The Good Sportsmanship badge is part of the Legacy badge set introduced in 2011.
Requirement 1: Create your own definition of sportsmanship[]
Good sportsmanship can be a lot of things: Whining,
Playing Fair, Cheating,
Respecting officials and other players, and Bragging
Following the rules. Are generally bad sportsmanship.
But the lines can get blurry. Is it good or bad sportsmanship to do a victory dance, taunt batters, or question an official’s call? Use this step to create your own definition using the chart on the next page.
CHOOSE ONE:
Go to a sports event. Take note of as many interactions among athletes, coaches, and officials as you can (arriving early or staying late could help). Emotions and stress can make for more good and bad behavior, so see if you can find an event that’s part of a championship or longtime rivalry.
OR
Watch a sports series. Choose a sport or game you like and pull up an old championship series to watch: the X Games, the Olympics, Wimbledon, the World Series, even a billiards tournament. The beauty of this option is you can watch the replay as often as you like!
OR
Head to the Web. Read three news stories about good and bad sports behavior. From the triathlete who hopped onto a bus during a race to the home-run hitter who admitted to using steroids, stories of bad behavior abound. Luckily, there are lots of good stories, like when a women’s college softball team carried an opposing team member around the bases when her knee gave out.
YourDefinition of Sportsmanship
Your definition of sportsmanship should include a list of five things to do and five things not to do. As you do the steps in the badge, keep the list handy and keep revising as you get more great ideas from your network. In step 5, you’ll put your definition into action.
5 Things to Do 5 Things Not to Do
1. _____________ 1. ____________
2. _____________ 2. ____________
3. _____________ 3. ____________
4. _____________ 4. ____________
5. _____________ 5. ____________
“I hope that we shall all remember the rules of Girl Scouting game of ours.
They are:
To play fair,
To play in your place,
To play for your side and not yourself.
And, as for the score, the best thing in a game is the fun and not the result.”
-from Juliette Gordon Low’s, 1924 birthday message to Girl Scouts
Requirement 2: Be a good competitor[]
You don’t have to dial it down to be a good sport. In fact, giving it your all in every game or event can be part of good sportsmanship. What else does it take to be a good competitor every time you hit the field or court or track?
CHOOSE ONE:
Make an illustrated quote book. Athletes and coaches share this kind of wisdom all the time (“practice makes perfect,” “if at first you don’t succeed . . “). Gather a dozen or more quotes from athletes and coaches and make an inspiration album
OR
Talk to an athletic director, coach, or player you admire. Ask them to share their experiences. Make up a list of areas you’d like to cover before you chat – perhaps preparation, frustrations, pain and setbacks, and maintaining focus.
OR
Get a biography of a female athlete who’s a great competitor. Then, write an essay, poem, or song that focuses on why and how she’s such a strong competitor and a good sport.
Requirement 3: Be a good teammate[]
Coaches always say they don’t want a show-off, they want a team player. Teamwork skills help you on and off the field. There’s teamwork involved in every group, from Girl Scouts to debate team. Play one of these games, then, agree on three strategies that helped you build a team and three practices that got in the way.
CHOOSE ONE:
Play Trust, like they did on Survivor. Get a team of at least four girls together and create an obstacle course about 20 yards long. Take turns being the caller, who yells directions to her blindfolded teammates to get them all through the course without running into each other.
OR
Play three team-building games.Try three of the classic team-building games sports psychologist Colleen Hacker plays with the U.S. Women’s National soccer Team:
Human Dragon, Wolves and Sheep, Human Knots,
Scavenger Hunt, classic Trust, Triangle Tag,
and others. Some of these are explained on the following pages.
OR
Play Capture the Flag. It’s hard to find another game on the planet that uses as many team-building skills as this classic! Not to mention, it’s hard to find a more fun way to spend an afternoon.
Copy each game’s instructions into a notebook or onto index cards so you can add to them as you find more. You can use them when you’re a Senior/Ambassador for your CIT and/or VIT awards.
