Sport as an Ethical and Aesthetic Model of Behavior
“Art may be a sport, but sport is an art.” Pierre de Coubertin
Sports can be seen as a recreational and commercial activity, as the most recognized facet today when we follow celebrities from different professional sports in the West. However, one should recall its origin in ancient Greece and by Pierre de Coubertin, the father of the modern Olympic Games.
About sport as a role model
From El Basilisco, a Spanish review of a philosophical nature, and under the title: The Philosophy of Sport, I took the following quote attributed to Esteban Calle Iturrino, professor at the Royal Spanish Academy of History:
The 20th century could be called the “Century of Sports” where everything is done in sports, work, love, surgery, and even poetry. Sport is a game, yes, subject to certain rules, but intelligently directed to an end, not only immanent, but transcendent; It is a physical exercise developed with a certain rhythm and a certain purpose, that is, the game ennobled, idealized, and endowed with an ethic and an aesthetic, a morality and an art.
We must preserve the nobility, ethics, morals, and art in professional sports for its exemplary character and conduct.
On the contribution of sport to self-esteem and teamwork
Another important facet of improving our capabilities as individuals and citizens. To explain, I quote from the essay: Team Building through Physical Challenges, by Sandra L. Gibbons:
Individuals with high, as opposed to low, self-concept are more likely to be motivated to pursue personal goals and persist when facing obstacles. These individuals are more likely to receive support from significant others and be included in social groups.
Team building is a term used to describe a group problem-solving task that involves structuring participants’ interactions so that each depends on and is accountable to others.
The program emphasizes the following regulations:
(a) Specific roles for each task
(b) Positive group interactions
(c) Task rules be obeyed (when broken rules, consequences must follow, and sacrifices made)
(d) Post-task reflection.
Individual tasks include the following specific roles to perform:
(a) Organizer — responsible for reminding group members of the challenges, rules, and sacrifices
(b) Praiser — responsible for finding specific incidents of praise by group members
(c) Encourager — responsible for acknowledging the efforts of the group during participation
(d) summarizer — responsible for the instructor telling how the team solved a problem and coordinating the completion of a team report card.
We can only hope that professional sports institutions persist in training exemplary citizens. In doing so, they will greatly contribute to society by respecting its ethics and aesthetics.
