Gamesmanship/Sportsmanship/ Etiquette Definitions Bowls, croquet and darts are our Club sports but they share the same psychology as other sports like golf, cricket and football. All sports share the same ideals of sportsmanship. Sportsmanship is defined as fair, generous, and polite behaviour and is always important in sport. Etiquette covers the formal rules of correct or polite behaviour and is a combination of good manners, sportsmanship, and sociability. Gamesmanship is a tactic often used contrary to the concept of sportsmanship and the etiquette guidelines for a sport. It is the use of dubious (although not technically illegal) methods to win or gain an advantage. It is described as pushing the rules to the limit by bending the rules, but not breaking them, to achieve a desired end. It is often about intimidating and/or winding up the opposition hoping this will put them off their game. Gamesmanship in action We have all seen this in action, be that overly bouncing a tennis ball or wanting excessive time outs for toilet breaks or by distracting an opponent by commenting, laughing, criticising or even filming their action on their mobile phone. One classic example was a golfer asking his opponent, who was playing a sensational game, whether he was breathing in or was breathing out at the time he made contact with the ball. The player started to think about this, became distracted, lost focus and his game fell away. In AFL some players resort to "Staging" through excessive exaggeration of contact in an unsportsmanlike manner. Soccer players fall in agony pretending they were deliberately fouled hoping to be awarded a penalty. The
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