Gamesmanship Beliefs of High School Coaches. (2013)

AbstractThis study evaluated gamesmanship beliefs of high school coaches from a rural Midwestern state in the United States. Two hundred and fifty-six coaches participated in this study with comparisons drawn by gender, highest level of participation, formal coaching training, years of experience, and officiating experience. Participants completed a 25-statement survey. The survey consisted of 25 gamesmanship statements that asked subjects to indicate if an action was clearly acceptable (1), acceptable (2), unacceptable (3), or clearly unacceptable (4). Chronbach's Alpha measure (a=.938) indicated a high consistency and reliability for the statements on the survey instrument. A crosstabs analysis provided Pearson ChiSquare or Fischer Exact tests to identify statistical significance within the variables. For all of the statements, a majority of respondents identified the statements as either unacceptable or clearly unacceptable. In addition, there were very few significant differences based on gender, highest level of participation, years of coaching experience, formal coaching education, or officiating experience.Sport participation is an important part of today's society with an estimated 50 million girls and boys participating in organized, non-scholastic youth sport and another seven million involved with school-sponsored sport activity (National Council of Youth Sports, 2008; National Federation of State High School Associations, 2007). The sports that children participate in are numerous with many children participating in two or more sports into their adolescence (Sporting Goods Manufactures Association, 2010; Strand, 2006).A common problem within sports is that many children and athletes become frustrated with a lack of playing time, an overemphasis on winning, and poor ethical coaching strategies, resulting in youngsters quitting at a time when they should be having fun playing a game, instead of competing for a championship (Burnett, 2001 ; Weinberg & Gould, 1999). It is often claimed that coaches tend to lose sight of the fact that they are working with impressionable boys and girls or young men and women and emphasize winning more than other important values (Martens, 2012; Sage & Eitzen, 2013). This is not unique to youth sports, as all levels of athletic participation are plagued by poor sportsmanship and questionable ethical decisions by coaches (Harrison-Dyer, 2011; Vallerand, Deshaies, & Cuerrier, 1977). These questionable decisions can have long-lasting effects on the ethical decision making of future generations (Engh, 2002).The coaching profession places many demands upon coaches. A majority of athletes think they deserve to play, if not start; parents expect their sons and daughters to be treated with respect; spectators and the media scrutinize coaching decisions via Monday morning quarterbacking; and everyone expects that his or her favorite team will (Strand & Ohm, 2007). The manner in which coaches act during the course of practices and games may reflect their true character and certainly impacts many others (Clark, 2002). When a coach yells at or challenges game officials, his or her actions are critiqued by athletes, parents, spectators, fans, and the media who are in attendance or participating in the competition. Depending on the perception of an individual, a coach can be viewed as passionate or pathetic, demanding or demeaning. Coaches tend to talk about sportsmanship and fair play, but often, while in the heat of a game, they take the win at all cost approach, and pull out all the stops to earn a victory (Garbin, 2010). This win at all cost approach is found in youth league sports as well as high school sports (Garber, 2006; Gamer, 2013).Sport scholars have long studied sportsmanship, ethical beliefs, and moral reasoning of athletes and coaches (Beller & Stoll, 1995; Doty, 2006; Hahm, 1989; Kavussanu & Roberts, 2001; Rees, Howell & Miracle, 1990; Rudd & Stoll, 2004; Weiss & Bredemeirer, 1990). …