Lesson video

Hi there.

Welcome to your lesson.

Today's lesson is on sportsmanship, gamesmanship, and the conduct of performers.

My name's Miss Hacking and I'm really excited to be your teacher today.

By the end of today's lesson, I'm hoping that we can all describe and give examples of sportsmanship and gamesmanship and explain how athlete's behaviour can be influenced.

Our key words today are etiquette, which is a convention or unwritten rule in an activity, and it is not an enforceable rule, but it's usually observed, so something like fair play, playing fairly, playing to the rules.

Sportsmanship is conforming to the rules, the spirit and etiquette of a sport.

This is an important keyword that we'll need to know in today's lesson.

Gamesmanship is attempting to gain an advantage by bending the rules to their limit, but not actually breaking them.

And deviance is behaviour that is either immoral or seriously breaks the rules and norms of the sport.

So for example, high tackling in rugby is deviant.

It's not allowed.

It goes against the rules of the sport because it's dangerous.

Today's lesson is split into three parts.

In the first part of the lesson, we're going to explain sportsmanship and use examples to do this.

In the second part of today's lesson, we're going to explain gamesmanship using examples.

And in the third part of today's lesson, we're going to explain reasons for deviant behaviour, so why deviant behaviour actually exists in sport.

Let's get started.

So engaging in sport goes beyond the physical activity, not just to get fit or to improve our components of fitness.

It also requires demonstrating good etiquette through respect, fair play teamwork, and a positive attitude towards both teammates and opponents.

I wonder if you can think of an example of where you've shown positive attitude towards your teammates, but also towards your opponents.

However, sometimes the desire to win can overshadow these values leading to negative behaviour that can disregard the rules and respect for others involved in the game.

And again, I wonder if you can think of any examples where you've played sport and perhaps you've seen negative behaviour either from someone on your team or someone on the opposition.

Sportsmanship is conforming to the rules, spirit and etiquette of the sport, and it's a positive thing that emphasises respect for everyone involved.

So not just respect for the people on your team, but also for the opponent, the referee, teammates, coaches, and spectators as well.

And this is important at grassroots level, so when we're playing sport outside of school or for our school team, but also at elite sport as well.

So sportsmanship is expected at all levels of sport.

I wonder if there's any examples of sportsmanship that you already know, maybe that you've seen or that you've already demonstrated when you've played sport.

Some examples of sportsmanship include: respecting the officials even when decisions do not go your way.

So in rugby, for example, sportsmanship really encouraged because the only person allowed to speak to the referee is the captain.

So if you have a disagreement or you want to question a referee, it has to be done really respectfully through the captain of the team, so that all the team members can't just go over to the referee and start shouting and disputing a decision.

So how you deal with decisions that maybe don't go your way shows really good sportsmanship.

Shaking hands with your opponent after the game.

So even if you win, even if you lose, it's always important to show good sportsmanship by shaking your opponent's hand after the game.

Helping an injured opponent when they fall.

So this might be a tricky one if you, let's say we were in football for example, and you gained possession of the ball and you could take it and go and score the goal, but then in that time, an opponent has injured themselves and is on the floor.

Now, showing really good sportsmanship would be to stop the play, maybe even kick the ball out so the injured player could get seen to to make it fair.

Apologising when the ball hits a net but goes over in tennis.

If you play tennis, you know how annoying those shots are when somebody hits one and they're meant to hit it really hard, but actually it catches a net and then just trickles over the net and you don't get it back.

You often don't return it because you weren't expecting that shot.

So it is really annoying and obviously they didn't do it on purpose.

Therefore, if this happens, it is important to apologise for that shot because it wasn't the intended shot that you wanted to do.

So it is important to show good sportsmanship.

So after a rugby union game, the teams will create a tunnel where the other team will go under and the team that's creating a tunnel will clap and cheer as a sign of respect for the opposite team, and that's a sportsmanship ritual that happens in rugby union.

And being a gracious winner.

So not gloating, not making the losing team feel bad or the losing opponent feel bad.

It's important to show grace if you win to show good sportsmanship.

Okay, let's have a go at a question.

True or false, shaking hands with an opponent after a match is an example of sportsmanship.

That's right, it is true.

