Personal Code Of Ethics In Sports

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When the stakes are high, some people will do anything to win including taking actions that are less than ethical. This problem, often described as “cheating”, can be found in many different forms and levels of severity and in almost every aspect of life. Simply put, cheating is breaking the rules in order to gain an unfair advantage over a system, standard, group or individual.

The old adage “It doesn’t matter if you win or loose, it’s how you play the game” is a message oft repeated by athletes, educators, politicians, and parents as they try to instill the value of honest and fair competition to others. This lesson is one that I was taught early in life and have adopted as part of my personal code of ethics. It is my opinion that cheating is dishonest, unprofessional,
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Their survey of 23,000 high school students revealed that over half of the students had cheated on a test or exam and almost two thirds had lied to a teacher about something important during the prior year. In a separate study, the Josephson Institute concluded that while student athletes often have proclaim to have strong intentions to avoid cheating they are often taught lessons in bad sportsmanship by their coaches and feel peer pressure to break the rules. Unfortunately, these unfair sports practices seem to be widespread and can be found almost all levels of competition.

A recent example of one attempt to circumnavigate the established rules is the controversy that has become known as “deflategate.” Earlier this year, the National Football League’s New England Patriots allegedly supplied underinflated footballs to be used in the AFC Championship game against the Indianapolis Colts. Some experts feel that this action gave the Patriots an unfair advantage in the game ultimately resulting in their victory and advancing them to the