surrounded Marcus on the field as he was lifted onto a cart and driven off the field. All players and fans cheered him on because everyone knew how he had struggled and persevered to overcome his previous injuries. 

Despite being told he may never walk again, Lattimore never let that deter him from achieving his dreams of playing in the NFL. Due to all his injuries he entered the 2013 NFL draft as a junior. His hard work and dedication to rehabbing his leg allowed him work out for teams before the draft, which involved some light running, ladder drills, and weight exercises. This showed scouts that he was determined to be able to play again and to not give up on him. Ultimately, Marcus ended up getting drafted by the San Francisco 49ers, and when asked why he kept persevering, he said it was because one day his children would see all he went through to be successful.

Marcus Lattimore wearing a San Francisco 49ers uniform.

Overall, I think Marcus Lattimore's story shows that athletes can exercise sportsmanship for one another-- even in the heat of battle. When serious injuries happen to nationally known players such as Marcus Lattimore, sportsmanship is not only vital but more common, because every player has a fear of never again being able to play the game they love due to injury. This story also shows how Marcus persevered through his entire ordeal and was still able to achieve his dream of playing in the NFL, which is an example of anything being possible if you just believe in yourself. 

The Ties that Bind

Today's blog was written by Meg Ryan, a senior accounting major in the Social Foundations of Coaching class taught by Play Like a Champion Today co-directors Clark Power and Kristin Sheehan.  Meg is also a member of the Notre Dame Track & Field and Cross Country teams. 

Imagine helping your opponent mid game. Should this be penalized? Or should the rules of the sport take precedence? After reading a recent article that has made national news this past week, this question came to mind.

Earlier this month in Saudi soccer, Al-Nahda and Al-Ittihad were playing a close match. Al-Nahda’s goalkeeper received a back pass from his teammate and realized his shoe was untied. He tried to get the referee’s attention because he would not be able to re-tie his shoes with his goalie gloves. Al-Ittihad’s striker noticed the issue and bent down to do it for him. What seemed like a great act of sportsmanship and great care for his opponent took a twist. The referee blew his whistle and ruled that the goalie had taken too much time holding the ball while his shoe was being tied. The crowded roared and both teams protested. The referee awarded Al-Ittihad with an indirect free kick on the edge of the box. Although the score was tied 2-2 and it would be a great opportunity to take the lead, the Al-Ittihad kicker intentionally missed the goal.



Two main acts of sportsmanship happened in this one short example. First, a player on the opposing team saved the goalie and tied his shoe instead of taking advantage of the goalie’s weakness. Second, the kicker chose decency over glory when awarded the free kick. He certainly could have taken the shot but he opted for sportsmanship instead.

The goalie reached out and shook the hand of the helpful striker.

This was a great example of sportsmanship and the real question deals with an idea that is not black and white. Should the Al-Nahda goalie have been penalized? Certainly the game was at a standstill with the Al-Ittihad striker deciding to help the opposing team. The crowd was roaring and applauding the action, and it was an act that would allow the game to continue in a fair way. However, the official strictly applied the rules of the game: in soccer a goal keeper cannot hold the ball for more than 6 seconds before clearing the ball out of the box. As a result, he rewarded the opposing team a free kick to penalize the goalie. Although, the rules of the game are of utmost important, I think there are certain situations, such as the one displayed above, where the rules can be bypassed. Both teams came together and neither was hurting the other team, making a penalty unnecessary. Sportsmanship is extremely important in sports and in this case since there was no true, unfair disruption the official should have let the goal keeper clear the ball from the box and let the game resume. Sportsmanship verses rules is not clear cut but I do believe that sports are a competition where athletes should respect and help their opponents, not get penalized for doing so.

What We Can Learn from the Miami Dolphins Scandal

Today's blog post is written by Clark Power, Professor of Psychology at the University of Notre Dame and co-founder of Play Like a Champion Today.  The blog first appeared on the Huffington Post.

For almost a week now, allegations of hazing and bullying have rocked the Miami Dolphins football team. In response, Dolphins players have defended Richie Incognito as a "team leader" and Jonathan Martin's mentor and friend. Martin, not Incognito, was the problem. Martin was "standoffish," lacking in mental toughness, and unwilling to pay his dues like other rookies. Martin's worst offense was walking out on his team and making his grievances public. He ratted out a teammate and revealed his lack of character by failing to work out his issues with his teammates in the locker room. Is Martin really the victim here or a crybaby, not fit for the rough and tumble world of the NFL?