TRIANGLE TAG
Equipment: None
Space: Several 10-yard grids
Players: Groups of 4
Game: Three of four players form a circle or triangle, linking arms at the wrist, shoulder, or elbow. They must never break a link. The fourth player, the “tagger” is outside the circle/triangle. One of the three in the circle is the “target,” and the other two must shuffle, spin, or otherwise move to protect the target from being tagged. After 15 seconds, someone else becomes the tagger, and the game continues. Everyone takes three turns being a protector and one turn being a tagger. Everyone competes for the best win-loss record. Keep track of wins and losses as both protector and tagger.
PLAY THE HANDKERCHIEF
This is a quick, fun game to improve focus.
Equipment: handkerchief,
or bandana
Space: An area about 15 square feet
Players: 6 to 12 girls
Game: Place a bandana or handkerchief on the ground. One at a time, each girl puts one foot on the kerchief. Once everyone has a foot on the kerchief (your foot can be on top of another girl’s foot), everyone has to pick up their other foot. Use each other and your own mental focus to keep one foot on the kerchief and the other in the air.
- Exercises from Colleen Hacker, Ph.D., sports psychology consultant to the U.S. Women’s National Soccer Team, found in Catch Them Being Good,cowritten with coach Tony DiCicco.
HUMAN DRAGON []
Equipment: None
Space: A field or gym free of obstacles
Players: Four teams of 6 to 8 girls – each team is a dragon. You can have odd numbers and vary the length of each dragon according to players’ skill and size.
Game: Each team chooses someone to be the head of its dragon, and another person to be the tail. The rest of the team fills in the dragon’s body, holding on to the person in front of them at the waist. The goal is for the head of each dragon to tag the tail of any other dragon team. Only the head can do the tagging; everyone else must stay connected with both hands. Meanwhile, each team is, also, trying to avoid having its own tail tagged. After a tag, the tagging team receives one point, and the other team creates a new tail by moving its tail to its head. If one person is a tail too long, switch them to the head even if they weren’t tagged. If any player loses their grip on the person in front of them, the team should self-report the loss of a point for their team and switch the tail. Dragons call out their score every time they gain or lose a point. The game keeps going as long as you want it to.
WOLVES and SHEEP []
Equipment: Cones or other markers to designate playing area and safety box
Space: A Rectangular field of 5 yards per player; so for eight players a 40-
yard field
Players: Any number
Game:Divide your group into two equal teams. Give each team a name, like Redsand Blues. At each of the two diagonal corners of the field, create a safety zone. Each zone should be about 5x5 yards2. Use cones to mark the two sides of the square that are inside the playing area. Players from both teams jog, run, sprint, or skip around the playing area. After unpredictable intervals of time – 1 minute, 30 seconds, 90 seconds, 10 seconds – yell out one team’s name (“Reds!”) to turn them into “wolves.” Now all the Redschase the Blues, who are the “sheep,” tagging as many as they can before the sheep can get to the safety zones. Tagged sheep join the other team. Next time, the Bluesmight be the wolves.
How often you call a team name to begin
the chase, and which team you call, should
be as random as possible. When all of one
team has been captured by the game ends.
Requirement 4: Psych yourself up[]
Kathy Smith
Whether you’re involved in a team or solo sport, the biggest obstacle can be the voices in your own head. Train those voices, though, and they can be your path to success. Check out the methods sports psychologists and extreme athletes use to psych themselves up for competition and find three that work for you.
CHOOSE ONE:
But I landed my triple axel! Judging in sports like figure skating and gymnastics is subjective. How do athletes deal with knowing that no matter what they do, some things are out of their control (you didn’t like my music? my outfit?). Find an athlete who competes in a subjectively scored sport and see what they have to say.
OR
Mind over matter. It’s tough to find an athlete these days, from the oldest skier to the youngest X Games shredder, who doesn’t talk about visualization. Mental training can improve performance. A golfer, for example, might visualize the perfect stroke over and over to help her muscles remember it. Find out more about the technique and how it might improve your game.
