Character really does count

Editor's note: Nancy Justis is a former competitive swimmer. She is a partner with Justis Creative Communications.

By Nancy Justis, correspondent

Character Counts has a simple mission, promoting it's 'Six Pillars of Character” - trustworthiness, respect, responsibility, fairness, caring and citizenship.

Character Counts Week is Oct. 19-24 in Iowa. Housed on the campus of Drake University, Character Counts in Iowa has community-based chapters throughout the state.

During the month, Character Counts will host the 'Pursuing Victory With Honor Summit” on Oct. 14 on the University of Northern Iowa campus. The location for the annual event is rotated between Iowa college campuses.

Skills such as leadership, determination, integrity and attitude can be taught and reinforced and are the building blocks of a team that strives for excellence, according to CC. The Summit's focus is to share strategies to help high school student-athletes achieve this excellence through mental focus, communication, leadership, toughness, attitude and motivation.

Pursuing Victory With Honor believes there is nothing unhealthy about competition in sports. 'Winning is important, but how you pursue victory is essential.” There are five principals that all sports programs should follow:

* Winning is important, but honor is more important. 'Quality sports programs should not trivialize or demonize the desire to win. It's disrespectful to athletes and coaches to say, ‘It's only a game.' The greatest value of sports is its ability to enhance the character and uplift the ethics of participants and spectators.”

* Ethics is essential to true winning. 'The best strategy is not to de-emphasize winning but to more vigorously emphasize ethical standards and sportsmanship in the honorable pursuit of victory. That's winning in its truest sense.”

* There's no true victory without honor. 'Cheating and bad sportsmanship rob victories of their value.”

* Ethics and sportsmanship are ground rules. 'Sports programs must never be subordinated to the desire to win. It's never proper to act unethically to succeed.”

* Benefits of sports come from the competition, not the outcome. 'The vital lessons and great value of sports are learned from the honorable pursuit of victory, not from victories, titles, or win-loss records.”

No program wants to believe it has a problem with sportsmanship, but unfortunately almost every program experiences some form of unethical or unsportsmanlike behavior at times - whether the actions come from a coach, a fan or an athlete. The Six Pillars are the core ethical values providing the foundation for the Arizona Sports Summit Accord, which is the basis of the Pursuing Victory With Honor campaign.

Sportsmanship can be defined the pillars.

* Trustworthiness. 'Always pursue victory with honor. Demonstrate and demand scrupulous integrity. Observe and enforce the spirit and letter of rules. Don't compromise education and character-development goals. Don't engage in or tolerate dishonesty, cheating or dishonorable conduct.”

* Respect. 'Treat the traditions of the sport and other participants with respect. Don't engage in or tolerate disrespectful conduct, including verbal abuse of opponents and officials, profane or belligerent ‘trash-talking,' taunting and unseemly celebrations. Win with grace and lose with dignity.”

* Responsibility. 'Be a positive role model on and off the field and require the same of athletes. Further the mental, social and moral development of athletes and teach life skills that enhance personal success and social responsibility. Maintain competence including basic knowledge of character building, first aid and safety, and coaching principles, rules and strategies.”

* Fairness. 'Adhere to high standards of fair play. Treat players fairly according to their abilities. Never take unfair advantage. Be open-minded.”

* Caring. 'Assure that the academic, emotional, physical and moral well-being of athletes is always placed above desires and pressures to win. Do not permit reckless or potentially unsafe behavior of athletes.”

* Citizenship. 'Avoid gamesmanship and promote sportsmanship by honoring the rules and goals of the sport. Establish codes of conduct for coaches, athletes, parents and spectators. Safeguard the health of athletes and the integrity of the sport by prohibiting the use of alcohol and tobacco. Demand compliance with all laws and regulations, including those relating to gambling and the use of drugs.”

Common sense, right? So why is the lack of sportsmanship so prevalent?

l Let us know what you think by contacting Justis at njustis@cfu.net