I've played a lot of sports in my lifetime — soccer, swimming, badminton, scuba, rugby, dodgeball, gymnastics, golf, fencing. There's a list that spans a lot longer than most people's attention span. The majority of these sports I have not stayed long with. The longest I've kept with a physical sport of my own volition is a year, and that's because it's a release from the difficulties of my engineering studies.

However, if there is one thing I've stuck with, that's writing.

I've been writing for as long as I could hold a pen, and I've been writing stories for over seven years now. Naturally, I have seen a lot over the course of those seven years, especially with the few years I've spent writing on Wattpad. Over time I've found that writing has become my own sport, and with every sport, there has to be sportsmanship.

Most people think of sportsmanship in the sense of unsportsmanlike conduct. Don't cheat, don't be a sore loser, don't demoralize your teammates. Maybe you've heard about drug usage in American Football, or with professional cyclists like Lance Armstrong. For me, I associate sportsmanship with soccer at the YMCA. After every game they had us high five the other team, and while the parents waited for their kids to return, you'd hear an almost Gregoric-esque hum of "good game...good game...good game" and hands smacking.

But up to this day, I never quite understood the point of the chorus and all the hand smacking. It all seemed kind of pointless, and that sportsmanship is a given thing. Why go through all the motions when it's something that people already know? People are naturally sportsmanlike, I've always believed. That is actually far from the truth, though. Sportsmanship is not a given thing, and while many think they understand it in the moment, it is easy to forget what it really is.

The definitions of sportsmanship are very subjective, since it's an ideal, so I think I'll stick with the one that I'm thinking about when I write this article:

"Sportsmanship is an aspiration or ethos that a sport or activity will be enjoyed for its own sake, with proper consideration for fairness, ethics, respect, and a sense of fellowship with one's competitors."

As writers we love to write. Otherwise we wouldn't write, period. But sometimes that love of writing gets corrupted, and we stop writing to write, rather to gain attention from others, or worse, to win. It's fine to want to win, truly. But there's a difference between being competitive to a healthy level and letting that competitiveness corrupt your integrity.

Now, when I say that I probably sound like your mom lecturing you. You've probably heard authority figures talk down to you as to how you need to be fair and just and be a good sport. People talk a lot about sportsmanship, but not everyone follows it in their own personal spirit, which I suppose is the problem. Organizations like the PWA, PWL, and GRA encourage sportsmanship, but sportsmanship is something that comes from the heart of the administrators, judges, contributors, spectators, or anyone else who partakes in writing as a sport. That means it is up to us—the account holding people who make all this happen—to judge ourselves and promote writing for what it is. After all, this community wouldn't exist without the members in it.

I think my point is best served by talking about the sport of golf. Golf is a dying sport. People don't necessarily have the time or money to go belong to a country club and play with a set of expensive metal clubs all day. How many people our age still do? Most people think it's a boring sport. Which of course, leaves it up to the professionals to save it. Because if people don't golf, will they go to golf tournaments?

The answer is maybe. As someone who played a lot of golf as a child, like most young girls that LPGA outreach has touched, I enjoy going to golf tournaments. I love the feel of the hot sun and walking the course for days on end. I love waiting by the driving range to ask the players for their autographs and get to know how their life as a professional golfer works. I love meeting the caddys and watching people roll in and out of the clubhouse.

But I'm fortunate to have that. Because the pros don't have to be friendly or talk to me. In fact, there are some pros who think that they are above all else, and while their rudeness may not turn me away, it may turn others away. Others who pay for them to play by showing up to and watching these events. And while I stay because of the long and fond memories I keep of going off to golf tournaments, first-timers may not feel the same way. In fact, that one bad experience may ruin their perception of the sport forever because someone was being a bad sportsman.

That's right, a bad sportsman. See, there's a point to sportsmanship, like there's a point to all the hand slapping and good game mumbling I used to hear at YMCA soccer. Because, if everything was rigged and everyone was cheating, where would the enjoyment in the sport be? I'm willing to say there wouldn't be. People would get exasperated and not stick around. They would leave, and the sport would die. In keeping a good ethos about the sport, being fair and friendly, and trying to keep good fellowship, the survival of the sport is possible because people are enjoying themselves.

It is for this reason that the community needs to have pillars of sportsmanship. And it can't just be senior authors either. Everyone has to take part. Yes, senior authors, aka people who have been on the site for several years, may be more experienced than some newer authors. As a result, the writing of those senior authors tends to be more refined. But all of us are still students.

Writing, like any sport, is a skill. Yes, sure, I've been writing for as long as I could hold a pen, but that doesn't mean that I'm not always trying to improve. There are still things to learn, stories to write, and mistakes to be corrected. No first draft of writing is ever perfect, either. It's when people start believing that they belong in the leaderboards as if it were a given right, or that those leaderboards define them as a person or their writing, that an issue springs forth.

A sportsman looks at a lost competition and says "I'll try again next time" and genuinely congratulates other participants for their growth, whereas a sore loser looks at it and says "this is rigged" or "they're wrong" or some other reaction that is negative towards writing, the community, or even themselves. Or worse, they put down another author. Which by no means is acceptable, especially because any unsportsmanlike behaviors build resentment in the community. Which, in turn, is unhealthy for the state of fellowship that we as Wattpadians pride ourselves on.

