Transcript character

2006 AHISA Pastoral Care
Conference
Role of Team Sports in
Character Formation
Matthew Macoustra
(Sportsmaster – Barker College)
&
Tim Kotzur
(Deputy Head – Trinity Lutheran College)
Role of Team Sports in Character Formation
- Overview
•What is Character?
•What the Research Says?
•Role of Team Sport in Character Trait & Value Development
•Role of Team Sport in helping Students to Deal With
Setbacks & Failure
•Role of Team Sport in Developing Student Resilience
•Role of Team Sports in Student Leadership Development
•Role of Team Sports in Helping Students Make Moral &
Ethical Decisions
•Developing Character at a Whole School Level
•Golden Rules for Teaching Character
What is Character?
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Character is a broad and wide ranging concept
For the purposes of this presentation we define
Character as having four (4) aspects:
1. the capacity to overcome adversity and
ultimately triumph (Resilience);
2. the competence to lead others;
3. values/character traits such as self
discipline, dedication, commitment, self
sacrifice, teamwork, loyalty, reliability, respect,
honesty, fairness, consistency, courage,
sportsmanship, & persistence;
4. the ability to play by the rules (fair play) and
accepting defeat graciously.
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
• “You can discover more about a
man in an hour of play, than in a
year of conversation”
Plato
• “Nothing reveals so much about
us as how we play the games we
play”
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
• Team Sports are widely regarded
as a builder of character
• It is one of the strongest
justifications / rationales for
School Sport Programs in
Independent Schools
• “The Battle of Waterloo was won
on the Playing Fields of Eton”
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
• There has been a lot of research conducted
over the last 50 years in an effort to validate the
claims that Team Sport builds character
• The results of these studies have been at
times inconsistent and confusing
• This is in part because character is difficult
to measure, and the researchers have used
multiple definitions of character in their studies
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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Kirk and Twigg (1995) found that at the heart of
participation in competitive games grew the
ability to develop self-reliance, initiative, loyalty
and obedience
Shields and Bredemeier (1995) found that
individuals who participate in sport overcome
difficult obstacles, persist in the face of
opposition, develop self control, cooperate with
team mates and learn to live with both victory
and defeat. They may also be expected to learn
such virtues as fairness, self-control, courage,
persistence, loyalty and teamwork.
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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Shields and Bredemeier (1995) also found that an
over-emphasis on competition may in fact have
the opposite effect of creating or encouraging
socially undesirable characteristics and
behaviours
Bredemeier (1988) found that sport could be seen
as a positive social agent that promoted moral
growth and enhanced a child’s development,
although numerous conditions (such as the type
of instruction given to children, the importance
placed on the outcome of contests and the level
of participation) were needed to create a
conducive environment
Team Sports & Character Formation –
What the Research Says?
• Simon (1991) through a detailed
analysis of the ethics of competition in his
research concludes that under ideal
circumstances (that is when it is
“understood to be a mutual quest for the
excellence in the intelligent and directed
use of athletic skills in the face of
challenge”) competitive sport can have
the potential to reinforce and develop
desirable character traits.
Team Sports & Character Formation –
What the Research Says?
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Arnold (1986) identified a negative view of
character development through team sport. In this
view, it is assumed that to be successful one must
possess such traits as dominance, aggression
and non-sociability (all of which can be seen in
some respect to be character traits not embraced
within society).
The negative view of team sports participation
would hold that qualities of sportsmanship (such
as generosity, magnanimity etc) are more likely to
be disregarded by higher level participants.
In these circumstances team sport then detracts
from, rather than enhances moral & character
development.
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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Lumpkin & Cuneen (2001) found that sport is
“replete with individual’s who have seemingly lost
a sense of the value of human life, respect for
others and fair play”.
Indeed the unethical behaviour they identify is not
just confined to the playing fields but pervades all
aspects related to sports such as “violations of
rules governing drug use or recruiting”
Extremes of anti-social, immoral behaviour are
also identified in people involved in sport,
including violence on and off the playing arena (in
some cases going so far as murder) and drug
abuse. It is even stated that episodes of
“unnecessary intimidation are now common
during competition.”
