Like all human behavior, too sport has rules that regulate its activity. In this sense, we can consider the athlete not only as a person who can obtain pleasure in the exercise of sport itself, but as someone committed to its entire structure personal. This commitment can take the form of a contract which in fact contains both moral and affective factors. The former will be linked to compliance with the rules of the game and the group, while the latter will be linked to personal factors deposited in the game and by the way in which each of the team members feel affected in relation to their captain, their teammates, the order of winning or losing, the opponent (in our concept the "complementary"), not as an enemy but as an essential complementary time so that the game can be played even in the case of a single person. We invite you to continue reading this article on Psychology-Online, if you want to know more about ethics in sport.
Index
- The opponent, an obstacle to overcome
- Healthy sport
- From the professional team
- Integration of sport to Life
The opponent, an obstacle to overcome.
The "obstacle to overcome" it is given by different characteristics of the sport and the athlete. Weight, gravity, volume, atmosphere, resistance, etc. they are just some of the properly physical elements of the sport / athlete. In no way could it be otherwise.
In sport it should be emphasized, despite its obviousness, the body with all its attributes and reactions is always present. That is why the first obstacle to overcome will always be a physical one.
We all already know that the body of the one who plays foot-ball, basket-ball or volley-ball is not the same, despite the fact that all of them are played with ball, or of which nothing, does water skiing or rowing, even if the water is the fundamental element or of the one who practices motorsport or runs stony races even if the speed is a opponent.
The opponent it will always be someone or something to be defeated, not to be hated.
The rules of the game are rules of life on which many if not all times, they act modifying their well-being
The healthy sport.
The positive capacity of practicing any sport adapted to our possibilities is a fact not only of physical benefit but healthy in psychological, social terms and if you want spiritual .
Hence, we consider the commitment to the norms that regulate the practice of sport - without which would dismantle and form a hybrid-like fact that affects our entire vital structure and most of its functions. As an immediate consequence, this fulfillment of the sports commitment interests the person in terms of healthy values.
Anyone who wishes for better living conditions should include within their immediate possibilities the systematic practice of a sport or physical activity, the one that under a professionalized direction, guarantees the desired persistent effects.
From the professional team.
The basic multidisciplinary team (professional of the activity, coach, doctor and psychologist), in the cases of mature personalities both young, as adults and older it is essential. When more they will be in those situations in which physical and mental health is compromised. In the latter case, the team should be made up of a greater number of specialized professionals. We will deal with these groups and work teams later. In both the first and second situations, compliance with standards that guarantee the efficient and ethical performance of the professionals involved is also implicit.
In any case, the personal commitment, in both cases is with himself, with his team, with his family, with his friends and his work area. Any professional who wishes to belong to the sport, must know deeply not only its conformation but its history and the rules determine its development.
Integration of sport to Life.
As we pointed out earlier, the rules of sport are rules of life. Immediate experience shows that the practice of physical activity based on a disciplined and orderly system not only generates a rapid personal decompression but also provides each person with an immediate feeling of fullness. And this has been the case since ancient times. Many are the philosophers who deeply pointed out the importance of sport, advising on the integration that it produces in human duality. "Mens sana in corpore sana" is the best known synthesis of this universal thought.
Integrating a physical activity into our lives is "per-se" an ethical fact with a remarkable amount of benefits. Although some of these are associated with neurotic factors of the personality or with economic returns or power.
These factors, which we could consider negative, do not come from the structure of the sport itself, but from the improper and unethical use of it, in part possibly due to the sportsman's personality characteristics that even knowing this allows himself to be involved, although there are situations in which he is not aware and in part to other people who profit and benefit from the sport practiced by others.
However and saving the distances, the economic aspect should be seen from a broader perspective just as it is the institutional one where money is necessary for its support, administration, evolution and progress.
Nor can we be so simple and prosecute that athlete who in his life accedes to political positions since in the public imagery is always expected that if that athlete was successful as such, he will do the same with dignity in the function public. Although there is no close correlation between being a glorious athlete and being a successful civil servant, the global fantasy of various societies admits this and needs to be thought so.
In fact, this clearly points out that most people adhere to the rules and regulations of sport being always positive moral in nature.
Perhaps at this point the possibility of a professional athlete presenting some style of Hippocratic Oath, especially when he himself can become a model with whom multitudes of people of all social, economic and cultural conditions identify.
The rules that have always been part of all civilized human behavior, Why should they be absent from sport? It is compliance with these rules that give the sport that characteristic of dignity that it possesses and that it is possible to observe even in its most intimate aspects.
This article is merely informative, in Psychology-Online we do not have the power to make a diagnosis or recommend a treatment. We invite you to go to a psychologist to treat your particular case.
If you want to read more articles similar to Ethics in sport, we recommend that you enter our category of Sport and physical exercise.
Bibliography
- Dosil Dias, Joaquin - Psychology and Sports Performance -Edic. Gersam 2002 - Spain
- Gonzalez, Lorenzo J.- Psychological training in sports- Editorial Biblioteca Nueva S.L.- Madrid -1996
- Lawther John D. - Sports and Athlete Psychology. Paidos Editions - Barcelona - l987
- Thomas Alexander - Sports Psychology - Editorial Gerder - Barcelona - l982
- Williams, Jean - Psychology applied to Sport (various authors) - New Library - Madrid - l99l
