Competitive Sport : a Bane or a Blessing?
Forged in the fires, of determination and discipline, emerged an elite few with unfathomable skills. They became heroes for the public, role-models for those who were aspiring to reach even greater heights. It comes as no surprise that competitive sports have come to be adopted in schools. But, there are drawbacks to exposing children to what could be a potentially traumatic experience.
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Ever since the first flame was lit on Mt. Olympus over 2000 years ago, structured competition has been a part of our life. And forged in the fires, of determination and discipline, emerged an elite few with unfathomable skills. They became heroes for the public, role-models for those who were aspiring to reach even greater heights. It comes as no surprise that competitive sports have come to be adopted in schools. But, there are drawbacks to exposing children to what could be a potentially traumatic experience.
Those who favor competitive sports say
That it motivates you to push yourself further and provides us with a measure to stretch ourselves to the limits of our abilities. To play tennis with someone slightly better than yourself, enables you to stretch and improve your game. Would Roger Federer have been such an accomplished player if not for his ongoing rivalry with Rafael Nadal?
Not only do competitions motivate you to better yourself, they also teach you how to lose gracefully. No one can win every single time. Competitions teach you to fall down and pick yourself up back up and keep moving forward. Michael Jordan, one of the world’s greatest basketball players, failed to make his high school varsity basketball team. But, did let it get to him? No! He picked himself up and worked harder, and look where he is now!
However, everything has two sides to it, those who oppose the idea of competitive sports argue
Saying that repetitive losses can prove detrimental for the delicate emotional stability that teens have. Competitions, by definition are divisive, there can be only one gold medalist, and the others who couldn’t achieve it could develop some sort of an inferiority complex, which could in turn make them antisocial and in few cases even lead to suicide.
Even if it doesn’t lead to something so drastic, students involved in competitions tend to lose focus on the academic aspect of school as they become obsessed with trying to be better than everyone else.
I, personally, see sense in both arguments. Competitions do teach you to deal with problems but people who are emotionally fragile may not be able to cope with it. I’ve competed in Karate tournaments, and in the beginning I didn’t ever win and I was rather let down. But, I decided to stick to it, it was hard and painful and my grades did fall but I got there in the end and I’m definitely stronger than I was.
So, whether you see competitions as a blessing or a bane, it doesn’t look like they’re going to do anything about to do away with them anytime soon, so they will remain as they always have been, an integral part of daily life.
