I never liked competition, not because I’m a sore loser or winner, but because I like to play games for fun, not to beat the other team. It might be because I didn’t grow up playing sports besides in P.E but I don’t enjoy the pressure of having to win. Parents get way too competitive when it comes to their kids’ sports, and anyone can tell that it stresses them out.
The pressure to win and get better, whether it’s to make more baskets, run faster, or throw more strikes, parents are always making the kids think it’s more important to win than to just have fun. That’s what is wrong with competition. If after a team lost, they still got a pizza party or whatever, I think kids would enjoy playing their sports more.
But there are also those children who are just as bad as their parents. They put pressure on themselves; they wake up early to run, and they get so competitive that when they lose, it’s the end of the world to them. Luckily, when it comes to much younger players, such as 3 or 4 years old, they don’t have that pressure, and most of the time they are just running around being silly, and that is what sports should be. Having fun, enjoying the game, and still getting that pizza party even if they lose.
Anything I play, I do it for fun, even when it comes to playing sports for fun, or playing video games, or something like that. I’ve never had the appeal of competition and never had the pressure to win something, besides one year in school when I played pickleball, that was the only time I was competitive because I actually was good at the sport.
Competition is fun as long as it’s safe, and everyone is respectful. I don’t like when people are very rude about how they won, and the other team was a loser or anything like that. We need to make sure we teach our kids the fun of sports and not just stuff competition down their throats.