Can you tell me why? So shaking hands with an opponent after a match demonstrates sportsmanship by showing respect and appreciation for their effort regardless of the outcome.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, let's have another go at a question.

Which is not an example of sportsmanship? A, creating a tunnel after a rugby union game.

B, shaking hands with an opponent after the game.

C, grunting in tennis.

Or D, helping an injured player.

It's C, grunting in tennis.

Now if you aren't familiar with that term, grunting is tennis is the noise that tennis players make and they usually do it to try and put off their opponent when they hit the shot.

So if you've ever watched Wimbledon, for example, when they're playing a match, you often hear the players making really loud grunts or shrieks, and it's actually a type of gamesmanship to try and put off the other player, which isn't a good example of sportsmanship.

It's the opposite.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a go at this practise task.

Using a practical example of your choice, explain why sportsmanship is important in sport.

You may wish to pause a video now to give you time to answer the question.

Good luck.

Okay, so using practical example of your choice, explain why sportsmanship is important in sport.

Now, you may have said: A footballer may choose to kick a ball out of play when they spot an injured opposition player on the pitch.

Despite the footballer having possession of the ball and potentially scoring, they have prioritised the health and safety of an opposition player.

This act of sportsmanship is important because it demonstrates respect, compassion, and fair play.

This strengthens the integrity of the game and builds mutual respect between teams. It reminds players, coaches, and fans that while winning is a goal, respect and empathy for others are central values in sports, making the experience meaningful for everyone involved.

Now, you may have talked about a different example from a different sport, but I have hoped you talked about how it demonstrates respect and fair play.

So well done if you talked about those key values.

Okay, let's move on to the second part of today's lesson.

We are going to explain gamesmanship using examples.

Now, this is different to sportsmanship and we need to be careful because sometimes people get sportsmanship and gamesmanship muddled up.

So it's really important that we know the correct meaning of each one because they are very different.

So gamesmanship is attempting to gain an advantage by bending the rules to the limit but not breaking them.

And gamesmanship is negative, so sportsmanship is positive, but gamesmanship is negative and it focuses on the gaining personal advantage to win or to get a better result for yourself rather than respect and fair play for the opposition.

However, it's important to note that gamesmanship is still within the rules, so it's not necessarily cheating, but it's just bending the rules in a negative way to gain advantage.

I wonder if you know of any examples of gamesmanship already.

So examples of gamesmanship could include: grunting in tennis like we've already talked about earlier.

The shrieking and the making noise of tennis players when they hit the ball to try and put off their opponent is a really good example of gamesmanship.

It's not illegal, it's not against the rules, but it is about trying to get that advantage over the opponent and put them off.

Sledging in cricket.

Now, sledging in cricket is where the wicket keeper or the fielders would say things to the batter as a batter is about to hit the ball.

I'd imagine what they're saying is quite negative to try and gain that advantage over the batter so that they miss the ball and that their fielding team can get them out.

So that's an example of gamesmanship also.

Time wasting when your team is winning.

You may have seen this on the hockey pitch, on a netball court, or on the football pitch where maybe people are taking extra long to go and get a ball that's gone out of the sidelines, or maybe people are tying their shoelaces or undoing them and retying them again before taking a kick in order to waste time when they are currently winning.

Faking an injury such as diving in football.

So trying to manipulate the referee to think that something illegal has happened so that you might get a free kick or you might get a penalty and therefore you have more opportunity therefore to score or to keep possession.

That's an example of gamesmanship.

Saying things to aggravate an opponent.

So again, like sledging in cricket, it's where the other team might say things to wind the opposition up and therefore they might end up doing something illegal or deviant and therefore they might get sent off, which would give your team the advantage.

Okay, let's have a go to check, shall we? True or false, gamesmanship supports a positive values and etiquette of sport.

It's false.

Can you tell me why? Yeah, gamesmanship doesn't support the positive values of sport as it encourages the bending of the rules to gain advantage for their self, for just their own benefit, for them to win.

No mutual respect, no fair play, just thinking about how they are able to win.

Well done if you got that right.

Okay, now it's your turn to have a go.

What I'd like you to do is identify whether the examples below are sportsmanship or gamesmanship examples.

