Why does the pleasure of attaining near perfection in any sport require winning — dominating a competitor — in order to give meaning to some athletes?
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When you strike a golf ball purely, whether a drive, a pitch, a chip or a putt, the thrill surges through your body like the ultimate moment of intimate contact with your lover.
When you strike a tennis ball purely, whether a serve, a ground stroke or a volley; the same feeling of ecstasy makes you want to do it again and again.
This is also true for running/swimming with seamless strides/strokes that propel you forward with unfathomable ease.
Why does the pleasure of attaining near perfection in any individual sport require winning — dominating a competitor — in order to give meaning to some athletes?
Engaging in sport without competition unleashes your grace and your power. Why ruin it just for meaningless winning or losing?
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A tennis blog that I receive via email, Essential Tennis, ran a series on the mental aspect of the game, catering to players who “choke” in competition and need a form of therapy to deal with the pressure of fear — not wanting to lose, anticipating the loss of self-respect when a player you think is inferior defeats you on the court. I felt that fear when I played in tennis club championship tournaments, and when I was a competitive squash racquets player entered in team matches or in Masters Tournaments catering to age-group players.
However, I’ve conquered that no-win attitude — “no-win” because the feeling of losing is worse than the satisfaction of winning. Now, here’s how I play tennis: we start each point with a serve and play it competitively, but we don’t keep score. Each point is a match in itself, and the next serve starts a new match. I serve as long as I want, and then my partner does the same. He’s my partner, not my adversary. Without the pressure of losing, the strokes flow smoothly, gracefully, with effortless power.
What a pleasure to engage in sport without winning or losing, just enjoying the activity as though I am a dancer — jumping, flying and landing with perfect balance, with no audience to judge me.
This can be done with golf, playing each hole for a par or a birdie, keeping count of the successes and not bothering to worry about the double bogeys or “others”. Or, even if you want to keep score and measure your progress against a yardstick like breaking 100, 90, or 80, doing so by yourself without a competitor present to feel muted pleasure when you miss a three foot putt.
Engaging in sport without competition unleashes your grace and your power.
Why ruin it just for meaningless winning or losing?
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Addendum: A variation on the theme was suggested by the Head Professional at the Rye Golf Club in Rye, NY: “…competition is always against yourself no matter who you play.” Competition can be a means of challenging yourself to reach higher levels of performance. Rejecting competition can be an excuse to avoid that challenge.
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Photo: Torrey Wiley/Flickr
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Brilliant! Thank you, Bob.
I think competition and rivalry are more important for the fans and the people making money off of sports than they are for the competitors themselves. It’s mostly the people in the stands and watching on TV who are so much into beating the other side.