| Honor is showing respect, integrity, and value for others through the displaying and lived experience of core values that perceive ways to empower and elevate the status of others. Honor, moreover, is viewed from both external and internal perspectives. Outwardly, honor encompasses rank, wealth or public respect. Inwardly, it means nobility, integrity of mind and character. For this qualitative study, the term honor was discussed and paired to competition to create a framework about a select group of professional Christian athlete perceptions of honor in competition, honor in leadership, and honor in mental toughness.;All professional athletes, as well as Christian athletes, have a history of influence with their fans and the communities in which they live and compete, in that American society often places high value on the elite status of professional athletes. Thus, the opportunity for professional athletes to impact their fans and communities in a positive way, their high profile status creates opportunities to be activated as positive role models and leaders.;This study contributes to the growing body of research on spirituality in sport, morality in sport, general performance characteristics, mental toughness, and belief. The notion of honor in sport is a relatively new concept, as the literature has not revealed a clear connection between honor, spirituality, and sport performance before now. A number of general conclusions can be drawn from this current research regarding the eight professional athlete participants and their spiritual beliefs in relation to moral and social value descriptors for both life and sport.;Interviews were conducted to gain understanding into these particular professional athlete perceptions on honor and professional sport. Themes created from the frequency of raw data responses identified three level-one umbrella categories consisting of one Spiritual Belief emergent theme, 12 Moral Value emergent themes and 13 Social Value emergent themes. The Moral Value and Social Value level-one umbrella themes were further grouped into 7 level-two emergent categories and are presented in Table 35.;Spiritual Christian belief was highly valued by this particular group of professional athletes. Spiritual Christian belief emerged as a foundational belief structure giving shape to the 12 Moral Value and 13 Social Value emergent themes identified by this group of athletes. Moral value themes include: cultivating an honorable lifestyle through the lived expressions of responsibility, respect, and honorable play, along with, attributes of integrity, honesty, trust, character, and the ability to elevate others by taking on attitudes of helping, selflessness, and humility. These moral values were found to be important themes discussed by the professional athletes in this study.;This particular group of athletes also discussed important social values from the framework of their spiritual belief and moral value constructs. These social values emerged as performance excellence, leadership lifestyle, and identity development. Performance excellence attributes include: effort, perseverance, focused preparation, sacrifice, winning, goal setting, and fearlessness; while leadership lifestyle consists of cultivating positive relationships with others through effective communication. Lastly, these athletes indicated that one's identity development is strongly connected to their personal experiences.;Thus, Spiritual Belief, more specifically Christian Spiritual Belief, was found to be the chief construct from which the majority of these professional athletes perceive and express eminent moral and social values. The morally binding attributes of integrity, responsibility, respect, honor, honesty, trust, and elevating the status of others through helpfulness, selflessness, and humility find their roots deep in the foundations of Christian belief, thus creating the underpinnings for a sound moral code of personal ethics and quality character. This moral belief source of internal motivation may be a driving force for the social values important for performance excellence in sport, especially in this particular population.;The professional athletes in this study also confirmed the important secular social values of effort, perseverance, focused preparation, sacrifice, goal setting, and fearlessness as important contributors for their development, identity, and experiences while cultivating a lifestyle of leadership. |
