I didn’t take up sports until I was well into my adult life. I discovered Tennis at the ripe old age of 27 and ever since the sport has been holding me captive. Tennis is one of those games that will train the mind just as well as it trains the body. One of the things the game has helped me understand are the intricacies of this thing called ‘competition’.
We all know that having a ‘competitive spirit’ is critical to becoming successful in any sport. While it is necessary, it can also be a double edged sword. Yes, being competitive and working hard to win is a good thing, but only in the proper context. There is also, undoubtedly, a dark side to competition. What happens when winning becomes the only goal of competition? What happens when we get to the point where we’ll do anything to win, even compromise our integrity?
Yes, winning, especially after a hard fought battle, is exhilarating but aren’t there more things to be gained from competition. For instance, isn’t it just as important to know how to lose? I mean shouldn’t we also want to share that glorious feeling of having the ‘W’ marked by our name or do we just want to hog all the wins for ourselves? And of course I don’t mean that we shouldn’t try to win every time we compete; but what I am saying is that we should still know how to be winners even when we don’t win.
If you have to win all the time to feel like a winner, can you really be considered one?
Followers
