What does the Catholic Church teach about sportsmanship and our responsibilities as fans, coaches and players?

Some of you might already be thinking, “This is supposed to be a faith column, not a sports column, Father, why don’t you stick to your field.” Well, the truth is, that as a Catholic priest, whatever Catholics participate in becomes my field, because whatever we do, should be enlightened by our faith. Let me explain.

To my knowledge, none of the Popes or Vatican congregations has ever written a formal document on the place of sports and sportsmanship in the lives of Catholics. That being said, there have been plenty of Church leaders who have written about the importance of glorifying God in all that we do. For Americans, because sports are something “that we do” often, our faith in God should enlighten this aspect of our lives as well.

Here is what the Catechism says in its single paragraph about sports. “If morality requires respect for the life of the body, it does not make it an absolute value. It rejects a neo-pagan notion that tends to promote the cult of the body, to sacrifice everything for its sake, to idolize physical perfection and success at sports. By its selective preference of the strong over the weak, such a conception can lead to the perversion of human relationships.” (CCC 2289)

Do you think we “idolize physical perfection and success at sports? Do you think we regularly neglect the weak and glorify the strong? Brothers and sisters, I don’t think we do, I know we do. Teenage boys are sacrificing everything to become the successful athlete they think will make themselves and their parents happy, teenage girls are developing eating disorders everyday trying to attain the physical perfection pictured in our airbrushed magazine advertisements. And we now have the medical technology to “snuff out” any human life that might be genetically weak or disabled.

Is all of this a result of sports? No, all of this is a result of human beings not allowing every aspect of our lives to be enlightened by or checked by our faith. In many places, sports have become one of these unchecked areas of Catholic family life.

How many of us have ever thought about or set out our main priorities in life? Sadly, for many of us, we have a different set of priorities depending upon what building we are in; office, home, gymnasium. My own personal definition of sportsmanship is to be able to walk into a gymnasium or a football field with the same list of priorities that I would have when walking into church, or the office, or a hospital. What are these priorities? Well, as Mother Theresa put it, when a Catholic places in order the priorities of Jesus, Others, then Yourself, it will produce JOY in your life.

First, to place God as first priority is to believe God is your biggest fan or biggest critic when you are on the court or in the field. This was the reason for the popularity of the What Would Jesus Do bracelets a couple decades ago. It was a practical way to remind oneself of first priority, how does God influence my actions in sports?

Secondly, we must place others above winning. This means that no human being should be hurt physically, emotionally, mentally, as a result of our physical play or our tongue. This includes every possible scenario; fans talking to officials, coaches talking to players, grandparents talking about players or coaches, players competing or trash talking with one another. This also includes school administrations hiring coaches who have these priorities in order and desire to instill them into their players. In every scenario, placing other’s well being above “winning” is good sportsmanship.

Lastly we should be concerned about ourselves. However, notice that we ourselves still have priority over “winning.” (Winning doesn’t even make the top three priorities in life.) Anytime we sacrifice our health or our emotional well being for the sake of winning, we mess up the order of priority.

Is all of this difficult? Of course it is, it’s a pain to be the one to accept a bad call, or to keep our mouth shut when it is blatantly obvious what the coach is doing is wrong. Does sportsmanship mean we shouldn’t try to win? Of course not. I love winning. I’m the most competitive priest I know and thus I know exactly how difficult it is to balance competition with faith, and I definitely do not always succeed. However, because sportsmanship is so difficult, it is also an amazingly powerful form of evangelization. People in our communities know we are Catholic, and if they see us holding our tongue and helping others up and congratulating our opponents, putting these three priorities in order, they are going to be suspicious of what makes us so different. They will witness our joy and desire it for themselves. They will be inspired by our sportsmanship and slowly begin to rearrange the priorities in their own lives placing God at the top.

In Christ’s Loving Service
Your Pastor,
Fr. Jarett Konrade
https://stn-church.com/