The debate swirling around Martin has gone well beyond the sports pages and involves far more than the "code" of the NFL locker room. At issue is the responsibility of those who have power to look after those who are marginalized because they don't seem to "fit in." I am talking about the responsibility of not only NFL owners and coaches but also of athletic directors and coaches. I am talking about the responsibility of athletes who wield power in their peer groups and who can turn a whole group against an individual at the slightest provocation. We all know their "victims." They are the children, adolescents, and young adults, who have endured taunts, ridicule, and exclusion because they stuttered, dressed out of style, were socially awkward, or got "A"s in class. What price should they be asked to pay to be accepted into the group?

I have spent most of my career as an educational psychologist, working with teachers and more recently with coaches to address the cultures of the classrooms and teams. Left unattended, I find that classroom and team cultures can become uncaring and even cruel. Under the direction of morally aware teachers and coaches, however, they can become welcoming and engaging. In an ongoing study funded by the Templeton Foundation, we are finding that at in the early adolescent years sports teams are on the whole more successful at discouraging bullying and encouraging inclusiveness than classrooms and even religious groups. One reason for this appears to be that sports teams tend to engender a sense of family that extends to everyone regardless of athletic ability or friendship group. Of course, the cultures of sports teams vary widely according to the coach. Many coaches embrace the role of moral leadership and look after all of their players. Sadly, some coaches ignore the social dynamics of the locker room or are themselves bullies, who punish and demean their players under the guise of "motivating" them or toughening them up for the next level of competition.

I know of no research that shows that punishing or demeaning others is a successful strategy for goading them to higher levels of achievement. I am afraid that we all too often allow the end of winning to excuse the means of intimidation and abuse, and we too easily confuse incivility and conformity with toughness and loyalty. The discussion over the culture of the Dolphins' locker room will, I hope, lead us all to greater clarity about the moral principles that ought to inform the relationship between the group and individual and between those who have power and those who do not. How we evaluate the Dolphin's team culture will have consequences that reach well beyond the NFL locker room.

Sports and Religion

Today's blog entry was written by Andrea McHugh, a senior co-captain of the Notre Dame Women's Volleyball team.  Andrea is a Film, Television and Theater major and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching Course.  She is the President of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes.

Do sports and religion go together? Should they go together?

For the past couple of years, I have been trying to figure out what it would look like to combine sports and religion. As a volleyball player and a follower of Jesus, I strive to encourage and inspire the people around me through my faith. I interned with Fellowship of Christian Athletes two summers ago where we tried to figure out what it would look like if we played WITH God instead of for Him?  Any athlete would ask questions like, does this work? Is it possible? Would that make sports less competitive? How does that play into sportsmanship? I can tell anyone that it does not make sports less competitive because Jesus was the type of guy that strove for competitive greatness and wants us to do great things through our sport in addition to the talents He has given us!  Sports and religion can go together, and in my opinion, they should.

One of my best friends plays volleyball at Biola, which is in the NAIA and located in Southern California. I am not able to attend her games in California, but I am able to watch from my bedroom through a computer screen. Recently, the match that I had happened to be watching was the NAIA match of the week. Biola and Concordia were the number 3 and 2 teams in the division and were both undefeated. Both teams played hard every point and competed to the best of their ability. Sadly, Biola ended up losing after in four sets (in volleyball it is best 3 out of 5), which gave them their first loss of the season giving them a record of 15-1.

However, the most striking (and exciting) event of the match happened right after the last point was scored. After both teams shook hands with one another they joined each other in the middle of the court and said a prayer together thanking the Lord for the match, the talents He has blessed each individual with, and His outpouring of continual love and grace on them. I was completely blown away by this, yet I think it’s the perfect example of what it means to express sportsmanship along with what it looks like to combine sports and religion.

Sportsmanship is certainly overlooked a lot during sporting events these days. But, if someone is not a good sport it will be talked about for days and days. Coming together and acknowledging your opponent after a win or loss shows a lot about your character. Its important to display good sportsmanship. Coming together to pray after a game is something that is almost unheard of today in most divisions, but I think it would change the face of sports as we know it.

Bonding or Bullying: Does Hazing Build Character?

Play Like a Champion co-founder and director Clark Power is a professor of psychology at the University of Notre Dame and has a blog on the huffington Post.  Today's post can also be found on his blog.

Over the past few days, allegations of bullying and extreme hazing have rocked the Miami Dolphins football team and the NFL in general. Although few defend Richie Incognito's alleged treatment of offensive line teammate, Jonathan Martin, some NFL players have blamed Martin for deserting his team and publicly criticizing a teammate. FOX Sports NFL Insider Mike Garafolo reported that some Dolphin's coaches knew about the hazing and thought that it might help to toughen Martin up. Many NFL players and former players support that view. Football is violent game and requires extraordinary mental as well as physical toughness. Moreover, enduring hardships together builds lasting bonds of friendship. To some, Martin appears selfish, weak and whiny. They argue that others have put up with all kinds of harassment, and ask why he feels that he is special and how he can be so disloyal to his team. The complaints against Martin appeal to a commonsense view of character development and are deeply rooted in American culture.

