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Literature review on performance enhancing drugs in sports
What is the importance of sportsmanship in games and sports
Literature review on performance enhancing drugs in sports
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According to the recently deceased Nelson Mandela, “Sports have the power to change the world." What makes sports so powerful? If you have ever participated in a sport or watched some type of event you have experienced it. This greatness does not occur during the game; but rather, this powerful encounter takes place after the game. For example, boxers beat each other into a pulp for twelve rounds, but after the match they hug and congratulate one another. Football and hockey players shake hands after the game even though they deliver life threatening and dangerous hits. It seems like all competitors, no matter the event, behave in this particular manner. It is all part of sportsmanship, a tradition that illustrates the beauty of sports. Defined by Dictionary.com, sportsmanship is “sportsmanlike conduct, as fairness, courtesy or being a cheerful loser.” This basically means that sportsmanship is defined as the ethical and moral dimension of sports. It is a choice by each individual to display ethical behavior with fairness, respect, and integrity for the game they play. Vince Lombardi, a legendary coach for the Green Bay Packers and known for having his name on the Super Bowl trophy, once quoted that “winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” This mindset controls many professional and amateur athletes and has destroyed the positive sportsmanlike culture. In order to win, athletes have cheated by neglecting the rules or using performance enhancing drugs. In some instances, players intentionally compete in a disrespectful and dirty manner. For example, in 2012 the National Football League reported that the New Orleans Saints established a bounty system which paid players to purposely injure opposing players. How could a playe... ... middle of paper ... ...e a test. Disregarding the rules, you then plan to make a cheat sheet in order to pass the exam. In this situation, sportsmanship comes into play. The choice to make a cheat sheet is unfair to students who devoted themselves to get a good grade. This act is selfish and lacks accountability. Sportsmanship exists in all areas of life in deciding whether to be fair and respectful. The example of the cheat sheet is one of many real life experiences that sportsmanship can be applied. Sportsmanship will never be instituted as a mandatory rule in sports; but rather, it remains a choice by each individual. This decision defines an individual’s character to understand and commit themselves to fair play, ethical behavior, and integrity. In some cases the evil of sports and the importance of winning can corrupt these important values that help instill ethical decision making.
In Introduction to the Philosophy of Sport, Heather L. Reid presents a discussion of how ethics is treated in the arena of Olympism and some of the struggles of defining and how or if the ethical guidelines should be enforced. Reid notes, “Some would say that ethical principles are always the product of a particular culture, so there can no more be universal ethical principles than there can be a universal culture” (Reid, 22). I disagree with the notion that there cannot be universal ethical principles for athletes to follow in sport because even across cultures there are general morals that shape the lives of people from all over the world. For example, murder and cheating are inherently immoral actions, no matter where someone comes from;
Taylor, Hopkins. Substance abuse issues to Offending Athletes. Miami: Beachwood Press, pages 35-37. 2009. Print.
This research paper will determine whether professional athletes deserve a second chance to play in professional sports after inappropriate behaviors. Professional athletes are considered idols and are often held to higher standards. Society has become concerned with so many of today’s athletes making the evening news for their unsuitable behaviors.
Ever since the introduction of steroids to professional sports in the 1970s (Assael), they have greatly undermined the core American beliefs that sports held dear for so long. Values like honesty, hard work, and dedication h...
Through research and support from historical analysis, criminological theory, and support from the relevant branches of the criminal justice system the National Football League’s departmental policy on substance abuse has been in use and amended many different time since the early 1970’s. In the following paper recommendations will be made to help make changes to the NFL’s substance abuse policy, and it will address specific needs to help the National Football League clean up their image.
In Forbes Magazine, David DiSalvo’s article “College football steroid use is rampant and little is done about it” talks about the use of performance-enhancing drugs in college football and its rising use in football today. Everybody always bashes baseball and other sports for steroid use but nobody really cares if it’s used in football and many people are starting to question why. Another question that needs to be answered is how are these football players not getting caught by the many drug tests they are forced to take. In most cases it’s blatantly obvious that most of these players are on something. David’s article has opened many of the football fans eyes and people seek the truth behind all of this.