You can do this by just writing an S or a G next to the example.

And when you've done that, I would like you to discuss the similarities and differences between sportsmanship and gamesmanship.

You may wish to pause a video now to give you an opportunity to write the answers.

Okay, so you are first asked to identify whether the examples below were sportsmanship or gamesmanship.

So accepting all officials decisions without arguing is sportsmanship.

That's a positive thing.

Pulling on an opponent's shirt when a referee can't see you is gamesmanship.

You're trying to get an advantage over that opponent there.

It's negative.

Coughing when someone is about to hit a shot, so maybe in golf, or in tennis or in cricket, that's an example of gamesmanship.

Letting faster players go through if you are holding them up in golf, that would be an example of sportsmanship.

You're being respectful to the other group of people playing golf, you are letting them go ahead.

Appealing for a sideline hit, even though you know you touched it last is gamesmanship.

You're trying to manipulate the referee to think that it came off someone else.

So that's bending the rules that's negative, so therefore gamesmanship.

And taking an injury break in tennis when you aren't actually injured, again, is gamesmanship.

It might be that your opposition is on a streak of winning lots of serves, and you want to break that streak by giving them a break.

So you say that you're injured so that there's time out, so that is an example of gamesmanship.

And blocking people in a cycling race, causing them to lose speed, again, would be an example of gamesmanship so that you can keep your advantage in front and not let them get ahead of you.

Well done if you've got all of those correct.

So I've now asked you to discuss the similarities and differences between sportsmanship and gamesmanship.

You may have written something along these lines.

Sportsmanship and gamesmanship are two very different approaches to playing sport, even though they both affect how a game is played.

Sportsmanship is all about showing respect for your opponents, playing fairly and being a good sport.

This helps to create a positive atmosphere and builds good relationships with teammates and rivals.

Rivals could be the opposition.

On the other hand, gamesmanship involves using clever tactics to gain an advantage like bending the rules or trying to distract your opponent, often focusing more on winning than on fairness.

So I'm hoping that you've written something along the lines of sportsmanship is positive and we want that to promote respect and fair play.

Whereas gamesmanship is negative and it's the bending of rules to gain advantage in order for you to win.

Okay, well done if you got those correct.

Right, we are now moving on to the final part of today's lesson.

We're going to explain reasons for deviant behaviour in sport.

So deviant behaviour is a behaviour that is either immoral or seriously breaks the rules and norms of the sport.

This type of behaviour not only affects the reputation of the players, but also impacts the overall spirit of the sport, creating an unfair environment for those who play by the rules.

I wonder if you can already think of some examples of deviant behaviour that has happened in sport, maybe at your level when you've played sport or maybe in elite sport as well.

Negative deviance is cheating, so it goes against all the rules of sport.

So some examples of deviance in elite sport include: taking performance enhancing drugs.

It's cheating, it's not allowed.

It gives a really unfair advantage to that performer compared to their opposition, so it is banned, it is not allowed.

Match fixing, which is where maybe a team or a player would purposely lose a game in order to receive financial benefit from somewhere else.

Bribery and corruption, so similar to match fixing, it's where the performer or the athlete may receive money for doing a certain deviant behaviour or performing a certain way in a competition.

Violence, so being aggressive and violent to another teammate or to an opposition or to a referee is a complete example of deviance and is not allowed in sport.

One thing to consider, is it only the performers that may demonstrate deviant behaviour? If we look at things like match fixing, that could stem to the referee or the officials as well, perhaps.

Maybe one to consider.

So deviant behaviour is not allowed in sport.

There are big fines and bans if deviant behaviour happens.

So why does deviant behaviour happen in sport? Well, the first reason is that players or performers, they want to win at all costs.

Again, when we think back to commercialisation, a lot of these performers may be relying on income, or money, or sponsorship.

In order for them to continue with that, they would need to win.

So therefore, deviant behaviour could happen to make sure that they win.

There's also a lot of pressure from spectators or sponsors, whether it's live spectators in the stadium when they're competing or spectators that are speaking to them online, they feel this need, this pressure in order to win.

Pressure to win prize money.

So they might be relying on the financial reward for winning a competition, for example, which means that they want to win at all costs so that they perform deviant behaviour.

