Why Compete? Part One

Recently having participated in a martial arts tournament, I've been thinking about the variety of reasons that people compete in them. I'll be posting my thoughts on some of the reasons that lead people into tournaments.

Reason number one for competition: To Win.


Some see this as the main, number one, most obvious reason to compete. Some believe that if you are not playing to win, there is no reason to play.

To some, winning is so important that all other considerations are secondary. If you have to bend the rules to win, you learn how far you can bend them before they break, and you learn to break them without getting caught. Learning how to break the rules becomes part of the competition. I have seen people at martial arts tournaments wear their sparring gear loosely on their hands so they can slide it nearly off their hands, giving themselves 6 to 8 inches more reach. I have seen people using a tactic called "taking your warning", in which at the start of a sparring match you kick someone as hard as you can in the stomach to wind them, you take the warning for excessive contact, and the advantage of a winded opponent.

These and other tactics are the result of a desire to win no matter what. Another result is feelings of disappointment, frustration, and anger when one doesn't win.

You can probably guess, that to me, winning is not a very good motivation for competition.

Next I will be discussing reason number two, which could be a subset of "Competing to Win". It is "Winning With Honor"

Who Got You This Far?

I recently had a student say to me, "Thank you for bringing me this far." I reminded this student that although I may have walked in front of him/her, it wasn't me that brought them this far.

Always give credit and gratitude to your teachers, role models, coaches, etc., but also remember, that they can not take you anywhere. You must decide to go there, you must do the work to get there, and you must continue on past the point you have reached.

If you give someone else too much credit for your achievements, what will you do once they are gone? Smokey The Bear always said, "Only you can prevent forest fires." The same applies to your positive achievements, "Only you can take you there."