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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Lumpkin (2001) states that coaches, players
and sports leaders alike defend such
behaviours as essential to gain monetary
rewards, recognition and most importantly to
win.
Evidence is presented that the more an
individual participates in competitive sport, the
more likely it is that his or her moral and ethical
behaviours decline.
It is speculated that the athletes become
conditioned to accept that infractions of the
rules are tolerable as long as the misconduct is
not caught (and presumably improves the
chances of a successful performance).
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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The failure to find consistent, measurable effects of
sport participation on specific character traits does
not mean that team sports and sports experiences
have no impact on adolescent’s lives
Many of the studies are based on the (faulty)
assumption that all organized competitive team
sports involve similar character shaping experiences
for all students. Team Sports take place in varying
social contexts and offer varying socialization
processes based on these contexts.
The context that Team Sports occurs in is therefore
critical to the possible development of character.
Character Development will not automatically occur
simply by participating in a team sport.
Team Sports & Character Formation
– What the Research Says?
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Schools, teacher and coaches must intentionally
create environments, experiences, & contexts for
potential Character Development to occur.
Participation in sporting situations cannot simply
exist in isolation if character development is to be
expected to take place. Significant character
development can take place but only if certain
contexts are fulfilled
The purpose of this presentation is to provide
educators with insights, ideas and strategies to
develop ‘character’ in their student
Schools, teachers and coaches have not more
important task or goal than this
It will be a lasting legacy
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Character Traits & Values
“Good character is to be more prized
than talent. Most talents are to some
extent a gift. Good character, by
contrast is not given to us. We have to
build it, piece by piece, by thought,
choice, courage and determination”
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Character Traits & Values
•When we talk about sport developing
character more often than not we mean
character traits/values
•For example- self discipline, dedication,
commitment, self sacrifice, teamwork,
loyalty, reliability, respect, honesty,
fairness, consistency, hardwork, courage,
sportsmanship, & persistence
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Character Traits & Values
•In the first instance if we are to use team sports to
develop character traits/values it is imperative that
participation is not solely geared around winning
particular contests or competitions.
•Students will not develop character benefits simply by
winning.
•As Arnold (1986) identified winning must not be the
point of the exercise. It may be necessary to try to
win, or compete successfully but this should not be
the primary objective.
•It is not be the outcome of winning that provides the
benefits but rather the process in pursuing success.
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Character Traits & Values
In addition to Focusing on the Process in order to develop
Character Traits & Values it is necessary to –
i. Emphasize the values/character traits that are considered
important (Perhaps the team needs to identify the core
values/traits – this way they have ownership over them.)
ii. Look to create opportunities that test and develop particular
character traits (E.g. Activity that requires self-sacrifice)
iii. Look to provide team members with experiences that go
beyond the sports field and the locker room
iv. Provide clear lessons about how team sport experiences
can be used as a basis for dealing with challenges outside
of sports (link to the classroom or ‘real life’ experiences)
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Character Traits & Values
v. Establish the worth of every participant’s
contribution to the team. This is achieved through
the consistent reinforcement of effort.
vi. Ensure that the athlete who has the least ability
and can contribute only in a minimal way feels
worthwhile.
vii. Provide opportunities for team members to see,
define, and deal with each other & the opposition
as more than just an athlete (e.g. post match
functions)
viii. Establish Awards system that reflects what you
value
Role of Team Sport in Dealing
with Setbacks & Failure
“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career.
I’ve lost almost 300 games, 26 times I’ve been
trusted to take the game winning shot & missed it.
