• Research shows that society has had an increasing amount of violent, unsportsmanlike activity from its athletes ranging from pros down to children.
• Research and studies by theologians, philosophers, professors, and coaches led to the creation of SPD*, an on-campus movement at Belmont Abbey College.
• By teaching coaches and athletes the following single specific definition of sport, we
are able to reinforce practices that foster respect for others in the classroom, on the playing field, and in the community. Definition of Sport:
• Sport = Competition
• When 2 opponents/people engage in competition, they agree to
unspoken contract that...
1. They will provide the best challenge possible for their
opponent
• By nature of this definition, Respect is inherent to the essence of sport. (When practiced by this definition, sport is properly directed)
• When practiced repeatedly through reinforcements integrated into training, games, performance, and the "work place" respect can be formed as a virtue. A virtue that is fundamental to human life.
*"Sport, properly directed, develops character, makes a man courageous, a generous loser, and a gracious victor; it refines the senses, gives intellectual penetration, and steels the will to endurance. Sport, rightly understood, is an occupation of the whole man, and while perfecting the body as an instrument of the mind, it also makes the mind itself a more refined instrument for the search and communication of truth and helps man to achieve that end to which all others must be subservient, the service and praise of his Creator." Pope Pius XII Sport at the Service of the Spirit
July 29, 1945