Sports Virtues
Play wholeheartedly. Give the contest and its people their due.
A well-timed pass, a hard-earned skill, a close contest that makes everyone attend: sport offers pleasures worth taking seriously. These thirteen virtues explore how to pursue them alongside teammates, coaches, opponents and supporters. The choices range from a newcomer’s first team practice to a parent’s conduct on the touchline, from preparing carefully to leaving room for recovery.
13 virtues to practice
- 01Temperance — Keep room for recovery, even while you want more.
- 02Fairness — Give the same close call the same honest attention.
- 03Courtesy — Let ordinary consideration survive a lively rivalry.
- 04Humility — Bring your experience; keep room for what you have not learned.
- 05Courage — Face the difficult moment for a purpose worth defending.
- 06Perseverance — Return with a reason, and let the next attempt learn.
- 07Diligence — Give the quiet parts of preparation their proper care.
- 08Compassion — Notice the person having a hard time, even across the contest.
- 09Self-Command — Let your next response serve the game, not the outburst.
- 10Gratitude — Notice the work that made your chance to play possible.
- 11Magnanimity — Give a rival’s excellence the credit it deserves.
- 12Perspective — Let the result matter within a life larger than the result.
- 13Integrity — Keep your standard when the convenient witness is absent.
Wholehearted play with judgment
The interest of a game lies partly in what you cannot settle in advance. Another person can surprise you. Practice can become visible in a moment, and a familiar movement can suddenly feel understood. Wholehearted participation gives these possibilities room. Fairness, care and self-command help sustain the shared activity in which they arise.
Competition also brings particular temptations: explaining away a rival’s excellence, letting one result speak for a whole life, or treating hidden work as if it happened by itself. The point is to become more able to play, learn, judge and contribute. A sporting result is never a measure of someone’s human worth.
There is no single proper level of ambition. Access, ability, resources and responsibilities differ. You can enjoy a casual game, pursue demanding improvement, support an event or leave a form of participation that no longer fits. The virtues concern the quality of those choices.
Sports Virtues in ordinary life
Within a team
Ask what you need to understand, prepare with care, and let a teammate’s contribution count.
Beside the contest
Support the players without making an official the target of your frustration; notice the work that makes participation possible.
Between occasions
Give recovery its place, consider an adjusted return after a setback, and bring the result into a life with other people and interests.
An optional rhythm
Read in the order that interests you, or return to one virtue each week. A thirteen-week pass through the catalog can provide a rhythm; four passes would take fifty-two weeks. You can change that rhythm or stop whenever the practice no longer helps.
Make the practice your own
Choose participation that fits your circumstances. You can adapt, pause or decline a practice.
Practice this collection
Choose this approved collection as an optional workbook program, or select individual virtues in My Virtues.