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Verified by Psychology Today

[Sabrina B. Little, Ph.D.+]

Sabrina B. Little, Ph.D.

Considerations of Character

Sport and Competition

Why Character Matters in Sports

Virtues and vices impact how we play on the sports field.

Updated May 4, 2024 | Reviewed by Lybi Ma

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Key points

• Character is required to maintain the integrity of the game.
• Character matters outside of sports, and sports form our character.
• It is not just what we do that matters but how we do it.

[Source: BGStock72 Shutterstock +]

Source: BGStock72 Shutterstock

At the 2016 Olympic Games, a collision occurred in the 5,000-meter women’s track final. In the wake of athletes colliding, New Zealand runner Nikki Hamblin lay flat on the track. She was startled when American runner, Abbey D’Agostino, extended a hand and helped her to her feet.[1] The two women, both injured, encouraged one another and worked their way to the finish together.

Having occurred on the biggest stage in sports, this was a moment of sportsmanship the whole world talked about. The two women were lauded as capturing the Olympic spirit,[2] and both were awarded the International Fair Play Committee Award for their high character and sportsmanship.[3]

Character and Sports

Moral character is integrally tied to sports. We praise an athlete’s virtue, alongside physical abilities. For example, we might laud a runner’s patience and closing speed, or a football player’s courage and brawn. We also speak of the formative role athletics can play in the development of our character?of the discipline it might develop. And we praise sportsmanship wherever we see it. We celebrate sportsmanship as capturing the spirit of sport, indicating that there is a normative dimension to athletics. There are good ways and bad ways to occupy sport.

We might wonder, in more precise terms, about the nature of this connection between character and athletics. Why does character matter in sports? There are a few reasons.

(1) Character is required to maintain the integrity of the game.