I’m not one of those people who can watch or participate in a game and say, “well, we didn’t win, but what a great game.” I just can’t. There’s no way. I hate losing and it never feels good no matter how well we play.
I have the charming ability to find competition in everything, even outside of sports.
On family trips I want to drive as quickly as possible so we can make great time. In yoga I look around to see who’s holding a pose better (the ultimate sin), and I have a hell of a time just going on a walk without a finish line. While the competitiveness has served me well in life, it’s probably kept me from enjoying a lot too.
As a coach I’ve been able to convince the younger kids it doesn’t matter what the score was, as long as you played hard and had a good time. That doesn’t work anymore. Boy #1 is nine now and his basketball team (that I coach) suffered a devastating loss last Friday night. We were up by eight at the half and ended up losing by a point in overtime. The other team and their fans came pouring onto the court in celebration after they’d won. That just made it worse.
My team was beyond pissed and so was I. If I would have said, “Hey, we’re all winners tonight!” I would have lost all the credibility and trust I’d built up this season. I looked at them and said, “Guys, I know this one hurts. But this is the kind of game you bounce back from stronger. You guys played hard and that’s all I can ask for. Let’s come back next week a better team and get after it.”
They seemed to get it. They didn’t like it, but they got it.
There comes a time when kids need to learn this is an amazingly competitive world, especially in this country. I’m sure in some European countries where everything is subsidized, they may tolerate losing and putting forth mediocre work. But not here. You need to work hard to win. And that’s a great lesson for them to learn and upon which to build a life.
Losing is tough, but it’s a necessary evil that makes winning even sweeter. It’s easy to quit after a tough loss, but those who come back come back stronger and better. That’s true for sports and life in general.
Don’t teach your kids to enjoy or even tolerate losing as they get older. Let them know even the best lose and you can learn a lot more about yourself from losing than from winning.
—Photo Asdrubal WERT/Flickr
I’m as competitive as they come, however, it is a game and not the end of the world if I lose. The focus on the score, who won, who lost and so forth just takes the fun out of it. Leave the egos aside.
M: It depends on the age of the kids. If we’re talking about 5-6 year olds then I agree with you. But once you hit 8 or so, you should absolutely keep score. Hell, when I played instructional league baseball (6 years old) the coaches didn’t keep score. But guess what? All the kids did. We always knew exactly what the score was. The focus on the score is the point of playing. People (even young kids) play to win. We need to teach them to love and respect the game, and also see the value in tough losses. But… Read more »
Craig…
I hear what you are saying…and we always need to encourage our children to try their very best…not give up, persevere and have fun.
I don’t think anyone really enjoys losing..especially after considerable effort has been put forth. Its our role as parents and adults to encourage, nurture…and push them to their highest levels so that victory will come and it will be sweet because it was earned.
I love this column Craig. And I couldn’t agree more.
Instead of everyone tying for first place and getting participation trophies, let’s teach kids there are winners and losers. And there’s nothing wrong with losing as long as you use it as a reason to work harder next time.
Great stuff.