The role of physicians employed by professional sports teams creates conflicts of interest and raises ethical concerns. The team physicians have a moral obligation to promote the health of their patients, but their actions are heavily influenced by outside variables and by the patient’s susceptibility to influence and personal characteristics. The opposing need to protect the athlete’s health and the player’s desire to succeed interferes with the physician’s ability to make ethical decisions and impedes promises to commitments and adopted health care virtues. In this paper, I will discuss how the conflict between moral obligation to individual health and the stress of achievement threatens autonomy and
His statement that “winning is the only thing that matters in sport”, is one of the truths that is still inherent in today’s world of sports. Athletes are willing to cheat to guarantee success, either through the use of performance-enhancing drugs, or through the act of injuring others. These days, drugs, blood doping, corruption, injuring others and the consequences of winning and more importantly losing is all evident. Lombardi’s statement is not only applicable to athletes, but it also applies to the countries that the athletes are representing. Events such as the Olympics and the World Cup of Hockey, are a source of national pride and some countries are willing, and fully wanting to try and do anything to bring prestige back, many of them resorting to unethical tactics. Lombardi’s statement does not only affect players, or athletes, it also affects coaches, owners, and managers. They too place winning as their number one concern. In many cases, fair play generally takes a back seat to the desire for winning. The truth of the matter is that, some will bend rules, while others will outright cheat. The corruptness of sports today has lead to the endless methods and desires of unethical behaviour.
Fair Play can be represented as the attitude and behavior of athletes participants of a sports competition, which includes honesty, respect, empathy, acceptance of rules and regulations, among many others components. Therefore, Fair Play can be defined as ethics in the sports world. Unfortunately, personal, business and commercial interests might not directly correlate to the goals and standards of
The journal article, “What does sport mean to you? Fun and other preferences for adolescents’ sport participation” claims that fun, social aspects, masculinity, and identity are the main reasons youth participate in sports (Skille and Østera˚ s, 360). Oftentimes, athletes forget they are on the same team, and they start to form cliques or groups based around who has the best bench press or 40 meter dash time. As a result, teammates start to compete with each other instead of working towards the same goal. For instance, one coaching journal article claims that “moral reasoning” in youth is determined through “collective norms” or group behaviors that the coach has a hand in influencing (Shields, LaVoi, Bredemeier, Power, 748-749). A proper coaching environment should therefore revolve around a fun, supportive, and collective environment where success is encouraged through the full support of the team. This support can further be developed through proper positive mindfulness and code of conduct guidelines set forth by the coach; for instance, hazing should be discouraged and proper communication and helpfulness among teammates should be
People always forget about sportsmanship because it’s something you have been told since you were just a couple of years old. The pyramid of sports and activities is built with sportsmanship, chemistry, and having fun at the bottom, then you have competition and skill in the middle and winning at the top. You could go without winning, although it wouldn’t be a pyramid it will still be standing up.
Eitzen, D. Stanley. (1999). "Sport Is Fair, Sport Is Foul." Fir and Foul: Beyond the Myths and Paradoxes of Sport.
Sports are governed by sets of rules or customs and often, competition. Sports have always been a way to connect us to our past and to build optimism about the future. Sport’s a way to bond the people despite differences in race, age and gender. However, today the game that is supposed to teach character, discipline and team work is teaching cheating. And in today’s world, with fame, endorsement, drugs and so much to gain, it is not surprising that athletes are cheating in sports. Cheating in sports is not new thing; it started the day when humans first discovered athletic competitions. According to the Los Angeles Times (August 20, 2006) “More than 2,000 years before Mike Tyson bit off a piece of Evander Holyfield's ear and was disqualified in the boxing ring, Eupolus of Thessaly, a boxer in the Olympics of 388 BC, bribed three of his opponents to take dives. Historians consider Eupolus' crime the first recorded act of cheating in sports” (Pugmire 7). We have been seeking an easier way to win. Cheating in sports, which recently has manifested in diverse forms, is more a result of increasing pressure to win from the sponsors and team management, especially in the context of sport becoming a career rather than an act of recreation. What actually constitutes cheating? When does gamesmanship stop and cheating start? And should we try to stop cheating in sports? The use of illegal drugs, huge amount of money and betting is ruining the fame of sports. Hence, cheating in sports is caused by drugs and the desire for endorsement and fame which are getting more effective in recent.
In conclusion, it is explicit that sports is a positive influence on athletes, spectators and the world as a whole as it teaches imperative life lessons as well as allows its participants to experience enjoyment, fulfilment and gratification. As mentioned previously sports enables its players to bring out the best in others and create unity amongst groups as team work is so essential. This highlights the views I have in conjunction with the views of Joe Humphrey.
There is need for ethics in sports within athletic competition today. Without ethics, there are no moral grounds or rules with which to lead a healthy, competitive athletic lifestyle today. Whether young or old, all athletes struggle creating a strong foundation within a world of winning and losing. Where does this foundation originate from? Ethics and sports go hand-in-hand.