Should Sportsmanship Be Taught In Youth Sports?

Gamesmanship is becoming a standard for high level athletics that is reaching towards younger generations. For youth sports confusion by players over how far to push rules can result in simply breaking them. Coaches need to make decisions to promote the greatest amount of sportsmanship while still teaching children the rules of a specific sport. For this reason the question of gamesmanship, winning while pushing the boundaries of the rules, in youth should gamesmanship be promoted or prohibited by the participants?

Gamesmanship is definitely a gray area however the use of it demonstrates a winning at all cost mentality (Thornton, Champion, & Ruddell, 2012, p. 47). Rules need to be taught in youth sports for several reasons. Many of which are designed to protect players while at the same time understand what can and cannot be done on the field of play. It’s a tough topic with youth as the intent by many athletes is to seek the next level, where they will undoubtedly see gamesmanship triumph over sportsmanship.

In the case of the NFL the New England Patriots head coach is notorious for pushing team formations to the limits of the rules. So much in fact that certain rules have been rewritten to prevent the stretching of them. The question of gamesmanship should be asked of the coach is whether to promote sportsmanship or take advantage of a vague rule. Typically a player will follow the decision making of their coach because they are the leader and mentor. An illustration of using gamesmanship is: “If an opposing football team is especially fast, should the coach wet down the field ahead of time to slow down the speed of the game?” (Stankovich,