Sports actually means the physical activities
that people love to participate and enjoy plus it also makes them
healthy in the process. People who want to involve in sports should
try to be organized, skillful and should also be committed to
fair play. People usually indulge in sports activities for fun
and to get the physical exercise that they need to stay healthy.
Sports make people cross cultural barriers and speak a language
that is understood by all. The World Sports Congress, held in
New Delhi, emphasized that sports could play a major role in promoting
and propagating peace, provided one understood the spirit of global
participation and the philosophy of sports. This philosophy of
sports is based on the assumption that a “game will
be played in the spirit of the game”. Rules of
decency and decorum will on no account be violated by all those
related to sports. The spirit of sports is to embody a combination
of qualities such as fairness, courtesy, generosity, grace and
decency or in one word ‘Sportsmanship’.
Sports does not simply involve players, spectators, sports authorities,
media, sponsors, in fact each and every group or faction that
is even remotely associated with sports is a fundamental part
of an event. And all of them, then, are expected to maintain a
code of conduct and nurture the sporting spirit.
Sportsmanship does not mean only taking part in sports and playing
the game in conformity with the rules prescribed, but also playing
the game of life in the spirit imbibed on the playing fields.
A true sportsman is he who observes all those rules in life
which he has been taught to observe in games. One who has achieved
skill or proficiency in games but does not learn to apply the
principles of sports to life in general does not deserve to
be called a sportsman. On the contrary, a man who gives evidence
of possessing a sporting spirit in games is still a sportsman.
Usually those who play games develop into true sportsmen because
their character is molded by the training they are given on
the field.
It implies fair play. Just in games if any player plays foul,
the side to which he belongs is penalized; similarly in the
bigger game of life one must always be fair in one's dealings
with others. Fairness, honesty, integrity, openness of heart
and frankness -these are the qualities that a sportsman must
display in life. One should not practice deception, should not
bluff, should not cheat others and should in dulge in diplomacy
or humility. A sportsman never takes undue advantage of the
weakness of his adversary nor does he hit below the belt. The
art implies obedience to the leader. In games the players have
to obey their captain and yield to him on points on which they
are in disagreement with him. They must repose the fullest confidence
in him. In life too, a sportsman yields to his superior even
if he does not agree with him. Respect for discipline is an
essential part of sportsmanship.
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