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Ethics in Sport; Volleyball as a Focal Point in Ethics By Hans Peter Graf The general advancements which have taken place in ethics in society as a whole during the past decade have, naturally, carried over to the area of sport. However, ethics in sport has received less attention when compared to other areas of ethical concern such as medicine, the treatment of animals or the economy, to name just a few. Nevertheless, the publication of the “Lexicon of Ethics in Sport” in 1998, points to a certain milestone in the development of ethics in sport. Although there has always been a certain ethos in sport, ethics in sport today, as opposed to earlier times, can be stimulated by general philosophical ideas. Sport ethos is a complete pattern of rules and attitudes which is considered binding by the social group of athletes in regards to their behaviour. The individual members of this group are expected to do the right thing of their own accord. Ethos in sport leads especially to behaving in a fair manner during one-on-one competition, respect for others and the absolute compliance with the given rules. Sport ethics were included as an essential element of physical education theory in order to effect the individual athletes in a positive way. This type of sport ethics was viewed as a kind of pedagogic for athletes, especially amateur athletes. Heringer, who advocated the thesis that moral in sport is “functionally to be found in sport itself” defined fairness as follows: : 1. Fair is everything which is not unfair. 2. Unfair is anything which destroys the “purpose” of sport. 3. The “purpose” of the game is the common aim of the players. 4. The common aim of the players is: to play, and through playing, to win. However, it must be said that within the last three decades, sport has changed and is no longer what it once was. The quest to increase one´s own performance, the trust in the fairness and naturalness of one´s opponent, the finding of spontaneous pleasure in one´s own efforts and those of others have given way in the face of sport being unmasked as a competition of lies, namely competition under the influence of doping. The doping practices in sport, for which the athlete is certainly not solely responsible, diminish athletic performance in the sense of fairness and honesty. Neither the well-intended nor completely sensible considerations regarding ethics have managed to defuse the doping problem. Based on this fact, it is possible for critics to claim that ethics in sport can be said to be particularly noteworthy due to its ineffectiveness. We should, however, never forget that since the beginning of antiquity, ethics has been comprised of multitudinous teachings and, therefore, always subject to criticism. There are those who advocate the theoretical fusion of moral and ethics, and there are opposing voices complaining that ethical reflection is hopeless and irrelevant. For ethics advocates and pessimists alike, the unavoidable question arises: which goals and which methods applied to achieve them are morally legitimate? Only practical philosophy can provide well-founded opinions about the morality of a human act of will, behaviour or an institution. It is also recognized that governments and public institutions are not endowed with the right to impose ethical dictates. Governments and public institutions must stand for the keeping of legal norms. As opposed to legal norms, ethical norms refer to behavioural rules which necessitate moral justification both for themselves, and for when they are used to deal with third parties. According to some critics, the problem with ethics in sport is not the morals of the athletes, but rather the outdated view of ethics presented by some who write about ethics and sport. Perhaps the ethic ideologists are not close enough to the athletes, coaches and sport functionaries and are thus unable to rethink the principles of competitive practice. We know for a fact that medical ethics, for example, always lags behind the advances being made in medical science. It should then be asked if this “time lag” in ethics does not also apply to the advancements in sport. Of one thing we can be sure: sport, including top sport, is not an ethics-free zone. Sport is also not more or less lacking in ethics, as has been written by many ethics sceptics. Sport, and particularly the enormous efforts found in competition, requires a particularly high level of proper behaviour. The troublesome problem of doping in sport presents in this light a great contradiction. Let us look to the “Ethics Charter” in sport, which is supported by both umbrella organisations in Swiss athletics. The Ethics Charter call for: 1. Equal treatment for all! 2. Harmony between sport and its social surroundings! 3. The promotion of individual and joint responsibility! 4. Respectful encouragement instead of excessive demands! 5. Education about fairness and environmental responsibilities! 6. Opposed to violence, exploitation and sexual harassment! 7. Rejection of doping and addictive substances! In my opinion it should be noted that in regards to their judgement and behaviour, athletes do not use any other moral terminology than do people in general. The athletes´ ability to be morally discerning and their moral behaviour have, for the most part, been formed by their upbringing, education and career training, as well as their critical self-reflection. Additionally, the ethos of sport with its binding rules, positions and attitudes obligates athletes to regulate their behaviour accordingly. This sport ethos can, of course, be more or less internalised by an individual athlete, as each of them also has their own moral code. Humans are not only thinking beings, but performance conscious as well. We know that performance varies from individual to individual and is also influenced by cultural and historical factors. In top sport and in sport in general, the central role is played by mutually evaluating and measuring the individual and/or team performance of the athletes. A specific performance contains the elements of persistence, constancy, and a clear definition of goals. Training methods, medical guidance and assistance and early encouragement can be used to achieve these elements. Important ethical questions in sport concern not only the concentration on performance and success, but the increasing commercialisation as well. It has not played a particular role in sport ethos that the institutions of sport must also, and even especially, be organisations for morality. This applies to the sport organisations and also for coaches and sport physicians. Therefore, it is more than desirable and also contained within the statutes of the FIABVB as an institution of the sports beach volleyball and volleyball that an ethics commission be available to it. The developmental history of ethics commissions began in the United States in the area of clinical trials and little by little, they established themselves in European countries as well. The judgement of ethical standards should no longer be left up to an individual, the clinical investigator, but in our pluralistic society, be a task for an interdisciplinary, joint commission comprised of physicians, attorneys and medical lay persons with expertise in the areas of moral philosophy and humanities. Meanwhile, ethics commission modelled after the ethics commissions for medical research, have also been established to serve as consultants in other areas such as politics and economics. The task of the ethics commission in general as well as specifically for the FIABVB contains primarily three major points: 1. Independent expert opinions regarding questions of ethics, law and sport science and research 2. Public safety corrective 3. Keeping of high quality standards in sport management |