Dirt Diva

GOOD SPORTSWOMANSHIP Photo: (Carl Borg) Catra Corbett & Jenny Ray finishing the SF 1 day tied for 3rd.

If you're into sports, you've seen it happen. You've probably even experienced it: Football players shaking hands after four quarters of knocking each other around. Tennis players leaping over the net to shake hands with their opponents after a hard-fought match. Soccer players exchanging jerseys after an intense 90 minutes. Even boxers touching gloves at the beginning of each round, then hugging each other after beating each other into a pulp for 12 rounds.

It seems like competitors in every event, from spelling bees to hockey, behave this way. What's going on?

It's all part of sportsmanship, a great tradition in sports and competition that means playing clean and handling both victory and defeat with grace, style, and dignity.

What Is Sportsmanship?

Sportsmanship is defined as:

• playing fair
• following the rules of the game
• respecting the judgment of referees and officials
• treating opponents with respect

Some people define good sportsmanship as the "golden rule" of sports — in other words, treating the people you play with and against as you'd like to be treated yourself. You demonstrate good sportsmanship when you show respect for yourself, your teammates, and your opponents, for the coaches on both sides, and for the referees, judges, and other officials.

Finishing my 60th 100 mile race and happy and blessed to have made it. It was 9 of the year.

WOD 10/28/2008

Complete the following for time:

• Run 800m
• 100 squats
• Run 800m
• 100 overhead squats with a dowel or pvc pipe
• Run 800m
• My Time: 21:13, I was hurting for sure my hamstrings are shot from the SF 1 Day
  

Let balance be your watchword, for every win there is a loss and so it follows that every loss begets a win. Unforeseen changes and unexpected occurrences will ultimately be favourable. It is easy to say, and yet powerfully true, that when faced with a problem the best way through is to deal with it. Running away or avoiding problems only brings them back later on. The law of balance is an immutable universal law, so understand that the ebb and flow of life is an intrinsic part of our strength and character building.
© Stephen Haynes