Participation in a sport provides excellent exercise and improves physical development. However, all programs should include goals that focus on character building as well. A coach or instructor should not focus only on the game's outcome. A program that does not teach principles of behavior that help build good character is not a complete program.

The Principles Themselves

In a team sport, children should play unselfishly, care about the team, help teammates, show good sportsmanship-win or lose, and set a good example for others. A child athlete should also respect authority, practice self-discipline and display self-control. These principles must be taught and reinforced repeatedly.

Before each season, those who plan and advance athletic activities should meet and identify principles and establish goals that advance such principles. A method of measuring results should also be discussed. Then those principles and goals ought to be communicated to children and parents-and reinforced several times during the season. Keys to such efforts are the attitude and practices of the coaches-and the support and buy-in of the parents.

Good character development is a topic that has received a much attention in schools and community sports programs. The importance and need for sportsmanship becomes apparent with bad behavior. School handbooks are filled with rules that identify bad behavior and the consequences to students when such behavior is practiced. Community programs not only communicate rules that regulate the athlete's play, but there are not many that govern spectator behaviors. Common sense and maturity is not a given when it comes to adults watching children in sports. In addition to warning off bad behaviors, positive behaviors must be taught and reinforced to children in sports programs.

There are many organizations that are good sources of information on principles of behavior and those character traits that should be taught to our young athletes. Yet, it is easy to understand that in our hyper-competitive world that efforts outside the win and loss column can get overlooked. That is why sports program goals need to be explicit when it comes to character-building and everyone involved needs to focus on them. A school sports program may state in the school handbook: "Our sports programs will provide the student athlete with quality instruction and friendly competition, stressing the importance of teamwork and sportsmanship." But at some level, the student athlete must be exposed to much more specific instruction. These instructions need to be woven into the fabric of our sports programs, taught explicitly by our coaches, and supported completely by parents.

Importance of the Season Postmortem

After each season, those in charge of the sports program ought to take time to have a season post mortem and look at what worked and what didn't work-how expectations were met and what needs to be done next season to improve the program. It is important to spend as much time reviewing these outcomes as one might review the team's win-loss record, the team's most valuable player and next year's schedule. If a coach consistently produces players who are recognized as having good character in a winning program, that is a coach who should be rewarded and recognized as an example for other coaches. If we want children to build character and grow emotionally in sports, we need to be sure that plenty of time and attention is given such objectives.

Larry Norris, President of Sporting Chance Press ( http://www.sportingchancepress.com ) and publisher of Chicago Bears Senior Director Patrick McCaskey's "Sports and Faith: Stories of the Devoted and the Devout," J. D. Thorne's "The 10 Commandments of Baseball: An Affectionate Look at Joe McCarthy's Principles for Success in Baseball (and Life)," Mike Cameron's "Public Bonehead, Private Hero: The Real Legacy of Baseball's Fred Merkle," and Nicolette House's "Maddie Takes the Ice."

By Larry M Norris