Swimming and Good Sportsmanship

Dear Good Sports,

I'm sure that most -- if not all -- of us watched last year's Summer Olympics in Beijing, especially the swimming with Michael Phelps and Dara Torres.

And, of course most -- if not all -- of us remember the records they both broke and the honors they received.

But for some reason, I completely missed this event for which Dara was honored by the ICFP, the International Committee for Fair Play.

At the women's 50m freestyle event, Dara's competitor, Therese Alshammar of Sweden, had a swimsuit malfunction. Dara convinced the officials to delay the start of the event so that Therese could take care of her problem.

I think Dara's action that day says a lot about her personal values and ethics. It's also a great reminder that the goal of the Olympics, as stated in the Olympic Charter, is to promote and contribute to the practice of sport in a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.

It made me wonder: If that was in the Olympic Charter, what's mentioned in our sports teams' charters?

I decided to research swimming in honor of Ms. Torres. I found charters and mission statements for pools and swim teams from New York to California -- and they all shared variations of the same themes:

*... Empowering young people to be champions in life through excellence in swimming ...

*... Promote interest in the spirit of the sport and fairness in competition

*... Hard work, improvements and personal accomplishment can be more important than winning ...

*... Losing sight of good sportsmanship means the program is not worth sponsoring ...

*... Good sportsmanship for all participants -- swimmers, volunteers, coaches and spectators -- is mandatory ...

*... Foster and promote the values of good sportsmanship, honesty, perseverance and integrity ...

*... The good sportsmanship, honesty, courage, commitment, and perseverance developed through swimming will prepare our young people for the challenges they will face later in life ...

I'll end this sample list with the most important point of all:

*Good Sportsmanship is for all participants: swimmers, volunteers, coaches, parents and spectators!

I think it's really important for our children to know that if Dara Torres demonstrates these values during the most important competitions of her life, when she really wants to win, then we and our children can, too!

Leslie

P.S. The ICFP was established in 1963 to promote "the principles of fair play which are essential to sport."