Integral to the philosophy of Viterbo/Western Intramurals is that good sportsmanship and fair play are vital aspects of intramural competition. It is necessary for the successful operation of the program that individuals display proper conduct in all instances. The sportsmanship rating system is intended to be an objective scale by which teams’ attitudes and behaviors can be assessed.
Behavior before, during, and after a contest is included in each rating. Each team captain is responsible for educating ALL players and fans affiliated with his/her team about the sportsmanship policy; however, it is the responsibility of all team members to control the conduct of its own team members and fans.
At the end of each contest, the site supervisor will ask each team the following question
Based on today’s/tonight’s game, would you describe your opponent as–
- Exceptional Sports (4):The team went above and beyond expectations and consistently demonstrated all of the good sportsmanship behaviors.
- Good Sports (3):The team demonstrated the good sportsmanship behaviors with a few minor incidents of unsportsmanlike behavior.
- Needs Improvement (2): The team demonstrated some good sportsmanship behaviors with a lot of minor incidents of unsportsmanlike behavior.
- Poor Sports (1):The team demonstrated few sportsmanship behaviors with a lot of minor incidents of unsportsmanlike behavior or a major incident of unsportsmanlike behavior.
The rating will be recorded by the site supervisor on the score sheet. In addition, the site supervisor will give a sportsmanship rating to each team. The Rec Sports staff reserves the right to review and/or change any sportsmanship rating given.
All teams are required to have a sportsmanship average above ‘Needs Improvement’ (2.0) in order to remain in the league. If a team falls below a ‘Needs Improvement’ (2.0), the captain will be required to meet with either the Assistant Director or Intramural Coordinator and the team will be placed on probation. During probation, the team will have 1 week to get their sportsmanship average above a ‘Needs Improvement’ (2.0) or they will be removed from the league. If a team falls below an average of a ‘Needs Improvement’ (2.0) two times during the season they will be removed from the league. Any team that receives more than 1 ‘Poor Sport’ rating by a site supervisor will be removed from the league. If a team is removed from the league because of sportsmanship, they will automatically lose their forfeit deposit.
A team’s sportsmanship average will also be used to determine eligibility to play in the season ending championship tournament and to break a tie in team rankings. The team with the higher sportsmanship average will get the higher seed.
If a game is not played due to a default, both teams will receive a 4 for a sportsmanship rating. If a team forfeits a game, they will receive a 2 for a sportsmanship rating and if their opponent qualifies for a win by forfeit, they receive a sportsmanship rating of a 4.