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A BETTER COMPETITION FOR OUR YOUTH
by
John Strong, Niagara
County Community College
 In
2003 Beth
Kirkpatrick and her 'New PE' presentation
were invited to my district on a professional
development day. As I sat and listened
to this dynamic speaker explain that
the old ways of 'gym class' needed to
fall by the wayside, I was inspired.
I was inspired to change my instruction,
inspired to change my profession, and
inspired to attempt to inspire change
in others.
The article that follows is written
in that spirit. Because, while I believe
physical educators are making great
strides nation-wide with augmentation
of their instructional, curricular,
and assessment strategies, I believe
another frontier still waits conspicuously
to be transformed; that of competition.
This article is geared predominantly
at elementary educators and youth sport
coaches, but also bears consideration
for those shaping the minds of prospective
teachers and coaches.
True
Competition was published in
2009 by David
Light Shields and Brenda
Light Bredemeier. This book was
an affirmation to me that competition
could truly be a wonderful thing if
framed correctly and taught deliberately.
Conversely, the authors of the book
coin a very appropriate word that is
antithetical to competition, decompetition.
It is my hope that many physical educators
begin to use this term in their classrooms
to describe an ugly phenomenon that
is occurring with more and more frequency.
The authors of the book write:
It is helpful to recall that the
word competition comes from the Latin
- petere,
meaning "to strive" or "to
seek," combined with the prefix,
com-, meaning "with." So
the root meaning of competition is
"to strive or seek with."
It is not "to strive against,"
but "to strive with." True
competition involves striving together;
it involves seeking excellence together.
In true competition, the competitors
think about the contest as an opportunity
for enjoying a quest after personal
(and, perhaps, team) excellence. In
true competition, each party pursues
excellence by trying to meet the challenge
presented by the opponent's best effort.
For a few of you out there this explanation
may not seem alien at all. Perhaps you've
always seen competition in this light.
However, there are many in our discipline
that have always framed competition
as the conquering of the opponent. A
zero sum equation with one winner and
one loser ONLY. The drawback to this
mind set is that perpetuates decompetition
rather than true competition.
Decompetition
is the result of a contest within which
the participants decide that their only
path to victory is literally over the
other contestant's beaten body. In such
an environment there will likely be
disdain for not only the other contestant,
but the rules, the officials charged
to uphold them, and any other factor
that stands in the way of victory. This
'win at all costs' mentality often leads
to the types of behavior that many critics
of today's sports decry; e.g. poor
sportsmanship, cheating,
and grand
standing.
It was the spirit of decompetition
that fueled recent steroid
scandals. It was decompetition that
compelled rules committees in all major
sports to review 'sportsmanship policies'
and administer stiffer regulation of
'unsportsmanlike activities'. I contend
that it was decompetition that bit the
ear off of Evander
Holyfield! Recent proponents of
decompetition have begun to use a phrase
of their own, "the
wussification of America."
The insinuation in this statement is
that Americans have gotten soft when
they can't 'tough it out' through adversity,
or stomach the improprieties of another
party and simply 'take it in stride.'
The status quo of accepting these damaging
notions as natural tendencies that will
always pervade contesting should no
longer be perpetuated. As I stated at
the top of this article, change has
become necessary. It is necessary to
change the mentality of our population,
and who better to propagate that change
than our youth. If we teach our youth
that competition means striving with
their opponent we can elicit great change.
In a practice session, students will
work to ensure that their counter-parts
are improving so that they may engage
in more rigorous competition. In small-sided
play, students will implore their instructors
for more even-sided teams in order to
present the stiffest competition possible
in pursuit of ultimate excellence. In
game-settings, student-athletes will
compete unfettered by the pressures
of over-bearing parents or over-hyped
rivalries.
I have seen these results come to fruition
on a small scale in my own true competitive
settings. In light of this fact, I am
compelled to believe in their potential
outside of my microcosm.
The key is to see the value of true
competition first, and then instill
its virtues deliberately to your students,
athletes, and even your own children.
A friend of mine once said that a true
test of the legitimacy of your actions
is to imagine what would happen if everyone
around you acted in the same manner.
It occurs to me, that if decompetition
is the law of the land, many folks without
the 'God-given abilities' of their peers
will lose out on a great deal. In these
settings, 'stars' do not recognize the
occurrence of the small improvements
of their less skilled peers. Further,
they don't even acknowledge the fact
that they can improve. As such, less
skilled children will fall away from
activity all together.
Studies show, that children who lose
interest in sport and physical activity
at an early age never regain it; which
begins to speak to why so many adults
have so little interest in activating
or recreating. In a truly competitive
society, individuals strive for their
best habitually, whether in the arena
of sport, school, or society. True competitors
strive with their peers to create excellence
and to me, that's a mindset that benefits
everyone. If you would like to read
more about true competition check out
this website:
TrueCompetition.org:
perhaps you'll find a way to be optimistic
in the face of defeat, and believe that
the experience is what matters in every
instance. |
