[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 154 (2008), Part 3]
[Senate]
[Page 3053]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]




                       NATIONAL SPORTSMANSHIP DAY

  Mr. REED. Mr. President, today marks the 18th annual National 
Sportsmanship Day. This initiative, the largest of its kind in the 
world, is a program of the Institute for International Sport based at 
the University of Rhode Island. Since 1991, the program has promoted 
the highest ideals of sportsmanship and fair play among not only the 
young people of Rhode Island but also among youth in every other State 
and, indeed, around the world. This year alone over 7 million children 
in more than 14,000 schools throughout the United States and countries 
as diverse as Ghana, Nigeria, India, Australia, and Bermuda, will 
celebrate National Sportsmanship Day.
  Our appreciation of sports is deep-rooted. The ancient Greeks, for 
example, recognized ``a sound mind in a sound body'' as the foundation 
of a good education. But a complete individual not only develops the 
mind and body, he or she also develops and exhibits fairness and 
honesty, key elements of sportsmanship.
  This year, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, the famed Olympic Gold medalist, 
serves as chair of the National Sportsmanship Day program. She and the 
program's founder, Dan Doyle, remain committed to the goal of making 
sports a more positive force in society. They hope to achieve their 
objective by focusing this year on improving parental involvement in 
athletics, encouraging parents to be good sports on the sidelines so 
they can be good models of ethical behavior for their children.
  I am proud that Rhode Island is the home base of this program, and I 
hope it enjoys continued success.

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