posted 5th November 2023
DEFINITION. Spirit of the Game is the mindful behaviour practiced before, during, and after a game that allows players to work together to uphold the rules of ultimate and enjoy the game.
At TIDI Sports Academy, we have adopted the pure definition of 'Spirit of the Game' into our practices.
It's story time. So, recently we played a fixture, a league fixture, the age group was U12's and we played against a Semi-Professional club and a well-known one at that.
The fixture was rescheduled to play at their ground, which was impromptu to have the fixture played as the weather conditions resulted in all grassroots fixtures being postponed in the region because of waterlogged pitches.
As a result of this, we had several parents unable to attend and also, one or two lost and unable to locate the facilities.
We arrived at the venue with 8 players. I explained to the opposing coaches and they started the game with 9 players. During the fixture, we had one player hurt and could not continue after half-time. The opposing team took off one player but continued with the advantage.
We had an issue where a player from our team started to cry on the pitch, he came over and said the ref swore at him, so, I spoke to the referee who was a minor, and then explained to the coaches from the other team that I questioned what happened, and we continued the game.
Despite a heavy loss, the 8 players continued to spur one another on, the parents continued to encourage the players. Every player shook hands and then in the team talk, the players were full of guile and encouraged one another to get back to training and work on particular areas of development for the next fixture.
During the fixture, I continued to speak to parents who were conversing with me, and I asked them, 'What is the purpose?' referring to why we are participating. In the various healthy conversations, I continued to refer to the fact that the players are 10-11 years of age, what are we trying to teach them? Which made the parents on both teams think about my question.
Now, yes, the opposing team broke no rules whatsoever, they were kind enough to only keep a one-player advantage. But, was the approach within the 'Spirit of the Game'? Maybe not, in my opinion. However, what lessons can be taken away and embedded into our practices at TIDI Sports Academy? Simple.
Our approach to the Spirit of the Game is that we consider the welfare of all players and encourage a level playing field and environment for all players, home or opposing to participate in. With this in mind, we endeavour to ensure that we have a 'player first' approach. This means, that regardless if it is our boys and girls or, opposing, we want all to enjoy their participation and have an equal opportunity within the same environment.
Moving forward, we have learned that it is important to uphold our standards. To represent our academy, but also as an accredited Football Association, uphold the National standards in football.
Our experiences help to shape the way we move forward