THE SPIRIT OF SPORT: EXPLORING SPORTSMANSHIP AMONG PHYSICAL EDUCATION STUDENTS

This research was conducted to explore the perception of physical education students in a Philippine school about sportsmanship. It particularly dealt with respect (1) for the opponent, (2) for rules and officials, and (3) for social conventions. This research used a qualitative descriptive method of research, with survey-questionnaire as the main data gathering tool. It was adapted from a valid and reliable instrument known as multidimensional sportspersonship orientations scale. In regard to respect for social conventions, participants perceived themselves as people who rarely congratulate the opponent, and infrequently shake hands with the opponent’s coach when they lose. Respect for the rules and the officials got good scores. Respect and concern for the opponent got low scores. They professed that they rarely do necessary actions when an opponent is unjustly penalized, hurt, or forgets his or her equipment. To achieve victory does not solely undermine character. It can be a good avenue to harness physical improvement and love for the sports. However, when the virtue of sportsmanship is discounted and forgotten, the result can be disadvantageous or even disastrous. Conclusions and recommendations were presented.

One Does Not Fit All: European Study Shows Significant Differences in Value-Priorities in Clean Sport

Doping violates the Spirit of Sport and is thought to contradict the values which underpin this spirit. Values-based education (VBE) has been cited as a key element for creating a clean sport culture across age groups. Culturally relevant VBE requires understanding of the values that motivate athletes from different countries to practice their sport and uphold clean sport values. WADA's new International Standards for Education makes this study both needed and timely. Overall, 1,225 athletes from Germany, Greece, Italy, Russia, and the UK responded to measures assessing their general values, Spirit of Sport values, and their perceived importance of “clean sport”. MaxDiff analysis identified the most important values to participants based on their respective country of residence. Correlation analysis was conducted to assess the relationship between importance of clean sport and Spirit of Sport values. There were significant differences between participant nationality and their perceived importance of clean sport [F(4, 1,204) = 797.060, p < 0.000], the most important general values (p < 0.05), and Spirit of Sport values (p < 0.05). Moderate positive correlations were observed between the perceived importance of clean sport and honesty and ethics (r = 0.538, p < 0.005) and respecting the rules of sport (r = 0.507, p < 0.005). When designing the values-based component of anti-doping education programs, athletes' different value-priorities across countries should be considered.

Sport, Social Justice, and the Limits of Dissent After George Floyd: A Reply to Butterworth

Michael Butterworth’s lead article in the August-October special issue of Communication & Sport raised important insights about unity within sport. This reply argues that those insights were encumbered by a blind spot: Where Butterworth critiqued examples of unity that minimized the agonistic spirit of sport, he gave free pass to calls for unity on behalf of social justice. My reply works through examples of dissent from protests that marked the sporting landscape following the murder of George Floyd. Specifically, I consider the case of Rachel Hill, an attacker for the Chicago Red Stars of the Women’s National Soccer League, who elected to stand during the national anthem while her entire team kneeled in solidarity with Black Lives Matter. Hill’s “tinted dissent” poses difficult questions for Butterworth’s theorizing about the merits of rivalry and sporting agonism: Thinking beyond the national anthem, how might Hill’s decision to stand, and the backlash she endured, reveal a troubling totalizing logic within calls for social justice? Can our scholarship make space for dispositions that strive to understand, and not solely critique, the strange dynamics of power that pervade sport? How should instances of dissenting athlete-activism be judged?

EDUCATIVE ASPECTS OF DOPING PREVENTION IN SCHOOL-AGED CHILDREN AND ADOLESCENTS

The aim of this study was to provide an overview of doping prevention strategies in school-aged children and adolescents. To preserve the spirit of sport, the Anti-Doping Code requires that each anti-doping organization should develop and implement education and prevention programs for athletes, including the young and support staff. Education programs that encourage respect, equity, and inclusion, are closely related to fairness and should be implemented in school-aged children. The focus on school-aged children is essential, since early adolescence is a critical stage associated with a distorted body image (muscle dysmorphia), which in turn can lead to deliberate use of prohibited substances (mostly androgenic anabolic steroids) or methods. Since adolescents are focused on the "here" and "now", the conception of anti-doping programs should emphasize the adverse effects of doping at the early stage of use, as well as a high probability of health consequences. Encouraging prevention should raise awareness of the recipients about adverse effects, which in turn should produce anti-doping behavior. Moreover, the goal of preventive actions should be the development of self-esteem, which equals the observance of rights and values of other people, and the ability to refuse through the strategy termed "A way to say: No".

ANTI-DOPING PROGRAMS IN CONTEMPORARY SOCIAL AND EDUCATIONAL CONTEXT

Anti-doping programs are implemented for the purpose of preservation of the essential value in sports, which is often termed „spirit of sport“ and represents the foundation of Olympism. Therefore, doping is fundamentally opposed to the spirit of sport. Anti-doping programs directed towards the children aged 8 to 12 years have a teaching character, with the aim of the education about the values of respect, equity, and inclusion. During the last three decades, the use of doping substances by adolescents and individuals who cannot be recognized as athletes in accordance with the World Anti-Doping Code has become a significant problem in modern society. Physical education teachers and sports coaches should have special training to be able to recognize behavioural symptoms in their students or clients as potential users of doping substances. All the adverse effects of doping substances use on physical and psychological health should be explained in detail in a plastic, vivid, and concrete way, stressing the seriousness and long-lasting nature of these effects. Since the use of doping frequently starts in the period of early adolescence, the education to fight it should be introduced as early as the school age.