What are the recipe for success in Amateur Sports?
What does it take to have a successful Amateur Sports Career?

As a long time amateur soccer player, referee, coach and soccer league manager, I have observed players behaviours, compiled statistics about fair play, and most importantly monitored what quality human beings who play Co-Ed and amateur sports have in common. Great kids, Gentlemen, and classy ladies who play sports and have a great time doing it are very competitive and very  fair play at the same time.

The fair play or sportsmanship checklist below highlights what they all have in common and it is the recipe for success in Co-Ed and amateur sports:

• They arrive at the game on time and don't leave before the end of the game unless it is an emergency or they have suffered an injury.
• They dress properly and safely. For soccer for example, they wear indoor shoes for indoors, outdoor shoes for outdoors, shin pads, long soccer socks, soccer shorts and tee-shirts or soccer jerseys. They don't wear rings, chains or any other unsafe objects that can hurt themselves or their teammates or opponents.
• They respect the referee or game organizer no matter what decision they take.
• They respect all their team-mates and opponents.
• They don't argue with the referees and they don't argue or complain about the rules of the game.
• They play hard, but aren't too aggressive, especially when they are facing slower or weaker opponents.
• They stop the action whenever a player is down. They help team-mates who are down injured.
• They don't dismiss or talk down to players who are not playing well, they encourage them instead.
• They call their own fouls and don't waste time arguing about a call.
• They applaud great play or great goal even if it is scored against them.
• They control their temper, They don't use "F" word or any other derogatory word; they are respectful towards everybody involved in the game.
• They don't insult anybody and never start a fight no matter what.
• They always make sure that everyone is ok after a contact.
• They play with the mercy rule in mind: If their opponent is too weak, they are not going to keep scoring for the sake of scoring. They will slow down and even let their opponent scores some goals on them to try to balance the game.
• They are always positive, always smiling whenever they play well or not, and they don't take themselves too seriously in a good way.

I have also noticed that people who are competitive and follow the checklist above when they play sports are most of the time very successful and live a very peaceful and happy life. Read this excellent post about great example of Fair Play in Sports on Quora.

#Sport #inRealTimeNow