A few weeks ago, the fight between two parents during a youth soccer match was announced in all the news. And it’s no surprise to hear about conflicts and attitudes of this type: parents who insult, shout, and behave violently during soccer matches. A value that is missing on these occasions is “Fair Play,” or the Fair Game. According to the Council of Europe’s Sports Ethics Committee, it is “a positive principle that includes respect for the rules of the game but also noble concepts such as friendship, respect for the opponent and referees, and having sportsmanship”.
In this regard, and reviewing the existing bibliography, many intervention and prevention programs dedicated to parents of children have already been carried out. Therefore, during my Final Degree Project, I decided to develop an intervention plan for the children themselves. Specifically, I chose two youth soccer teams, composed of a total of 17 boys and one girl. One would be the control group (who answered the questionnaires but did not participate in the program) and the other the experimental group (who did learn the values of fair play).
In the case of the experimental group, what I proposed was: to administer a scale at the beginning, specifically an adaptation of Boixadós’s (1998) Fairplay Attitudes Scale (FAS), implement the intervention program, and administer the same scale after it. What has always been done in psychology: pre-test, treatment, post-test.
Regarding the program, I could write thousands of pages, but broadly speaking, it was based on developing activities with the group, following these 5 units:
- Fun: sought for the children to enjoy sports regardless of the outcome.
- Fair play: entails having a positive, loyal, sincere, and correct attitude towards sports, an attitude that brings success to those who have it and extends to the fight against cheating, violence, and inequality.
- Commitment: committing to sports participation, personal improvement, and cooperation with teammates.
- Respect for the rules: of course, respecting the rules, the referees, and/or the judges.
- Victory: obviously, seeking victory but not at any cost. It’s about genuinely desiring it, wanting to succeed by competing.
I could say that at the end of the program I changed those children, that their attitudes were completely different in the game and that they began to see it from another perspective. But, unfortunately, the results in most units were not significant, because the children missed many sessions (one more example of the importance of intrinsic motivation for change to occur). Therefore, I decided to set aside the control and experimental groups, and assess whether there had been changes between those who had attended the sessions and those who had not. And finally! A small significant difference in the “Hard Play” unit. Well, it seems that all the effort served minimally for something.
I must admit that the satisfaction I felt upon seeing the measured, quantified results of a work that could not be measured with numbers or figures was enormous. I had taught children, and it had had its effect; minuscule, and not very long-lasting, I’m clear about that. But, once again, I realized the importance and value of the experimental method in psychology.