To fully embody all the qualities of sportsmanship, you must first embody the qualities of empathy, because only when you know how great it is to win or how tough it is to lose, can you fully appreciate your opponent's perspective.  Sportsmanship can be counter-intuitive at times, but again, that’s what makes it so wonderful and refreshing when we experience it.  Obviously you will always be upset when you lose or are playing poorly and happy when you win or are playing well, but how you deal with those intense emotions speaks to your character as a whole, and can serve to define you as a person.  Simply imagine how uplifting it is when you lose an important game, and your teammates or opponents tell you that you played an amazing game and it was a great game to play in.  Imagine when you are at your lowest possible state, and instead of being concerned with himself or herself, an opponent shares a snack with you or makes an effort to get to know you or compliment you.  When that happens to you, doesn’t it make you feel so much better?  Now, wouldn’t you love to do that for someone else?  To show someone else, and it can even be a teammate, how kind and unique you are?  If you can really achieve all the aspects of sportsmanship, you will probably be an anomaly at your school, but a good one.  You will become a leader, because a leader inspires others to succeed through actions and example, not words.  Over time, your team will improve as well, as only positive results come out of sportsmanship such as better teamwork, more desire, more hustle, and more passion.   

Many people think that practicing sportsmanship means giving up some of your intensity, some of your passion or some of your competitive edge, but there is a key distinction here.  Practicing sportsmanship is a bonus as an athlete, and it can only help you.  Your passion and intensity for the game can only grow out of a more complete understanding of your opponents and your teammates.  There is a key difference between loving your team and hating the other team.  You don’t really hate them.  Most of the time you don’t even know anyone on the other team.  What you really hate is when that other team beats you.  In the end they’re just another team, just like yours, and they want to win too.  Using hate or dislike as a tool for competitiveness can rarely be helpful.  Focus on your team, and what you need to do, not how you feel about the other team.

Sports are a metaphor for life, and what we all learn from participating in competitive sports will serve well to educate us about life.  Through adversity and stressful times, we learn to excel, and through the use of sportsmanship in different situations we learn how to deal effectively and honorably with both success and failure.  Sports in school are supposed to be fun, but as an early teen it can be so much more than that.  It is a way to make friends, to experience the camaraderie of being on a team, two play, and for the first time in our lives truly experience success and failure on a grand scale, in a meaningful experience.  This can be extremely valuable if you keep to things in mind as you experience it all; going into the experience, keep in mind that it’s only a game, but that this is a big new opportunity to be a part of something great, and as you leave a particular year in school, or a team, keep in mind that it was so much more than just sports, and using sportsmanship as your guide, you can become a stronger, wiser more prepared person for whatever obstacles life may throw in your way.    
  
“In today's society, winning comes before everything. But if winning comes at the expense of good sportsmanship, then nothing is gained in the long run. Good sportsmanship is the result of a disciplined effort to respect yourself, your opponents and to practice the golden rule. Remember, sportsmanship makes a world of difference.”

- University Interscholastic League