How Sport Contributes to Social Values and Behavior

On September 8, 2016 in my American Sport in the 21st Century class we discussed how important sport is in America, and the same can be said all around the globe, and how sports can impact and mirror society. We defined values as anything that is desirable or a reflection of morals. Watching and participating in sport can tell us a great deal about who we are and what we value. Values help to define who we are as individuals and helps to guide our behavior; we begin to learn about and form our own values at a young age from our social base which can include our family, our peers, and our teachers or coaches. Experience and travel also guides and shapes our values as well as the internalization through socialization, which I discussed in a prior blog. Some of the societal values in America we touched in class included:

• Achievement & Success
• Materialism
• Progress
• Equality
• Nationalism
• Individualism

At a young age developing clear values can be difficult depending on the upbringing of a child, but participating in sport early can form the foundations of good values. According to Steve Silverman from Livestrong.com some values learned from children participating in sport are:

• Work Ethic- holding practice sessions multiple times before a game to develop skills needed to play the game well, the harder a child works the better they will become. Also can build character.
• Overcoming Adversity- the ability to grow as a player after a particularly bad game and keeps playing and attempting to get better. Overcoming adversity during a bad stretch of games shows that life isn't always easy and that it is better to conquer problems than to avoid them.

Read the full article here.

During the class we also talked about the benefits and drawbacks on the behavior some values can lead to for an athlete at a young age. 

• Positive Character Building traits from playing sport:
• Motivation
• Leadership
• Time Management
• Respect
• Negative Character Building traits:
• Lowers self-esteem when the athlete is not good and on the bench.
• Better athletes can get spoiled.
• Better athletes may also get a "free pass" if they do something wrong.
• Positives of Nationalism:
• Sport being used to unite a country
• Inspires devotion to a country
• Negative Nationalism: 
• Can reinforce national conflicts
• Stereotyping other cultures, basing theirs on your own 

Sports can also be used as a vehicle for social change such as world peace. John Ourand wrote earlier this year in the Sports Business Journal about Pope Francis plans to use sports as a means of putting aside different values and bringing people together. With the help of  the Aspire Marketing Group, the Vatican was host to a conference which included over one hundred of the world's sport, government, and religious leaders, such an event has never been attempted before. The Pope helped to organize the event because he believes that the popularity and power of sport can bring social change and unite people of all faiths, races, and nationalities together in peace. 

For the full article go here.