Sport and values
“The Church believes in the importance of sport, because it cares deeply about mankind in its entirety, and recognises that taking part in sporting activities has a direct effect on education, personal development, relationships and spirituality.”
[Pope Benedict XVI at CONI, Italian National Olympic Committee, in 2012]
Sport is an activity, which enables our bodies to experience a sense of completeness when it becomes a means of expression of personal individuality. As a consequence, sport is closely linked to personal fulfilment and can rightfully be considered an all-encompassing ongoing project which simultaneously engages the mind, body and soul, and which enables people to connect with others and to reveal their full potential both to themselves and to other participants by partaking in this one single act together.
Being a human practice, sporting activities, taken in their broadest sense as a physical activity aimed at enhancing the welfare and health of the individual, may or may not be a means of promoting the values that allow a person to realize his or her unique qualities when engaged in competitively.
These values represent the basic framework, which helps construct the human identity of the individual, and are integral to his or her development. Sporting values can encompass some or all of these intrinsic values.
At least three different types of value are encountered in the world of sport namely: pure, counter-balancing and mixed values.
Pure values are the positive qualities that sport offers us, and contribute to human development and a sense of community, embodying educational values of excellence.
By contrast, counter-balancing values contribute neither to the development of the person nor to the development of a strong community spirit.
Lastly, mixed values are those that can act as pure values or counter-balancing values depending on the context in which we find them (for example: performance, rewards, victory, competitiveness, competence, self-interest, identification…).
The role and function of the context (otherwise known as educational agents) are therefore fundamental in preventing mixed values from degenerating into negative values that can harm individual development. Perceiving and understanding the importance of sport is not merely an intellectual consideration, but is also necessary for developing a practical methodology and competent skills that allow us to better comprehend and evaluate this complex “universe” in order for them to become positive educational agents. The trainer/sports coach must therefore always of necessity be a “trainer” in the true sense of the word, because through his or her attitudes and behaviour a series of values are explicitly or implicitly conveyed to the athletes.
Hence, the need for our coaches and sports managers to receive pedagogical training (both psychological and sociological) so that we can ensure they develop the different skill sets and human qualities required. This entails a methodology, which guarantees constant ongoing training on the educational values of sport, enabling the development of a critical-reflective attitude, an educational policy and a promotion of sport that also helps to overcome the contradictions and paradoxes of the current sporting system.
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