Is Competition Good for Kids?
The word competition isderived from the Latin word competere whichmeans come together, however in most ｃountries throughout the world it hastaken on a different meaning. ‘Dog-eat-dog’ is a better way of describing howmany people view competition nowadays which is fine for adults but not idealfor children.
Childrencan have a great time playing competitive sport but it has to be handled well.Losing time after time can lead to ‘Learned Helplessness’ as child developmentguru, Rae Pica puts it in her book ‘Your Active Child’. This is not how we wantour kids to feel.
Someresearch suggests that competitive spirit is learnt which flies in theface of received wisdom. ‘Born winner’ is the typical epithet used todescribe someone who prevails on a regular basis. Pre-schoolers are morelikely to opt for co-operative play than competitive play but they can just aseasily adopt a ‘this is mine’ attitude when it suits.
Mypersonal view is that competition amongst children can be a real positive partof a child’s life but it needs to be well managed. In tennis there is pressureto be winning from an early age. There are Leader boards for under 9s &under 10s that are hard to ignore & as a parent & coach it’s easy toget sucked in to the ‘more is better’ philosophy.
Theproblem with this is that many children are ill equipped emotionally to withstandthe psychological demands that this can bring & personally I don’t think itmatters long term, what level players are when they are that young. I believeit has little bearing on the level they’ll be playing at in say 10 years.
Competitionmanaged badly can foster a ‘win at all costs’ mentality which leads tocheating & dishonesty. Placing any kind of pressure on a child to win will inducepoor performance, anxiety & eventually low self-esteem. We have to chooseour words carefully. If kids sense an expectation to win & then lose, theywill feel as if they’ve let everyone down. ”Practice your shots” isinfinitely preferable to “you need to win this one”.
Thesecret is to promote the idea that competing is about development & not winning, ensuringthe players are competing at the right level with the right frequency. Theyneed to experience some degree of success so if they’re not winning they areprobably playing at a level that’s too strong.
Iuse competition in lessons to stimulate & motivate. I also run internal& external tournaments which provide structure & a greater variety of opponent.During lessons, playing points immediately increases the intensity of all theplayers, even the ones who profess to be ‘”non-competitive”. It’s a great wayof getting players to practice a particular shot or set piece without themhaving to do drills.
Myson plays football & tennis competitively so I asked him for his take.Unsurprisingly he prefers winning to losing (takes after his father!) but hesaid he plays sport because it’s fun. He’d rather play & lose thannot play at all. He just likes playing & that for me is the essence ofsport. Sports have rules & scoring systems. Competition is the inevitable by-productof this & it can be a force for the good or otherwise.
Pierrede Coubertin, founder of the international Olympic committee summed it upperfectly. “The important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win, but to takepart the important thing in life is not triumph, but the struggle theessential thing is not to have conquered but to have fought well”.
Weneed to instill these values in our children if they are going to get apositive experience from competing.
Article Source: http://www.optimatennis.co.uk/optima-info/tennis/competition-good-kids/
Image Source: http://static01.nyt.com/images/2012/10/11/garden/11COMPETITION/11COMPETITION-popup.jpg
VOCABULARY WORDS:
1. Epithet(n.) ~ descriptive words or phrase
2. Prevail(v.) ~ to prove superior
3. Ill-equipped(adj.) ~ poorly supplied
4. Withstand(v.) ~ to resist or endure successfully
5. Foster(v.) ~ to bring up or nurture
6. Induce(v.) ~ to bring out or stimulate
7. Opponent(n.) ~ a person who opposes another in a contest, battle, etc.
8. Drill(n.) ~ a task or exercise
9. By-product(n.) ~ a secondary result
10. Instill (v.) ~ to introduce by gradual,persistent effort
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION:
1. According tothe article, what are the negative impacts of instilling winning with regardsto competition?
2. How doescompetition help develop the personality of children?
3. What are thepositive ways of encouraging children to compete?