That being said, it doesn't make sense that I just tell you to do all these things without trying to at least explain. Because ultimately, what you feel is up to you, and my writing this won't magically make you feel this way. I know this, because I've been unsportsmanlike in the past. I've felt like it was my right to be at the top of the PWA leaderboards in the past and that other people's projects weren't as valid as my own. I've even been part of the people who have accused the PWA judges of rigging and of how my "greatest" works mean nothing unless I get first. And in that same right, I've been mistaken. I also know that if I had read something like this at the time, I probably would've scoffed and said it was naive thinking.

So, I'm going to approach all of you a different way. Try to answer these questions either to yourself, or in the comments. When was the last time you read someone else's works? When did you last earnestly say congratulations to someone else? When did you last have a conversation with someone not about drama, but to get to know them as a person? When did you last try to talk to someone new just to get to know them? When did you last join a competition with the excitement to see what everyone else put out? Or, finally, when did you last feel welcome on Wattpad? When did you last feel fellowship among members here? When did you last enjoy your time on Wattpad?

That is my message to our senior authors. But new authors, please read the above, because there are lessons for you here as well. The same goes for senior authors, who I encourage to read the below, since there are things for you to learn as well.

As new authors you breathe new life into the community. You continue the sport, evolve it, and make a difference. There was a time that I was in your shoes. I was thirteen years old, had a vision of trying to write something I had never tried before, and decided to try to talk to people and learn how to do it. That was a time where I had no name, where I was alone in a foreign country, and wanted to try to have friends because living as an expatriate was difficult.

I was fortunate to have the patronage of a senior author, who promoted me and made me a cover for my first story, which I still use to this day. But I had to have the courage to speak to older authors and enter competitions and make a name for myself, which several of the senior authors you see here have done. And it's best for all of us to remember our roots because our roots are what ground us when time changes. Which, from what I've seen, times do change.

Don't be afraid to talk and interact. DM some of the people you admire and try to build a connection. My mentor, Serena, was enjoyable to talk to. She made me appreciate living abroad more and reminded me that I was fortunate to have the chance to see the world. Rose, another senior author who intimidated me a lot at the time, was also incredible to get to know. But, if I did not at least try to talk to them, I would've missed out on the joys the site has to offer.

They, as senior authors, did not have to be kind to me, but they were good sports and offered fellowship to someone completely new, which I remember and appreciate. In fact, a lot of senior authors are really friendly, from my experience, and while a lot of us are busy, we really want to get back to anyone who talks to us as soon as possible. Which is something to remember no matter how frustrated or angry anyone may be. Wattpad is a sanctuary for those who come here. It is a place where people can express themselves and find friendships and community in the most difficult of times.

And, just like senior authors are students, so are new authors. I think the first thing I have to say is that no author is inferior to another one. Anyone who tells you that, including yourself, is being a bad sportsman and a liar. Your writing may not be as polished as other people's, but that is something that comes with time. The sportsmanlike attitude is to read others and your own work with a critical eye, compete, write, and learn from your mistakes over time. You will improve.

Sometimes, new authors feel excluded from things like GRA and PWA competitions. Like the standards are too high, that you will never be able to handle the pressure upon you. Those are competitions that are challenging on purpose, to try to offer all authors a way to improve their skills. Try to remind yourself that it is hard for everyone, that we all are competing in the spirit of a fair competition that stretches our limits—all of us. And, if you still don't feel satisfied after things are over, try to consult some of the private reviewers on the site. We don't want to offer you malice, only see that your skills improve in the end.

All of these things are in the hope of helping the ethos of the sport. Writing is a tough thing to stay sportsmanlike about, though. It's a very personal endeavor, and when things become personal our judgment can be clouded easily. It will get difficult, but remember, this is why we try our best to remain fair, to remain honest and accommodating—to remain sportsmanlike. Our community is there to help us with our frustrations, to help us improve, to give and get ideas from, and to help give us a sense of accomplishment. We may not always agree, but we are there for each other in the end.

For anyone reading this article, I'm sure you're wondering what has warranted this from me. I recently have gone through a personal journey of realizing my own negativity and unsportsmanlike conduct. I've seen it in others too, with a rift that's been created in the community between senior authors and new authors, between competitors and judges in competitions, and just in general. I've been a contributor to that rift.

But I want to help fix it. And I think the first step is for people to understand sportsmanship not just as a concept but as a friendly spirit and attitude that is part of their being. Like I said, nobody can tell you to just decide that something like that should be a part of your being. In fact, you yourself can't just up and decide that's how you need to feel and tell yourself to feel that way, because then it will not be genuine on your part. But others can try to expose you to it and try to convey something that only experience can teach. That's why, I think, the YMCA always had us smack each other's hands and mumble "good game" at the end of every soccer match. Because maybe we didn't understand it right then and there, but eventually we would.

So please guys, have fun out there. Write for the sake of writing and enjoying it, and be friendly to everyone who comes your way. Remember to read other people's work, interact with people who read your own, and encourage each other to get better. Enjoy yourselves. And please, if you have any questions or comments sent to you, be open to it. The pen is mightier than the sword, and a simple conversation can solve a lot of things. Last of all, if you have any questions for me about this article or just in general, please comment or DM. I want to try to be helpful and be clear for everyone.

Thank you,

Blue