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Who is Accountable?
Fred Tudor
Who is Accountable?
Romans 14:12- So then every one of us shall give account of himself to God.
A question that always seems to come to mind is; how do you hold somebody accountable in a team sport? In individual sports such as golf, wrestling/boxing or swimming it is quite obvious how to determine accountability. An athlete is dependant on him or herself to prepare and compete against a course or another individual and the outcome becomes an easy assessment of the answerable party. This is seldom the case in a team environment. One of the strengths of good teams is the shared responsibility of proper preparation and team goals. It is often viewed as selfish if an athlete seems to place his personal goals ahead of the teams. The scripture states that each player must be accountable for himself. This can be translated to describe my personal participation and now becomes very similar to the player in an individual sport. Coaches will often say to their team that each individual must be accountable to his or her teammates. The problem with this statement is understanding that the responsibility must first consist of an internal feeling of commitment to oneself. This is neither selfish or a hindrance to the team chemistry. The truth of the matter is that if an athlete does not develop a reason to take responsibility for him or herself, then a team concept will never be understood. The prevailing feeling will be that the leaders are the ones who are accountable. It is very often that the coaches receive far too much credit when a team wins. Conversely they also are blamed much too much if the team loses. Although the wins and loses become a part of the coaches permanent record, the coach can only be responsible for a portion of the outcome. There are also some positions within the team that seem to hold more accountability than other positions. This is simply not fair and will always lead to dissention.
Prime examples exist when a player or players are disciplined for breaking team rules. Or a class is punished for the actions of a few. The guilty party probably does not feel they have to answer to the group for their actions. They have not internalized the commitment to themselves to do the right thing. They see the situation as a singular event not related to the team. The word “selfish” always seems to crop up in these situations. Without getting into the role of the particular player, his or her absence due to a suspension is always detrimental. The reason is the attitude that goes throughout some of the team. The emotions can range from, “I don’t really care”, to total anger and disgust. The rest of the team feels like if I can be accountable why then can’t the guilty person? What has seemed like a isolated incident has now become a built in reason for not accomplishing the desired result. It has become very easy now to point the finger and nobody is accountable. The athletes who compete in the contest have the suspended player as the scapegoat. The suspended player, who arguably already as a problem with his personal accountability, will not see the team’s failure as his or her fault. The final piece when dealing with accountability is when the time comes to hold someone else accountable and you let it slide. What do you say when a teammate is drinking at a party? Who’s responsible when someone is wasting time in the weight room because the coach is not looking? These are two frequent examples where holding another accountable becomes an issue. Will God be happy if your personal account is fine but you avoided holding others accountable? I think not! Accountability is a two-fold responsibility. The Word says you will have to account for yourself, but how can your personal account to God be a blessing if you turn away when you must hold another accountable?
Fred Tudor
Fred Tudor is a eighteen year employee of the Cincinnati Public Schools as a Health and Physical Education teacher. He has been coaching at the high school level in Greater Cincinnati since graduating from Wittenberg University in 1979. His coaching stints includes stops at his alma mater Walnut Hills High School, Hughes Center High School, and from 1990 until present coaches at Wyoming High School. His church home is Cincinnati Bibleway Church in Madisonville, Apostles James and Grace Blue Pastors.
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