10
FEBRUARY 2, 2005

Sport Lacks in Providing "Good Character’
An interview with physical education professor Howard A. Wenger

By MIKE BERRY
Tue Marnier
(UNIVERSITY OF VICTORIA)

VICTORIA (CUP) — Striving to
win should not be the sole focus of an
athlete’s development; good character,
especially while athletes are young,
should also be given cqual priority, So
says Howic Wenger, a professor in the
University of Wictoria’s school of
physical education,

Wenger specializes in exercise phys-
iology and was the recipient of the
1990 Alumni Teaching Award.

He has also worked in the area of
high performance sport with a num-
ber of national teams, professional
hockey teams and clite athletes for 30
years.

He is currently giving lectures about
a theoretical performance model
meant to encourage coaches and ath-
Ietes to také a broad look at their
development.

The model uses a series of gears
that represents the various clements
athletes should incorporate in their
performance. These gears interact
with one another, ultimately affecting
one’s performance.

His most recent addition to the
model is the “eharacter” gear, which
he said includes who you are as a per-
son, your sense of right and wrong,
and your commitment to your team.
He said that for the most part, when
preparing athletes, coaches focus
mainly on physical and psychological
development.

But “do we actually have a plan for
how we are going to develop charac-
ter, or do we just hope that sport is
going to be a vehicle that produces
that?” he asked.

When we look around at the world

of sport, he said, this has obviously
been the case, but it is not succecding.
“What makes a socicty better?” he
said. “Those are the kind of things
that I want to [sec in a] character play-
er. Teams that win have a significant
number of character playcrs.”

Wenger claims that “living a sound,

ethical and right kind of life” is a com-
mon thread in our socicty. He believes
that being a character person and clite
performer are not mutually exclusive.

If “you're a sound or good [person]
docs that mean you can’t be [an] clite
performer?” he said. “Does [it mean]
win at all costs, or win but have a
moral and character victory at the
same time as a compctitive victory?”

He regrets this is something people
don’t talk about cnough: character
and moral victories are just as fulfilling
as compctitive victorics. “We need to
make [development] bigger than sim-
ply winning or losing,” he said. “We
necd to define a way that’s bigger thin
simply, “What's the score?”

He believes kids should have to
practice respect and honour, and they
should fearn and understand “good”
character and practice it. Morcover,
he said, there should be more leader-
ship in this area from those who have
developed these characteristics,

As an cxample, Wenger mentioned
Canadian Olympian Simon Whitfield.
He said Whitfield spetids many: hours
with clementary school kids and‘gonig
to clinics, “making those pceple sec
and love being physically active.”

He also cites Canadian Olympian
Becky Scott, whom he considers a per-
son of great integrity, She spoke out
against the use of

Though she received a bronze medal

at the 2002 Salt Lake City games in,

cross-country skiing, months later she
was awarded the gold after the two
women in front of her were disquali-
fied for drug use.

“You can win and have everything,”
Wenger said. “But the kind of people
you will produce, the kind-of return to
society, the kind of problems your

sport will endure, the kind of sense of

satisfaction between the members of
your team and organization 1s going to
be much less if we don’t have some of
these other things as your primary
goal of what we arc trying to accom-
plish.”

performance.
enhancing drugs im the Olympics.

PHOTO PROVIDED
Bob Knight, the men’s basketball coach at Indiana University from 1971 to 2000, is an example of a
sports figure lacking good character. His quick temper and aggressive behavior towards players, ref-
erees, and spectators eventually cost Knight his job. Striving to win, at the expense of good sports-
manship, should not be the focus of sports, according to Howard A. Wenger.

Sports Shorts: Betting Your Money on Football to Win

ApAM HUSSELY
SPORTS COLUMNIST

This time around my sports column
is going to have some advicc in it for
everyone out there looking to make
some moncy. The Super Bowl is
almost here, and let me be the mil-
lionth person to Ict you know who will
win it.

As far as the advice gocs I am here
to tell you to bet on the Patriots. Bet on
them and bet big. Right now. Go.
Makc the bet while there is still time. I
don’t care if you have to bet $1000 just
to win $100, it will be worth it when
you get that $100.

(Please be advised that I cannot be
held responsible for any financial loss-

es that you may incur should the
Patriots lose to Philadelphia or not
cover the 7-point spread).

* On that note the advice ends, and
now I get to dedicate an entire article
to a playoff prediction.

February 6th 2004, Eagles vs.
Patriots in Super Bowl XXXIX (yes
this is the only reason I have a clue
about roman numcrals). As you can
tell I am pretty confident that the
Patriots will win.

Of course the last time I was this
confident about a football gamc it was
the 2001 Super Bowl, and I thought
that there was no way the Rams would
lose that game. That did not work out
so well.

This time things are a little different.
The Patriots are considered by some to
already be a dynasty, and a win against
the Eagles will force everyone to join

that bandwagon. Three Super Bowls
in four years I know IT would be
impressed.

If you saw the predictions in my last
article, you may be thinking, wait a
minute, didn’t this guy pick the
Steelers to beat the Patriots? Yes I did.

Didn't the Patriots casily beat the
Steelers? Yes they did.

So should I even listen to this guy?
Yes you should,

I will tell you exactly why you
should listen to me this time. It has
nothing to do with me, and it has
everything to do with how grcat this
New England team is.

They dismantled the Colts by: stop-
ping possibly the greatest offense of all
time, and then they went on the road
and beat a 16-1 team without breaking
too much of a sweat. Oh, and did I
mention they are on the verge of win-

ning 3 out of the last 4 Super Bowls?

They won it all last year, and they
are casily an even better team this year.

They have a legitimate running
back to complement a quarterback,
who has not lost in the playoffs - not to
mention most pcople involved in the
NFL cousider their coach a football
genius.

Unless Tom Brady breaks his leg or
coach Bill Belichick suffers multiple
concussions that make him coach like
Mike Martz, then bet on the Patriots.

Now I am sure there are some pco-
ple out there wondcring, what about
Philadelphia? The Eagles were the
best team in the NFC this year, but the
NFC is the same conference that gave
us two 8-8 teams in the second round
of the playotis, and an NFC west divi-
sion that was won by a Seattle team
that would have missed the playoffs in

the AFC, In other words, the AFC was
a whole lot better than the NFC.

Finding a really good AFC team
compared to finding a really good
NFC tcam is like finding a hockey fan
in Prince George comparcd to finding
a die-hard baseball fan in Prince
Gcorge. One of those things is just a
whole lot casicr to do.

The Eagles arc likely the only legiti-
mate contender that the NFC had to
otter this year; so maybe, just maybe,
they can contend with an AFC con-
tender. The Patriots are not just an
AFC contender though.

They are the greatest football team
of my lifetime. With that said you can
take a Patriots victory to the bank, and
if I am wrong I retire from football
picks. I promise.

Super Bowl XXXIX: Patriots 31
over Eagles 21