Should Athletes Be Allowed To Keep The Play Spirit Alive?

The philosophers Kenneth L. Schmitz and Alasdair MacIntyre both wrote pieces on sport philosophy. Schmitz focusses on how to keep the play spirit alive by not focussing just on winning. MacIntyre has a similar focus, he doesn’t say this is going to keep the play spirit alive, but he talks about that athletes should play for internal good. By playing for internal good this will keep the play spirit alive. Both authors state similar ideas in their quotes,

Schmitz explains that sports offer more than just winning and losing. Winning is not the most important thing when competing in a sport. If an athlete is only focused on winning then the play spirit will be nonexistent. Sports teach life lessons like perseverance, overcoming adversity, and

MacIntyre also says that when internal goods are not what's driving athletes to compete then the athlete will never be able to achieve internal goods as a reward. Athletes are suppose to play with virtue, this virtue comes from a cycle. External goods are the original motivation for athletes, whether that is money, clothes, or the lifestyle. External goods are still important and athletes will always be drawn in by them, but what happens next is that there is a standard of excellence That older athletes teach to the younger ones this standard of excellence in hopes that this tradition will continue to be passed down. By following this standard of excellence athletes will learn that external good are great to have, but what’s even better are the internal good. The moments that only athletes can say I was there in that moment and this happened. No one else can have that exact experience and that’s what makes internal good so special. Internal good lead to having and play with virtue. Once an athlete can learn to play with virtue it cycles back to having more goods internally. Once virtue is acquired the athlete should extend the reach of practice to other