I’ve failed over and over again in my life. And that
is why I succeed” Michael Jordon
“I can accept failure, but I can’t accept not trying”
Michael Jordon
“Failure is not a mistake. The mistake is to stop
trying”
Role of Team Sport in Dealing
with Setbacks & Failure
•In all aspects of life people typically experience
disappointments, setbacks and repeated failures
•Students who rebound from failures and setbacks and
continue to persist are more likely to reach their
potential than students who give up at the first sign of
adversity
•Classroom achievement also depends on preserving
through challenging skills and overcoming obstacles
on the way to personal mastery
•As such it is critical that we help our young people to
handle setbacks & disappointments in team sport
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
•The way that a young person handles
setbacks and failure has a lot to do with
their ‘explanatory style’
•A person’s explanatory style represents a
tendency to make an attributional
interpretation for successes and failures
i.e. people routinely explain success or
failure in a particular way
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
•People who tend to have a
pessimistic attributional style view
failure as pervasive, insurmountable
and their own fault
•In contrast individuals with an
optimistic explanatory style explain
failure as temporary, related to this
event only and externally caused
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
•For a person with a pessimistic attributional style,
failure produces feelings of helplessness and
hopelessness – this results in trying to avoid
challenge, self defeating thoughts (‘I’m hopeless at
batting’) and a lack of motivation
•In contrast a positive explanatory style believe that
they can prevent future failures and exhibit continual
persistence in the face of adversity – they adopt new
strategies to face challenges, worked harder to
overcome them, adopt positive thoughts, enjoy the
challenge and learn from their mistakes
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
•Attributional Styles are not fixed. They can be
developed
•As teachers & coaches we can help our students to
develop a positive attributional style by:
•1. Goal Setting is important in helping students to
reduce disappointment. Ensure that they are working
towards a performance related goal, not just an outcome
related goal.
2. Remain focused on the positives. When debriefing
after a game, review the positives before and after
addressing the negatives (Sandwich Approach)
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
3. Assist students to view failure or disappointment as
a learning experience.
4. Be realistic and honest – sometimes the opposition
are simply better. Be objective and assist the student
to face the honest truth. There is no shame in admitted
the opposition played better.
5. Maintain your athletes focus on why they are
competing in the first place. Winning is important, but
equally so is the challenge of competition, the thrill of
movement, being with friends. These are elements
that can be enjoyed even when dealing with losing.
6. Focus on solutions. How can we improve? What
can we do better next time?
Role of Team Sport in Dealing with
Setbacks & Failure
7. Encourage your students to remain
challenged. Develop creative and innovative
training processes so that training itself
becomes intrinsically rewarding & that players
continue to grow & develop.
8. Remind your students that if they have tried
their best, given 100% and achieved their
personal performance goals, this is an
achievement they have earned and no-one can
take this away (Self Efficacy).
Praise versus Encouragement when
Dealing with Setbacks & Failure
•Although praise may have a positive short term on overcoming
setbacks effect children develop a dependence on it
•Praise makes students improve for others while
encouragement makes students improve for themselves
•Praise externalizes, Encouragement internalizes
•It is better to give encouragement rather than praise
when helping our young people respond to failure
Praise e.g. I’m proud of how well you did in your tennis
match
Encouragement e.g. Your improvement in tennis is due
to your hard work
Role of Team Sport in Dealing
with Setbacks & Failure
Forget about past mistakes. Do not dwell on them.
Anticipate failure. Realize you are going to make
mistakes.
Intensity should be in everything you do. Never fail for
lack of effort.
Learn from mistakes. Do not repeat previous errors.
Understand why you have failed.
Respond – do not react to errors. Correct – do not
magnify the error.
Elevate your self concept. Accept failure as a short
term consequence of risking being your best.
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Resilience
“The capacity to put things in perspective and
move on is crucial to our life instinct”
Ric Charlesworth
“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be
roadblocks. I’ve had them, everybody has them.
But obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run
into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure
out how to climb it, go through it, or work around
it” Michael Jordon
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Resilience
•“Resilience is the capacity to cope with change,
challenge and adversity and bounce back during
difficult times.”
•Resilience is one of the most important qualities
that all schools should aim to develop in their
students
•It is a trait that our young men and women will
require constantly as they move through their
lives
•Team sport provides a unique setting in which to
build and develop resilience
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Resilience
• Rick Charlesworth (former Hockeyroos Coach) suggests
the following as ways to build resilience:
1.Make sure that everyone understands the why of what
you are doing. For example you could say that ‘we train
in order to build the necessary skills and fitness…we
don’t just do it for the sake of doing it’ ….or ‘we lost
because we did not do certain things…we can improve by
correcting those errors and this is how we can do it’.
2. Be realistic about success and failure, always look
behind the outcome and have a process orientation. The
outcome looks after itself once you get the process right.
Unlike outcomes you can control the process.
3. Set realistic goals and be aware of the problems that
possibly will be faced.
