I took my daughter and one of the teenagers from church and headed to the softball park for our first game of the year. We lost 13-3. What hurts is to know we were up 3-2 going into the 4th inning and the coach yanked the starters and gave the bench some pt.
There would have been a time in my life that I would have been really bummed out about that loss. You see, my name is Chad and I'm a recovering competitive athlete. There was a day that I did anything short of cheat to win. I hated to lose. But my desire to come out victorious is just not what it used to be. But I guess that's a good thing. When I really look at the core of competition, it's the whole mentality that "I'm better than you and I'm about to beat your tail." For some reason I can't see Jesus rolling up his sleeves and trying to go "yard" on some middle aged pitcher just to prove how long he can hit a softball.
We live in a culture that tells our kids that competition is good. It builds character and provides a team building experience. Does it? Or does it simply play to their prideful, egotistical nature that needs a good spanking?
Don't get me wrong. I'll probably show up next week but my focus has drastically changed over the years. Besides, I'm out of shape and can't seem to hit the ball over the third baseman's head.
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2 comments:
Must admit some struggle here. Competition itself isn't a bad thing, but I agree that pride is generally lurking and waiting to rear it's ugly head. I have a son that appears to be a pretty good athlete (although he is very young) and as result my ego tends to puff up at times during competition. I probably like him playing and doing well because I was average at best at sports. But pride is difficult to suppress in sports and other areas of life. I wish I could say I was a recovering pride addict, but the disease is strong and difficult to overcome. I'm leaning on the power of prayer to beat it.
I can see where the whole ego thing can come into play here, HOWEVER to bring out the positive in competitive sports...it builds self confidence, and the want to try harder. In a world where our children are sitting in front of TV's and video games, I am thrilled when I see kids out there getting some fresh air and playing a game. Sometimes I wonder, is it the kids that have the ego and pride issues or the (some)parents that push them? I think its all about how you approach competitive sports and how you teach your children to see them. Yes its wonderful to win...but there is lessons to be learned in loosing ...for example, if you didn't loose you would never understand completely what you need to work on to become a better athelete. This works the same in life...without our failures we would never know how to completely succeed.
Sometimes we forget....its for the kids and all about them. It is not about feeding our pride because our kid is doing well.
OK....I'm off my soap box now. tee hee hee
I'm really liking your blog chad!
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