CHARACTER DEVELOPMENT: RESPECT

From the IHSAA May 1999 Bulletin

Treat people in ways that causes them to respect you, even if they may not like you! Teach your athletes to respect themselves and respect others, and to show consideration for other's feelings.

The Golden Rule: Treat others the way you want to be treated.

• DO: Respect other people's dignity, privacy, and freedom. Value and honor all people, regardless of what they can do for or to you. Respect other people's property and treat it better than you do your own. Help others make good choices and respect the choice they make. Educate players so they learn to be respectful.

• DON'T: Use or manipulate other people for your own benefit. Abuse, demean, mistreat, humiliate, or ridicule others. Become involved in put-downs or name calling. Use embarrassing criticism to get results.

Tolerance and Acceptance:  Help athletes learn to be tolerant and accepting of others even when their views and background are different from yours.

• DO: Judge others on their character and abilities. Be tolerant and accepting of those who are different than you. Listen to others and try to understand their point of view. Treat everyone as an individual.

• DON'T: Judge others on their race, religion, gender, or socio- economic class. Make statements out of prejudice. Allow players to be intolerant or unaccepting of others.

Nonviolence:  Help athletes find peaceful solutions to concerns rather than creating more conflict.

• DO: Try to resolve all disagreements peacefully. Respond to all insults without violence. Deal with anger peacefully. Learn more about conflict resolution and peer mediation. Teach players to deal with conflict in nonviolent ways. Think before you act.

• DON'T: Use threats of physical force to get your way. Use violence to settle disputes. "Get in the face" of officials hoping you will get an advantage.

Courtesy:  Impress upon your athletes the importance of being polite and considerate of others.

• DO: Model good manners. Be courteous, polite, and civil to everyone.
• DON'T: Be rude. Insult, embarrass, or ridicule others.

Remember, in athletics, as in life, CHARACTER COUNTS!

Excerpts taken from CHARACTER COUNTS!, a project of the Josephson Institute of Ethics.