A few weeks ago, news outlets reported a fight between two parents during a youth soccer match. And it’s not surprising to hear about conflicts and attitudes of this type: parents who insult, shout, and behave violently during soccer matches. A value missing on these occasions is “Fair Play,” or 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 sportsmanship.”
In this regard, and reviewing the existing literature, many intervention and prevention programs have already been developed for parents of children. That’s why, during my Final Degree Project, I decided to create an intervention plan for the children themselves. Specifically, I chose two youth soccer teams, totaling 17 boys and one girl. One would be the control group (who answered questionnaires but did not participate in the program) and the other the experimental group (who did learn the values of fair play).
For the experimental group, my approach was: to administer a scale at the beginning, specifically an adaptation of Boixadós’s (1998) Fairplay Attitudes Scale (EAF), implement the intervention program, and administer the same scale afterward. 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: aimed 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 possess it and extends to fighting against cheating, violence, and inequality.
- Commitment: committing to sports participation, personal improvement, and cooperation with teammates.
- Respect for rules: of course, respecting the rules, referees, and/or judges.
- Victory: obviously, seeking victory but not at any cost. It’s about genuinely desiring it, wanting to succeed through competition.
I could say that by the end of the program, I had 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 (another 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 all the effort served minimally for something.
I must admit that the satisfaction I felt seeing the measured, quantified results of work that couldn’t be measured with numbers or figures was enormous. I had taught children, and it had had an 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.