OR
Play sports psychology games. You’d be surprised how many teams routinely work with sports psychologists. Play a team game and run your group through some of their psych-up exercises before you start. Use the ones on the next page, or ask for help from a sports psychologist, coach, or athlete.
Careers to EXPLORE []
- Athlete
- Personal trainer
- Youth recreation administrator
- Coach
- Sports instructor
- Sports official (umpire, referee)
- Politician
- Guidance counselor
- Elementary school teacher
- Judge
- Sports psychologist
- Sports team manager
- Lawyer
- Sports psychiatrist
- Professional sports scout/recruiter
- Journalist
- School administrator
- Military officer
- Sportscaster
- Physical therapist
- Sports agent
Meet Kathy Smith []
Kathy Smith is a personal trainer who became well known for her workout videos during the late 1980s and 1990s. She has sold over 16 million workout videos since 1980.
When she was 17 years old, her father died of a heart attack, and a year and a half later her mother died in a plane crash. Following the loss of her parents, Kathy began exercising to combat depression. She enrolled at the University of Hawaii, and graduated with a degree in business administration. Kathy has stated that following the loss of her parents, and her sister's descent into substance abuse, she developed a wild lifestyle and feared her athlete boyfriend might leave her; she took up running to be near him, and found it to be a life-changing experience. Kathy was one of a few women to complete the Honolulu marathon in 1975, and Runner's World magazine listed her as one of the top 100 marathon runners in the country. Her fitness videos made her a multi-millionaire by her mid thirties, and she has been awarded numerous accolades, including induction into the Video Hall of Fame.
She has two daughters.
Psych-Up Activities from SPORTS []
Accentuate the positive. Change “I’m missing all my shots” to
“I’m getting to the goal, now I’ve just got to get the shots in.”
Use positive imagery. Visualize the prize! Picture yourself on
the podium receiving the medal or trophy you desire. Picture yourself doing every step needed to get there, too.
Don’t let failures get you down. Smile! Using those muscles naturally relaxes you and sends a signal to your brain that things are good. Choose a cue word, such as focus, to say to yourself to break negative thinking.
Stay focused. Break down your task into small steps, periods, or quarters, so you don’t get overwhelmed.
Think 100. Just before heading into the big game or the big event, commit to “100:” 100% energy, effort, and commitment, 100% of the time, over 100% of the field, court, or gym.
TRY. Take responsibility for yourself. Develop the talents that you have, and that you need, to be great. Don’t make excuses or blame anyone else.
Requirement 5: Put your definition of good sportsmanship into action[]
Consider insights you’ve gained during steps 2, 3, and 4, and, then, take a moment to make revisions to the definition you came up with in step 1. Once you’ve got your ultimate list, put your new ideas and strategies to the test.
CHOOSE ONE:
Compete. If you’re already involved in a sport, take your definition and follow it during a big game or event. Or, try a new sport: It’s harder to fall back into old habits that way. After you play, review your definition. What’s easier said than done? Anything in your definition to adjust?
OR
Play with little kids. Volunteer to help with Little League, to play board games or simple active games (like Red Light, Green Light, or Duck, Duck, Goose) at a nursery school, or to run a kindergarten field day. As you teach the kids, you’ll be testing the strength of your own convictions! After the event, look over your definition. How does it apply to other age groups? Do you need to change anything to make your definition more universal?
OR
Take on the role of referee, umpire, or judge. Volunteer to work with a league, start an afternoon pickup game, or host a subjective competition (roller skating, figure skating, ballroom dance . . .). Keep your “good sport” list in mind during the game. After, review each point and make sure you still agree with it. If not, make adjustments.
More to EXPLORE[]
Compose a contract. Write a Good Sportsmanship Contract for your school or community sports program and get the coaches and athletes to sign it.
Tip: After you complete this step, you’ll have your tried-and-true definition of sportsmanship. You might want to hang it in your locker or a personal space – you might find your insights helpful off the field, too.