Practical Wisdom (Prudence)
Prudence has two aspects: it is a) cognitive, and b) decision-making. Perceptively it is turned toward reality, "imperatively" toward volition and action.

As such, it is a fundamental virtue in sports practices. First of all, its role is in the cognition of the specific situations an athlete is in. In addition, it gives instructions as to how to respond to them.

Prudence directed into the cognition of reality involves two main elements, namely memoria and docilitas.
The role of memoria consists in developing and enriching special motor memory from past experiences, and so it is one of the goals of any practice of technical elements.
Docilitas is the kind of open-mindedness that recognizes the true variety of things and situations to be experienced and does not cage itself in any presumption of deceptive knowledge. As such, it can be recognized in the concept of sports as a "knowledge-gaining activity".

Another aspect of Prudence

The other aspect of prudence is directed towards deciding what actions to take.

With solertia, the athlete can swiftly, but with open eyes and clear-sighted vision, decide to do something good in a concrete situation.

The second element is providential (foresight), meaning the capacity to estimate with a sure instinct for the future whether or not a particular action will lead to the realization of a goal.
This is demanded of all sports, especially competitive sports, where the deciding factor between top and average athletes is often not physical or technical abilities but the intellectual capacity (or tactics) to foresee what is going to happen on the field in the next few moments.

Introduction
In the past few decades, virtues in sports have gained much attention.

This is not surprising because it seems that some characteristics of virtues successfully respond to very complex practical situations in sports.

Experiences show that the mere rules of a particular sport do not assure good actions in sports. Plato (360 B.C., 427a) has already pointed out that two things guide good actions: laws (or rules), which direct us from the outside, and virtues, which direct us from the inside.

Furthermore:
He was convinced that virtues are better than laws since it does not make any sense to promulgate laws among non-virtuous persons because they will disregard them. On the other hand, virtuous people are able to determine what is good and what is not, regardless of laws. Therefore, it is important to become a good person, since only then do laws or rules make sense.

On Prudence in General
Plato (360 B.C.,433b) and Aristotle (350 B.C., V, 3, 1129b27) thought that the first and most important virtue is the virtue of justice because, as they said, in justice all other virtues are included.

Justice is an essential virtue for a good community, the ancient polis". It seems that it is also preferential in sports, especially when we think about sports competitions. But, as later philosophy emphasized, the source of justice and other virtues is the reason.

Reasoning is one of the essential characteristics of the human being and of the majority of human acts. Therefore, to act in accordance with reason, the first demand is to have the virtue of prudence. Although Plato and Aristotle explicitly put reason only in second place among the cardinal virtues, they implicitly recognized its pivotal role in guidance.

Prudence in Sports

We will present the role of prudence in sports in general, without focusing on any one sport in particular. However, this application can be made to any specific sports activity.

Prudence is more important in some sports and less in others. But there is no sport that does not practice the virtue of prudence. Virtue as such means enhancing the state of being human. Virtue is, as Aquinas said, the ultimum potentiale, the ultimate of what man is able to be.
"The virtuous man 'is' the man who develops goodness through his deeds out of his innermost inclination and substance" (Pieper, 1949, p. 6).
Therefore, the role of the virtue of prudence is in developing human beings in general and athletes in particular to their utmost capacities.

The role of prudence in sports
Prudence as we present it is more or less identical to practical wisdom. The basic role of prudence in sports is in the cognition of the reality of the specific situations an athlete is in and the provision of instructions for how to appropriately respond to them.

The first thing that is demanded of an active man is that he should be knowing. The realization of good actions in sports presupposes the knowledge of reality.

An athlete should know precisely the reality of his actual situation; this implies knowledge of himself and his body, his opponents, knowledge of the environment or spatial awareness, and knowledge of the sports activity or task which has to be done. All of these factors change rapidly during sports activities.

Factors in sports
The cognition of oneself and of others and the environment is a crucial factor in any sports activity, especially during competition. Knowing the truth about the situation where one is therefore the foundation for any good action.

Whoever does not know the true condition of real things cannot do good, for good is that which complies with reality. As we will see later, the ability to comprehend a concrete situation in sports as quickly and as correctly as possible can be the deciding factor between the average and the best athletes and the average and the best referees.

Prudence, however, is not only the cognition of a situation. The main thing is that this knowledge of reality must be transformed into a prudent decision that takes effect directly in its execution. The prudent athlete or referee must therefore immediately direct his cognitions toward concrete realization in action.

Memoria
Memoria, or memory, means more than the capacity for recollection which we have by nature.
"The good memory which enters into the perfection of prudence means nothing less than 'true-to-being' memory. For the virtue of prudence resides in this: that the objective cognition of reality shall determine action; that the truth of real things shall become determinative" (Pieper, 1965, p. 15).

Therefore:
Memoria is the first prerequisite for the perfection of prudence. In sports, athletes and referees must pay attention to what is going on. Only the correct cognition of a situation can ensure proper actions. But memory does not stop here: past experiences have an important role in recognizing and comprehending what is going on. Thus the role of memoria also consists of developing and enriching special memories (motor learning) from past experiences, and thus it is an important goal of any technical sports training, as well as physical education in schools. Sports games and disciplines which are based more on technical movement (e.g., gymnastics) are especially dependant on the memory of past body movement experiences.

Docilitas
* Docilitas means "the ability to take advice, sprung not from any vague 'modesty,' but simply from the desire for real understanding (which, however, necessarily includes genuine humility)".
Like Socrates, an athlete must acknowledge that he does not know everything, and therefore it is worth trying to acquire the desired knowledge: knowledge about the correct execution of movement, knowledge about the challenge and task at hand, knowledge about his condition, knowledge about the other competitors, knowledge about the results of the contest, and the knowledge about the environment.

As such, docilitas can be recognized as an essential characteristic in the concept of sports known as "knowledge-gaining activity".

Willingness to learn
Without the willingness to learn, the majority of sports activities would become too complicated to perform.
Athletes need and use docilitas, openmindedness, to learn new complicated movements and progress in their performances.
Aquinas wrote that "in matters of prudence man stands in very great need of being taught by others, especially by old folk who have acquired a sane understanding of the ends in practical matters".
Similarly, all athletes know that the advice of coaches and more experienced colleges can help a lot in successfully overcoming challenges and making progress in sports.

Solertia
Solertia is the "capacity for instantly grasping an unexpected situation, and deciding with extreme quick-wittedness" (Pieper, 1965, p. 13).

With the aid of solertia, the athlete can swiftly, but with open eyes and clear-sighted vision, decide for the good in a concrete situation.

It is worth noting that in sports activities, athletes rarely have enough time to reflect on what is going on in the game and what to do in the next moment, so decisions have to be made quickly. Important decisions in sports are usually made in the spur of the moment, without deep consideration.

Conclusion

The essential qualities of a good athlete include the ability to maintain attention and focus on changes in the environment.

This is a prerequisite for making and acting upon good decisions. The only one who knows the objective reality can do good.

"Good intentions" do not suffice for justice, nor for success in sports. The actions of an athlete must be appropriate for the situation that the athlete is in.
It cannot be emphasized enough how important the cognition of concrete reality is in sports. In all sports activities, concrete situations can change drastically in less than a second. Thus, any virtue that allows an athlete to cope with these demands can drastically improve the athlete's performance.