National Sportsmanship Day

By engaging athletes and other community members in thoughtful discussions and well planned activities about the concepts of sportsmanship and ethical conduct, National Sportsmanship Day is enabling sports to reach its full potential as a positive force in society.

National Sportsmanship Day was founded by the Institute for International Sport in 1991. The program has several important objectives:

1. To promote ethics, honesty, and fair play in athletics and society through education and sport.
2. To designate a day each year during which student-athletes, coaches, administrators and parents engage in thoughtful and reasoned discussion about the role of sportsmanship.
3. To provide participating schools, clubs, and athletic organizations a template to successfully celebrate the day with sportsmanship themed activities, discussion topics, etc.
4. To make participation in National Sportsmanship Day an anchor event that fosters good sportsmanship on a year-round basis.

The Institute for International Sport celebrated the 20th Anniversary of National Sportsmanship Day in 2011.  In commemoration of this milestone, the Institute honored 20 living Americans, 20 deceased Americans and 20 American organizations/initiatives that have made significant contributions to the practice of fair play.

National Sportsmanship Day and Non-Violence

As National Sportsmanship Day continues to be celebrated nationwide, the issues surrounding fair play continue to evolve.  National Sportsmanship Day will continue to focusing on how to help coaches and parents use sports as a medium to promote self-control and non-violence.

In his book, The Encyclopedia of Sports Parenting, Dan Doyle describes this quality as "competitive self-restraint". Dan Doyle is now working on The Master Coach Manual, a manual in which coaches will be shown exactly how the sports experience can lead to better self-control and a long-term commitment to non-violence.

A key goal of the Institute for International Sport is to cull ideas on the issue of non-violence in sport. In September 2013, the Institute will make a formal presentation to thousands of schools throughout the United States on how to best to use the 2013-2014 school year to develop a culture of non-violence through sport.  

National Sportsmanship Day 2013

The next National Sportsmanship Day will be celebrated on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Visit the links on the left side of this page to learn more about how your school or organization can celebrate National Sportsmanship Day.

The key elements of National Sportsmanship Day include:

• An Honorary Chair
• A Model School Award
• USA Today Essay Contest
• Sports Ethics Fellows Program
• Age-based sportsmanship discussions and programs conducted in schools across the country