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Resilience
4. Never be afraid to lose. Encourage enterprise. Create an
environment where students are free to fail. Too many
teams are afraid to take risks and accordingly play very
conservatively. You must risk losing to win and learn to
take calculated risks.
5. Make training intense and harder than the real game;
that way you build resilience in the least threatening
environment first.
6. Provide criticism and redirection in a way that
encourages and provides answers to the problems
identified. Criticism should always be crouched in a way
that also identifies strengths and positive solutions.
7. Encourage ownership of the program. This increases
the team’s belief that they can fix things, together with the
coach when they go wrong or don’t work out as planned.
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Leadership
“Schools have no more important
responsibility than to send out into the
world young people committed to
serving in it, determined to make it a
better place, resolved to know that
those they are leading have become
better people, willing in turn to make
their own contribution to the good of
humankind”
RE Kefford
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Leadership
•Need to adopt a small “l”
approach to leadership
•Leadership is not a badge or
a position
•Every student in your team
is capable of leading
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Leadership
•Some possible strategies:
•1. Adopt a distributed leadership approach i.e. share the
leadership responsibilities around (e.g. in Rugby a forwards
captain, backs captain, someone who calls the lineouts etc)
•2. Create a ‘Leadership Group’ like they do in the AFL &
give them input into strategies/tactics
•3. Provide meaningful opportunities for leadership e.g.
lead the warm up, input into the half-time talk, input into
strategies
•Be intentional in creating opportunities to lead. How can I
structure my training to develop leadership?
Role of Team Sport in Developing
Student Leadership
•4. Create situations where students have to
work together collaboratively & problem
solve i.e. use leadership skills / qualities
(e.g. challenge activities at pre-season
camps)
•5. For those students that we do appoint to
formal leadership roles (e.g. Captain)
provide them with ongoing support, training
& feedback. Meet with them regularly.
Sometimes we make a person ‘captain’ and
leave it at that, and wonder why they don’t
do the job we expected.
Role of Team Sport in Helping
Students to Make Moral & Ethical
Decisions
“The fewer rules a coach
has, the fewer rules there
is for players to break”
Role of Team Sport in Helping Students to
Make Moral & Ethical Decisions
•Martens (1988), Clifford and Feezell (1997) and
Lupkin & Cuneen (2001) found that sport
participation and instruction must take place within
the rules of the activity. If this is not the case there
is little social value in the activity in terms of
character (moral/ethical) development.
•For sporting contests to be meaningful, there is an
implied acceptance to play within the rules that
govern the activity. By participating in this way
there is an acceptance of codes of behaviour and
the development of morally appropriate behaviour.
Role of Team Sport in Helping Students to
Make Moral & Ethical Decisions
•For Moral/Ethical Decision
Making to occur Coaches need to
be clear & establish well defined
boundaries with enough room for
students to expand & grow
•Establish a minimum number of
rules. This gives the coach room
to teach young athletes to use
their freedom responsibly
Role of Team Sport in Helping Students to
Make Moral & Ethical Decisions
•With this in mind we need to empower students to
make positive ethical and moral choices in their
lives
•Have the team develop its own Code of Behaviour
/ Rules rather than impose some externally
developed one – more powerful due to ownership
•This Code of Behaviour should include clearly
defined behaviours and code violation clearly
linked to appropriate consequences
•Consistency in enforcing it is important
Role of Team Sport in Helping Students to
Make Moral & Ethical Decisions
•Most importantly coaches need to recognize their position
as role-models and a preparedness to counteract a ‘win at
all costs attitude’ and demonstrate the concepts associated
with good sportsmanship.
•It is unlikely that moral character development can be
expected to occur in our students if their teachers are not
demonstrating a devotion to appropriate values themselves.
If maximal effort is made by coaches and teachers to act to
engender these attitudes and values through modelling of
behaviour as well as through instruction, positive moral
character development is far more likely to occur.