I hear these arguments routinely in the clinics that I give to youth and high school coaches of all sports as well as in the class that I give to teachers and school administrators. They certainly ring true on one level. We live in a rough and tumble world. We can't count on others looking after us or caring about our feelings. We have to develop a thick skin, earn what respect we get, and wait our turn to boss others around. Above all, we have to learn to be loyal to those who hold power.

As an educational psychologist, I have been fascinated by how quickly children learn how to adapt to the cruelty and insensitivity of elders, as well as peers. We know a great deal about the resilience that children can develop in the most adverse of circumstances. However, the fact that those children can develop the inner resources to hold up under oppressive conditions should not be used to minimize the evil or the harm that they are forced to endure. We know that children and adults suffer when their basic sense of dignity is assaulted by repeated acts of degradation and humiliation. Persons, whether they are children or adults, have an inalienable human right to be respected. True bonding is built on mutual respect, not on fear and coercion.

Discussing concrete cases helps to expose distorted views of loyalty and toughness that protect those in power at the expense of their victims. There are many young athletes playing at the high school and college level who feel incapable of walking away from abusive peers and coaches (however benign their intentions may be) for fear of prematurely ending their sports careers. We should acknowledge abuse for what it is and take decisive action to root it out-- without having to wait for another Jonathan Martin.

 

Spirit of the Game

Kelsey Fink is a senior Chemistry and Mathematics major at the University of Notre Dame. She is a captain of the Women's Ultimate Frisbee Club, and a student in the Social Foundations of Coaching course.

"Spirit of the Game. Ultimate relies upon a spirit of sportsmanship that places the responsibility for fair play on the player. Highly competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of mutual respect among competitors, adherence to the agreed upon rules, or the basic joy of play. Protection of these vital elements serves to eliminate unsportsmanlike conduct from the Ultimate field. Such actions as taunting opposing players, dangerous aggression, belligerent intimidation, intentional infractions, or other 'win-at-all-costs' behavior are contrary to the Spirit of the Game and must be avoided by all players."

This is an excerpt from the Official Rules of Ultimate: 11^th Edition. Ultimate Frisbee, for those of you who don’t know, is played without referees. Although pick up basketball or backyard baseball may also be played without refs, Ultimate is different. It maintains a competitive level and organized rules as would any professional or collegiate sport. And it has been doing this for over 30 years.

Members of the Notre Dame Ultimate Team practice on campus.
Photo Credit: Maggie O'Brien, The Observer

Even in championship games, Ultimate Frisbee is still self-refereed. This unique aspect of the game instills special characteristics that all athletes should have: honesty, respect, control, and sportsmanship.

Honesty. If you are self-officiating an Ultimate game, everyone participating needs to be honest. If you won a game due to a bad call, the taste of victory would not be as sweet as to knowing you achieved it fairly. Without honesty, one cannot even hope to understand the concept of Spirit of the Game.

Respect. Spirit of the Game results from mutual respect between two teams. As the Golden Rule states, “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” If your team is making the most absurd foul calls on your opponents, you can guarantee that they will start to do the same to you. This negative attitude is not what Ultimate is about.

Control. People make bad calls in Ultimate. It happens. But you cannot be physically outraged if this occurs. Another unique aspect of Ultimate is that when a foul is called, the involved persons can talk it out, coming to an understanding. One team I constantly played against over the summer would start yelling at us whenever we called a foul. Not only did they lose control, but by doing so they lost our respect. They just had to learn to breathe, gain control of their emotions, and listen to our side of the story.

Sportsmanship. Whenever an Ultimate player thinks of “Spirit of the Game,” they immediately think of sportsmanship. In the end, that is what Spirit of the Game is all about. By learning honesty, respect, and control, athletes become more sportsmanlike. Athletes learn to balance their competitive nature with their inherent character values, making Ultimate one of the most honorable sports. Furthermore, teams notice when others have good spirit. You compliment those teams, and they might even win the “Spirit Award” that some tournaments offer. Those are the types of impressions that stay with you.... their spirit, not the outcome of the game.

By abiding by the Spirit of the Game, athletes learn core sportsmanship-like values that may not only be carried over to all other sports, but to other aspects of life as well. In the end, many people may still think of Ultimate Frisbee as a “hippie sport,” and maybe it is. After all, we are a bunch of young adults who just like to play hard, compete honestly, and just have fun.

Members of Notre Dame's Ultimate Frisbee Clubs