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?
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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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