National Collegiate Athletic Association

The NCAA News - News and Features

December 1, 1997

Sportsmanship panel develops five-part plan

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The Association's new Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct will rely heavily on "influence makers" such as the the National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics, the American Football Coaches Association, the National Association of Basketball Coaches and the Women's Basketball Coaches Association as it works toward improving sportsmanship in intercollegiate athletics.

"We will want to know, 'What are you doing to improve sportsmanship?' and 'How can we help you?' " said Ronald J. Stratten, NCAA group executive director for education services.

The committee, which met for the first time November 12-13, will use a five-pronged approach that will include:

  • Educational programs to reach coaches, administrators, fans and student-athletes.

  • Awards programs to recognize and reinforce positive behavior.

  • Encouraging media and corporations with which the NCAA and related organizations have relationships to communicate sportsmanship messages and recognize commendable behavior.

  • Building constituent relationships with groups such as the Citizenship Through Sports Alliance (CTSA), a 10-member organization that includes the NCAA and other college and high-school sports associations, professional leagues and the United States Olympic Committee. The recent ESPN "town hall" meeting on sportsmanship was a CTSA collaboration.

  • Improving sportsmanship and ethical-conduct behavior through implementation of its five-year plan.

    Will identify 'indicators'

    Regarding the last part, Stratten said the committee will work to identify "indicators" that it can use to evaluate its progress.

    "For example," he said, "we need to learn how or if member institutions and conferences keep track of individuals who are disqualified from games for unsportsmanslike-behavior violations. We want to be able to compare what the number is now and what it is five years from now, after all these steps have been taken to improve sportsmanship."

    Stratten said that the group will use existing communications tools (such as The NCAA News, coaches' publications, other Association publications and the NCAA's World Wide Web site), along with new ones, such as www.sportsmanship.
    org, a new Web site that is linked to the www.ncaa.org site.

    The committee spent much of its first meeting defining its mission. It plans to build on the work of the NCAA Presidents Commission Special Committee on Sportsmanship and Ethical Conduct, which issued its report in 1995.

    Robert J. Minnix, associate director of athletics at Florida State University, was recommended to the NCAA Executive Committee to chair the committee.

    The group developed working definitions of sportsmanship and ethical conduct, along with a mission statement that it will use to guide its work. The mission will be "to improve the condition of sportsmanship and ethical conduct in all aspects of intercollegiate athletics by developing and implementing strategies that foster greater acceptance of the value of respect, fairness, civility, honesty and responsibility."

    Definitions

    "Sportsmanship" will be defined as "a set of behaviors to be exhibited by student-athletes, coaches, game officials and fans in intercollegiate athletics competition. These include respect, civility, fairness, honesty and responsibility."

    "Ethical conduct" will be "the guiding principle with which each person honors the letter of the rules and the spirit of the rules. Such conduct reflects a higher standard than the law because it includes -- among other things -- the fundamental values that define sportsmanship."

    Besides Minnix, Division I members of the committee are Robert E. Frederick, University of Kansas; Carol A. Hightower-Parker, Texas Southern University; and Elizabeth Reed, St. Mary's College (California). Division II members are Ed Harris, West Texas A&M University, and Willie G. Shaw, Morehouse College. Division III members are John H. Harvey, Carnegie Mellon University, and Ginny Studer, State University College at Brockport.