Township of Medford

Sportmanship Guideline Handbook

GUIDELINES

The purpose of these guidelines is to state the philosophy, objectives, codes of conduct, and a few basic rules that pertain to all participants of team sports in Medford Township.

National trends have consistently shown that negative behavior among the participants in sports has overshadowed the goals of team sports. The negative behavior has manifested itself in verbal and physical abuse and a win-at-all cost mentality. Our goal in Medford Township is to raise the bar with honorable standards that keep sports a fun, positive learning experience for our young. We acknowledge that winning is a component of the game; however, the qualities of good sportsmanship, team play, healthy competition, positive communication, and civil behavior are truly what we hope to teach the youth of Medford Township.

Sportsmanship is moral behavior. There is more to sportsmanship than simply being nice. Sportsmanship is learned and doesn’t always happen by itself.

A positive coach can be a genuine role model for his team. Positive reinforcement of a player, even in a losing game, or a parent who cheers for a player on the opposing team are far greater examples to a child than one who makes disparaging remarks meant to "shake ‘em up." When players and parents show respect to officials’ efforts we all learn to respect authority figures.

In this spirit, we present these guidelines. Let’s stop, take a breath and understand what effect our behavior and teachings will have on our children. We do chart the course for our children. We do have a substantial impact on their future behavior. We can send them off into the world instilled with the best in us. We hope you find this effort valuable. This Medford Township athletic program wants to work with you as you teach your child good sportsmanship. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact us. Thanks for your support.

Medford Recreation Department phone number: (609) 654-2512

MYAA web site: www.MYAA.net

PHILOSOPHY AND OBJECTIVES
The mission of this sports program is to provide an environment that promotes the positives of team sports:

Learning basic knowledge and understanding of the sport
Achieving motor skill development through exercise
Developing lifelong habits of physical fitness
Challenging participants to improve and achieve
Living within the rules and goals of the sport
Sharing positive experiences with friends
Learning discipline and success by hard work
Promoting confidence
Having fun!

We hope to promote the recreational benefits and emphasize the educational values of team sports while putting winning and losing into an age-appropriate perspective. Mastering the skills of the game and having fun go hand-in-hand with developing a lifelong interest in team sports. Our goal is to encourage every child to have fun and come back to the program year after year. We also hope that all parents will enjoy their experience and feel rewarded by their involvement.

In order to achieve these goals, we have adopted the following objectives:

	to provide an enjoyable introduction and experience
	to provide a healthy environment for fun and learning
	to teach the fundamental skills within a team setting

In order to make our objectives clear to coaches, parents, and athletes, we have provided a code of conduct http://agreement for each to be executed as a standard of our expectations. We hope that you find this a fair condition to participation in our program. All agreements will be covered in detail with all participants at the beginning of each season. We also hope that you will emphasize these concepts with your child(ren) so that your expectations of their behavior are clear, and so each child will know that it is not just a family expectation, but a community expectation.

Thank you again for your interest in this program. Let’s keep Medford Township #1, not only in sports but also in sportsmanship.