They may be frustrated.

Now this might be an obvious one.

So they might be frustrated at their teammates, so their team aren't playing particularly well and it's a game that they really want to win.

They might be just frustrated that they're losing and they should be winning, or they really want to win.

Or they might be frustrated at the officials, referees.

I'm sure we've all had that experience where you've been playing a sport and the official maybe isn't refereeing or umpiring as well as they should be, and you don't agree with their referee decisions or their umpire decisions, and therefore you feel very frustrated.

But I wonder if you would show deviant behaviour as a result.

Some people do and that can really affect their career in elite sport.

As we've said, poor officiating, that really does lead to deviant behaviour.

And fatigue, so if a performer is tired, they're more likely to get cross or get angry a little bit quicker, and therefore, as a result may show examples of deviant behaviour.

There are consequences for deviance at elite level sport as there are for amateur sports as well.

So there are often fines.

So clubs or players specifically will get fined a lot of money if they show examples of deviant behaviour in sport.

Also, match bans are a consequence of deviant behaviour.

So for example, if a player does show deviant behaviour, they may be banned from playing in future matches.

For example, Lauren James in the World Cup, she's stamped on another player, on an opposition player in the group stages, and therefore she was banned from playing for England in the quarterfinal and the semifinal of the World Cup as a result of her violent and deviant behaviour.

Negative reputation.

So again, amongst spectators, amongst sponsors, amongst the media, there then can be, if you are an athlete that has shown deviant behaviour, you then get that reputation as someone that potentially cheats or potentially shows these deviant behaviours in sport and therefore maybe not well liked by the public.

There's also a loss of commercialisation.

Again, if you are not liked by the public, not liked by spectators, or you're viewed as a cheater, or someone that always demonstrates violence, or someone that always gets sent off for example, then you will lose the opportunity for sponsorship deals, which means that the athlete will not make as much money.

And if people do not want to watch that athlete play because they think they cheat or they always get sent off, then the media will show less of that athlete as well.

It could also have a negative influence of commercialisation on the sport itself.

If the sport then gets known for this type of deviance rather than actually playing the sport really well, then that can also have a really negative effect on the sport.

Okay, let's have a go to check.

Can you identify which is an example of deviant in sport? Is it grunting in tennis? Bending the rules to gain advantage? Is it match fixing? Or is it coughing as someone is about to hit a shot? That's right, it's match fixing.

So purposely losing a game, for example, so that you can earn money from another source would be an example of deviant behaviour.

Right, now it's your turn for a task.

Dani is an England rugby player who has recently received a fine and a match ban for demonstrating deviant behaviour in her last match.

Suggest reasons why Dani may have resorted to deviant behaviour.

You may wish to pause a video now to give you time to answer this question.

Okay, so Dani is an England rugby player who has recently received a fine and a match ban for demonstrating deviant behaviour in her last match.

Suggest reasons why Dani may have resorted to deviant behaviour.

You may have said some of the following: Dani, an England rugby be player, might have turned to deviant behaviour in her last match because of a mixture of pressures and frustrations.

The pressure from fans and sponsors to win can feel overwhelming making her want to do whatever it takes to succeed.

The chance to win prize money adds even more motivation to perform well.

On top of that, frustration from teammates, losing games, and bad calls by the officials could have led her to make impulsive actions during the match.

And poor officiating can make players feel cheated, pushing them to react negatively.

Finally, fatigue from the intense physical demands of the game could have clouded her judgement , making it easier for her to make bad decisions when she was under pressure.

You may have actually given some examples of deviant behaviour like violence, or performance enhancing drugs, or match fixing that you could have also added to include in this answer.

Well done if you did that.

So that leaves us just enough time to summarise today's lesson.

So a performer should demonstrate positive values embedded in sport like sportsmanship to enable fair play, teamwork, and a positive environment.

However, the intense drive to win can occasionally eclipse these important values through gamesmanship and deviance leading to negative behaviours that disregard the rules and show a lack of respect for everyone involved in the game.

So sportsmanship is positive and deviant and gamesmanship are negative.

Well done today.

You've worked really hard.

I look forward to seeing you again in another lesson.