Professional sports are meant to measure athletic ability through competition, but when one player has an unfair advantage over another it can undermine the true message of sportsmanship. News stories about doping athletes and cheating coaches can damage the reputation and purpose of professional sports. Professional sports use written and unwritten codes rules to ensure that all players have an equal advantage. While individual sport have their own codes of ethics, general ethics are observed across every sport to keep the competition clean and honest.
Significance
Sports require a general code of ethics, because play can become heated between two competitors. It's human nature, Wayne Drehs observes for ESPN's website, to find a better, easier way to win. In sports, cheating or behaving unethically can give you an unfair advantage. Since sports are meant to be a battle of skill, ethics are put in place to ensure that competitors play fair and treat each other with respect. It preserves any sport for spectators to know that all of the players are playing and treating each other fairly.
Drug Use and Doping
No sport allows doping as a training method. Using steroids and other performance-enhancing drugs creates an unfair advantage for users over those who have trained hard and practiced to gain skill. Doping is cheating, and it can damage the reputation of the competition and cause athletes to become ostracized from their sports. Olympic gold medalist Marion Jones was stripped of her medals and sentenced to six months in federal prison in 2008 when it came to light that she had used steroids and lied about it to U.S. government officials, reports CNN. Making the right choice to avoid doping and use your natural talents keeps the games ethical and fair; using performance-enhancing drugs can also be hazardous to your health.
Player Conduct
A player of any given sport is an ambassador of that sport. Players are expected to conduct themselves with dignity and respectfulness, particularly in dealings with officials, teammates and members of other teams. NBA players who fight or otherwise show disrespect to officials or opposing team members can be assessed a fine between $1,000 and $35,000 for restitution. When playing a sport, it's important that you maintain the purity of the game by allowing your competitive spirit to show in the game, not through fighting, name-calling and losing your temper.
Coaching Staff
When a member of the coaching staff behaves unethically, he unwittingly causes the entire team to behave unethically, too. When the New England Patriots' coach Bill Belichick was accused and found guilty of spying on other teams' defensive play-calling in 2007, the entire organization was implicated in the unethical behavior. While Belichick was fined $500,000, the Patriots were ordered to pay a $250,000 fine for being a party to the cheating. Coaching and managerial staff have an obligation to uphold respectful, fair and ethical behavior to protect the reputation of the entire team --- and, indeed, the entire sport.
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