Athletics competition holds intrinsic value for our institutions and for our society. It is a symbol of a great ideal: pursuing victory with honor.

The love of sports is deeply embedded in our national consciousness. The values of millions of participants and spectators are directly and dramatically influenced by the values conveyed by organized sports -- reflecting a major social force that shapes the quality and character of American culture.

While a terrific vehicle for personal growth, athletes cannot be expected to learn positive values in a win-at-all-costs environment. Coaches and officials must understand -- and communicate -- the importance of pursuing victory with honor.

So how is it done? How do we build good character in sports competition? While good character is necessary to successfully and honorably meet life's challenges, it doesn't just happen, and it starts with all of us.

The key to the many is the one. When we seek happiness and joy for ourselves, it will always elude us. When we seek happiness and joy for our teams, for others, we will find it ourselves.

Teach athletes that their character counts -- that their success and happiness depend on who they are inside, not on what they have or how they look. Teach them, in practices and in competition, the difference between right and wrong behavior: treating others like you want to be treated; not just valuing differences, but truly celebrating differences; acknowledging good efforts by opponents, officials, and teammates; being responsible and accountable; respecting fairness and playing by the rules; being gracious in victory and in defeat.

Coaches and officials need to reward good behavior through praise and discourage bad behavior by imposing fair, consistent consequences. Demonstrate courage and firmness, the heart to do the right thing and the will of enforcing these core values when it is difficult to do so.

Continually encourage athletes to live up to their character. The Greek philosopher Heraclitus tipped us off more than 2,500 years ago that "character is destiny." A person's true self -- that enigmatic bundle of habits and attitudes called "character" -- can influence more

than just one's own life, of course, and this, too, has been known for millenia. It is doing the right thing even when it costs more than you want to pay.

Choose to model good behavior. Everything we say and do (or don't say and don't do) sends a message about our values and our commitment to principles of life. Be sure these messages reinforce lessons about doing the right thing even when it is difficult. When we make bad judgments, and the human condition allows for that quite often, we must be accountable, apologize sincerely and commit ourselves to doing better every day.

Participation in athletics programs is a privilege, not a right. To earn that privilege, athletes must conduct themselves, on and off the field, as positive role models who exemplify good character.

Integrity in sports has never been more important than it is today in intercollegiate athletics. Trust and confidence are eroded by the constant drumbeat of cheating scandals, fraud and greed. But it will change if good people, individuals of integrity, speak out and demand accountability. The environment, the culture of our athletics departments, of our athletics teams, will shape us. But be careful -- the friends we choose also will result in us becoming like them.

T.S. Eliot reminds us that it is not enough to understand what we ought to be, unless we know what we are; and we do not understand what we are, unless we know what we ought to be. Choose to be a person of integrity, of honor, of character. For it is not through authority that we achieve greatness, but through influence.

Travis L. Sample, a professor of business administration, is the faculty athletics representative at Shenandoah University.