CHARACTER COUNTS

A couple of tidbits from one of my favorite site that promotes the positive values that sports can help deliver to the nations youth. And it wouldn't hurt for some of the adults to re-visit some of the core values as well.
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FROM THE CHARACTER COUNTS WEBSITE:
http://charactercounts.org/
Vol. 8, No. 12 - December 2008

CHARACTER COUNTS! Sports, a project of the nonprofit Josephson Institute, leads the Pursuing Victory With Honor sports campaign, which is endorsed by the country’s leading amateur athletic organizations.

The campaign’s purpose is to help administrators, athletes, coaches, legislators, officials, and parents improve personal and organizational decision-making and behavior in sports.
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The Three Ethical C’s

In seeking to develop character in your student-athletes, focus on the three ethical C’s: commitment, consciousness, and competency.

Commitment. Encourage their desire to do the right thing. Stress the long-term personal advantages of being a person of character (trusting relationships, self-esteem, and peace of mind) and advocate that virtue is its own reward and that a person of good character is an objective that is worthy of attainment regardless of whether or not it produces practical benefits.

Consciousness. Enhance their ability to perceive and understand the moral dimensions of their choices and the applicability of ethical principles to concrete sports situations and to think about how their decisions will affect others.

Competency. Improve their moral reasoning in the way they evaluate facts; distinguish informed opinions from conjecture, speculation, and assumption; predict and consider unintended consequences; and implement decisions with tact and good sense.
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Our Real Character Is Revealed
When No One’s Looking

Although 43-year-old golfer J.P. Hayes has earned $7 million during his career, he struggled last year on the PGA Tour and plummeted to 176th on the money list, knocking him off the exempt list for 2009.

To earn his way back, he had to finish nationally in the top 25 of the PGA Tour Qualifying Tournament, which takes place in three stages. He had made it through the first stage, and last month was competing in the second stage at Deerwood Country Club in McKinney, Texas.

As he was readying for his second shot on the 12th hole of the first round, his caddie accidentally tossed him a different ball than the one he’d started his round with. Hayes didn’t notice and hit it onto the green. When he marked his ball, he saw it was different. If he reported the error, it would cost him two shots, which could throw his 2009 season into jeopardy.

He didn’t hesitate to call an official over. He finished with a so-so 74. He came back the next day, however, with a 71, which would have been enough to advance him to the third stage at La Quinta, California, in December.

But that wrong ball he’d used wasn’t done with him.

That night he realized that the ball was a prototype ball that Titleist had given him to test a month before. He thought he had removed all of them from his bag. Using a non-conforming ball is an automatic disqualification. If he called an official this time, he would be ineligible to play full-time on the tour next year.

He called an official in Houston that night. “I had no choice but to take my medicine,” he told ESPN Radio. “I have some people looking down on me who would have known.”

He hopes sponsors’ exemptions and his past champions/veteran members status will get him into some lesser tournaments next year. And a lighter year will allow him to spend more time with his family. “It’s not the end of the world. It will be fine. It is fine.”

[Journal Sentinel, 11/18/08; abcnews.go.com, 11/20/08]
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Media Scrutiny Can
Magnify Misbehavior

Is poor sportsmanship worse than ever? Two authorities say no. It’s just more visible.

“Athletes today cannot afford the same misconduct on (and off) the field as they once could,” wrote Nate Barnett, owner of Your Sport Guru, a sports information website. “That is why positive sportsmanship is so much more important in today’s technological society.”

He cites three reasons:
1.
Fifteen years ago, there were no cellphone cameras or YouTube. The capability to capture, upload, attach, and send video clips did not exist then. Today, someone is always is watching – and filming.

2.
Sports such as baseball are more popular today, and college and pro teams are pickier about which players to select. Result: If any phenom with baggage does something dumb, hundreds of kids are poised to take his or her place.

3.
Bad sportsmanship equates to mental immaturity. As kids progress, the sports they play get tougher and the pressures mount. The more mentally mature a player is, the better his or her chances to stand out and advance.

Hall of Fame quarterback and Heisman Trophy runner-up Don McPherson believes that increased media exposure has actually made college and pro athletes better behaved than in years past. “The athletes in my day would not be able to handle the media scrutiny,” he told the Oregonian.

Where misconduct has gotten worse, he says, is among youths. “If we don’t proactively teach what we expect out of sports, then the message of the larger sports culture is going to teach them something more dangerous.”

[ezinearticles.com, 6/3/08; blog.oregonlive.com, 10/20/08]