The Sports Ethic

Hughes and Coakley (1991) explain that some deviance in sports is not necessarily negative. Rather, breaking from the norm can be viewed as positive deviance. This is best understood by investigating the sports ethic.

The sports ethic is a set of norms, values, beliefs, and actions that athletes come to define as what an ideal athlete should be.

There are four dimensions of the sports ethic:
1. Being an athlete involves making sacrifices for The Game. The sport comes first. The athlete must prove that they are dedicated to the sport, their coach and their teammates by making sacrifices in their personal life/life outside of the sport. Ultimately, they need to be willing to do anything and everything in order to help their team progress.
2.Being an athlete involves striving for distinction. Perfection is the end goal. Winning is the only acceptable outcome, losing is completely unacceptable. The athlete is pressured to work harder, better, faster, and stronger (relevant Daft Punk reference) in order to get to the top and validate one's identity as an athlete.
3.Being an athlete involves accepting risks and playing through pain. Pain is nonexistent. To succumb to injury is equivalent to accepting defeat. Athletes are pressured to play through the pain; physical and psychological challenges come with the territory.
4.Being an athlete involves refusing to accept limits in the pursuit of possibilities. Nothing is impossible with the right attitude and enough hard work. Athletes do not accept the current status of their physical abilities, there is always something more they can do in order to become better.

Conformity to the sports ethic is caused by overcommitment by athletes. Some factors that may contribute to extreme conformity are: a belief that continuing participation in the sport may lead to sponsorship, feeling drawn to the action of sport, low self-esteem, and seeking mobility.

I played soccer from when I was six until I was a sophomore in high school. I played competitive soccer in my later years before quitting, and can identify with aspects of the four dimensions of the sports ethic. Specifically, I was pressured to work harder and better in order to move up in my competitive league. It is absurd because I was only 14 or 15, but I had coaches who would push me and my teammates to run until we collapsed or vomited. Practices took place daily, and we would practice after school until the sun would go down and we couldn't see the ball any longer. There was a great deal of pressure to stand out among our teammates and catch the attention of coaches of teams positioned higher in the league. The sports ethic applies to not only professionals, but even preteens who are simply playing for the love of the sport.