•If teachers value fair play and playing by the rules they
must be consistent in expecting students to display it and be
consistent themselves in displaying it. The most powerful
tool is your own example. (“Caught not taught”)
Role of Team Sport in Helping Students to
Make Moral & Ethical Decisions
•Crucially Coaches & Teachers need to
emphasize the ‘Spirit of the Game’ as well as
the rules of the game – often overlooked
particularly in this time of increasing
‘professionalization’ of school sport
•Professionalism has introduced a more
instrumental orientation – professional
players follow rules not out of a moral
commitment to the their rightness, but
because their calculations tell them that
breaking them will lead to penalties
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
• 1. Create and implement a guiding
school-wide sports philosophy that
promotes core character values/traits.
•A school sports program that seeks to build
character in our young people needs a
shared philosophy that guides all aspects of
the program.
•Identify 4 or 5 core Character Values/Traits
and have these permeate your entire
Program (‘Pillars’)
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
• 2. Define the Sports Program's
Character Values Behaviorally (i.e. What
these Character Traits/Values look like in
practice). For players to adopt and exhibit
core character values schools need to spend
ample time discussing & modelling specific
behaviors.
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
•3. Promote Positive Role Modeling. Teachers and
Coaches are often the most significant adult role models
beyond a player's parents; this makes their influence
particularly important. Teachers and coaches actions must
match their words. (“by words & deed”)
•It is critical for schools to appoint and develop teachers &
coaches who are ‘good’ men & women and who recognize
that winning is only one part of the larger education of their
students.
•Student athletes are equally important as role models,
especially at the secondary level. Programs that actively
promote character development will help older students
(e.g. 1stXV) understand the power of their example and the
positive impact they can have on and off the playing field on
younger students.
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
• 4. Balance Winning with the School Sports
Program's Core Character values. There is
nothing wrong with playing to win (virtually no one
plays to lose); but winning can just as certainly
become a character-defeating concept when
competitive attitudes, behaviors, and strategies
begin to undermine core values. Even at the
secondary level, where the emphasis on winning is
often greater, teachers/coaches can cultivate an
environment in which all players feel involved,
valued, challenged, and safe.
•Emphasize the process and values/traits such as
effort, participation, commitment, discipline in
conjunction with striving to win.
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
•5. Team Sport Experiences should be viewed as a
Teaching & Learning Experience. This helps teachers
and coaches to link the Team Sports Experience to
other areas of a student’s life. For real learning to
occur, incidents of values/traits being followed or not
upheld need to be addressed explicitly.
•A sports program that consistently promotes character links
lessons learned on the playing fields to other areas of the
young person's life. For example, self-discipline and
perseverance are necessary for achieving academic
success and reaching personal goals. And respect for
others is key to getting along with classmates and
succeeding in a career. By applying the core values/traits to
home, school, and the larger community, students learn to
live with integrity.
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
•6. Character Development begins at the top. It is the
duty of the Schools Leadership to promote
sportsmanship and foster good character by teaching,
enforcing, advocating and modeling good character.
•School leaders and administrators maintain ultimate
responsibility for the quality and integrity of those programs.
They must assure that education and character
development responsibilities are not compromised to
achieve sports performance goals and that the academic,
emotional, physical and moral well-being of students is
always placed above desires and pressures to win.
•Headmasters & Sportsmasters should communicate to all
stakeholders the importance of the core Character
values/traits and the idea that character development is
pursued for its own intrinsic value.
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
•7. The importance of character, ethics and
sportsmanship should be emphasized in all
communications by the school
•The Awards system of the school should reflect
the importance the school places on key character
traits/values
•School Sports programs should establish
standards for participation by adopting codes of
conduct for teachers, coaches, athletes, parents,
spectators and other groups that impact the quality
of athletic programs.
•Emphasis should also be given to the ‘Spirit of the
Game’ and the Traditions of the Game
Using Team Sports to Develop Character
– A Whole School Approach
•If the Development of Character is to be a schoolwide approach then it must be•i. Shared
•ii. Pervasive – underpin everything that is done
•iii. Defined (what do they traits/values look like?)
•iv. Modelled
•v. Studied & Discussed
•vi. Celebrated
•vii. Accountable
The Golden Rules for Teaching Character
•1. Be Intentional & Proactive in
Creating Opportunities for Students to
Develop Character
•2. Be Explicit in Teaching Character to
Students
•3. Reinforce Character when the
Opportunities present itself
•4. Model, model, model