Assessing ethical behavior and self-control in elite ultimate championships: a cross-sectional study using the spirit of the game scoring system

IntroductionImplementing a self-refereeing system presents a unique challenge in sports education, particularly in academic and training settings where officiated sports prevail. However, Ultimate Frisbee stands out by entrusting players with both athlete and referee roles, introducing distinctive ethical complexities. This manuscript is intended to evaluate ethical behavior and self-control within the Spirit of the Game (SOTG) scoring system in Elite Ultimate. To address these, Ultimate employs the (SOTG) scoring system, integral since the sport's inception in the late 1980s. SOTG aims to enhance and evaluate athletes’ ethical conduct. This study evaluates SOTG's effectiveness in elite-level Ultimate, analyzing variations across divisions and age groups in three high-level tournaments.MethodsUsing a cross-sectional design, data were collected from five international Ultimate tournaments in 2022. Teams spanned diverse age groups (under 17 to over 50) and divisions (women's, mixed, open). Post-match, teams assessed opponents’ SOTG in five domains: Rules knowledge, fouls, fairness, attitude/self-control, and communication. Ratings used a 5-point Likert scale (“poor” to “excellent”). An overall SOTG score was calculated by aggregating domain scores.ResultsOur study consistently revealed high SOTG scores, reflecting strong sportsmanship. “Positive attitude and self-control” consistently ranked highest, while “Knowledge and use of the rules” scored lowest. Divisional differences in SOTG were statistically insignificant. Notably, WMUCC2022 (participants aged 30+) had significantly higher SOTG scores, possibly indicating age-related self-control improvement or evolving sport culture. Lower rules knowledge scores may stem from linguistic translation challenges.ConclusionSelf-refereeing promotes ethical behavior across divisions and age groups. SOTG underscores sportsmanship's importance and aligns with International Olympic Committee (IOC) and with Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3, 4, 5 and 16 fostering a fairer, healthier, and more peaceful world

Assessing Ethical Behavior and Self-control in Elite Ultimate Championships: A Cross-Sectional Study Using the Spirit of the Game Scoring System

Introduction: Implementing a self-refereeing system presents a unique challenge in sports education, particularly in academic and training settings where officiated sports prevail. However, Ultimate Frisbee stands out by entrusting players with both athlete and referee roles, introducing distinctive ethical complexities. The primary objective of this manuscript is to assess ethical behavior and self-control within the Spirit of the Game (SOTG) Scoring System in Elite Ultimate. To address these, Ultimate employs the (SOTG) scoring system, integral since the sport's inception in the late 1960s. SOTG aims to enhance and evaluate athletes' ethical conduct. This study evaluates SOTG's effectiveness in elite-level Ultimate, analyzing variations across divisions and age groups in three high-level tournaments. Methods: Using a cross-sectional design, data were collected from five international Ultimate tournaments in 2022. Teams spanned diverse age groups (under 17 to over 50) and divisions (women's, mixed, open). Post-match, teams assessed opponents' SOTG in five domains: Rules knowledge, fouls, fairness, attitude/self-control, and communication. Ratings used a 5-point Likert scale ('poor' to 'excellent'). An overall SOTG score was calculated by aggregating domain scores. Results: Our study consistently revealed high SOTG scores, reflecting strong sportsmanship. "Positive attitude and self-control" consistently ranked highest, while "Knowledge and use of the rules" scored lowest. Divisional differences in SOTG were statistically insignificant. Notably, WMUCC2022 (participants aged 30+) had significantly higher SOTG scores, possibly indicating age-related self-control improvement or evolving sport culture. Lower rules knowledge scores may stem from linguistic translation challenges. Conclusion: Self-refereeing promotes ethical behavior across divisions and age groups. SOTG underscores sportsmanship's importance, fostering a fairer, healthier, and more peaceful world

Mortality after surgery in Europe: a 7 day cohort study

Background: Clinical outcomes after major surgery are poorly described at the national level. Evidence of heterogeneity between hospitals and health-care systems suggests potential to improve care for patients but this potential remains unconfirmed. The European Surgical Outcomes Study was an international study designed to assess outcomes after non-cardiac surgery in Europe.Methods: We did this 7 day cohort study between April 4 and April 11, 2011. We collected data describing consecutive patients aged 16 years and older undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery in 498 hospitals across 28 European nations. Patients were followed up for a maximum of 60 days. The primary endpoint was in-hospital mortality. Secondary outcome measures were duration of hospital stay and admission to critical care. We used χ² and Fisher’s exact tests to compare categorical variables and the t test or the Mann-Whitney U test to compare continuous variables. Significance was set at p<0·05. We constructed multilevel logistic regression models to adjust for the differences in mortality rates between countries.Findings: We included 46 539 patients, of whom 1855 (4%) died before hospital discharge. 3599 (8%) patients were admitted to critical care after surgery with a median length of stay of 1·2 days (IQR 0·9–3·6). 1358 (73%) patients who died were not admitted to critical care at any stage after surgery. Crude mortality rates varied widely between countries (from 1·2% [95% CI 0·0–3·0] for Iceland to 21·5% [16·9–26·2] for Latvia). After adjustment for confounding variables, important differences remained between countries when compared with the UK, the country with the largest dataset (OR range from 0·44 [95% CI 0·19 1·05; p=0·06] for Finland to 6·92 [2·37–20·27; p=0·0004] for Poland).Interpretation: The mortality rate for patients undergoing inpatient non-cardiac surgery was higher than anticipated. Variations in mortality between countries suggest the need for national and international strategies to improve care for this group of patients.Funding: European Society of Intensive Care Medicine, European Society of Anaesthesiology