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Winning Often Overemphasized In Teen Sports
Topic Started: Oct 24 2013, 03:11 PM (236 Views)
MainerMikeBrown
Senior Carp
When I was in high school, I played baseball in the Babe Ruth League that we had. And yes, I was one of the worst players on a team that rarely won.

I'm grateful to the adults who coached our team. Without them, I wouldn't have been able to enjoy playing baseball with my friends as a teen.

However, the only thing about this experience for me was that the coaches, players, and fans (mostly the parents of the players) emphasized winning too much. And considering that we mostly lost, it took away from some of the enjoyment of playing baseball, for me anyway.

It's one thing if it's Varsity baseball. But since we were just playing for fun playing for the Babe Ruth league, winning shouldn't have been emphasized as much as it was. The thing is, having fun was more important than winning games was for us.
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Axtremus
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HOLY CARP!!!
MainerMikeBrown
Oct 24 2013, 03:11 PM
However, the only thing about this experience for me was that the coaches, players, and fans (mostly the parents of the players) emphasized winning too much. And considering that we mostly lost, it took away from some of the enjoyment of playing baseball, for me anyway.

... The thing is, having fun was more important than winning games was for us.
Did you tell that to the coaches, other players, and fans who you thought overemphasized winning? What did you do to change that attitude in others?
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VPG
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Pisa-Carp
No one picks up a bat and say's "I think I'll bat now and make an out" You try to win.
If you don't, you try next game, or the next, or the next. The teams I was on may have lost games, but I never did. And none of it ever left a scar. Kids lose games, and it bothers them for maybe three day's. Get used to it. People, life, and girls are going to say no to you, real life. And the Government can't help you.
I'M NOT YELLING.........I'M ITALIAN...........THAT'S HOW WE TALK!


"People say that we're in a time when there are no heroes, they just don't know where to look."
Ronald Reagan, Inaugural, 1971

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Copper
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Shortstop

The goal for a team in a team sport is to win. Without an emphasis on winning you're in the wrong place.
The Confederate soldier was peculiar in that he was ever ready to fight, but never ready to submit to the routine duty and discipline of the camp or the march. The soldiers were determined to be soldiers after their own notions, and do their duty, for the love of it, as they thought best. Carlton McCarthy
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Jolly
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Geaux Tigers!
I played on two football teams that made the state play-offs.

I played on one high school team that went 1-9.

While winning and losing taught me a lot of life lessons, I really, really prefer winning.
The main obstacle to a stable and just world order is the United States.- George Soros
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Horace
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HOLY CARP!!!
Jolly
Oct 24 2013, 06:23 PM
I played on two football teams that made the state play-offs.

I played on one high school team that went 1-9.

While winning and losing taught me a lot of life lessons, I really, really prefer winning.
This is why cheating is generally a good idea.
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
Copper
Oct 24 2013, 05:24 PM
The goal for a team in a team sport is to win. Without an emphasis on winning you're in the wrong place.
Ayrton Senna said something similar, that anyone who wouldn't risk a crash to win didn't belong on the racetrack.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
Red Rice
Oct 26 2013, 11:14 AM
Copper
Oct 24 2013, 05:24 PM
The goal for a team in a team sport is to win. Without an emphasis on winning you're in the wrong place.
Ayrton Senna said something similar, that anyone who wouldn't risk a crash to win didn't belong on the racetrack.
I'm not completely sure that quoting Senna as an example of rational thinking in sport is a very good defence :)
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
But sport is not rational; it has always been atavistic.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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John D'Oh
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MAMIL
My point was that Senna went beyond what most people, even many professional sportsmen, would consider sane behavior.
What do you mean "we", have you got a mouse in your pocket?
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Red Rice
HOLY CARP!!!
Prost would not doubt agree with you, though I don't believe Senna was any more reckless than many professional drivers before or since. His argument for the redesign of escape chicanes shows that he was in fact very thoughtful about safety concerns.

In any case "sane behaviour" (you forgot the "u"!) is a relative term when it comes to professional sport.
Civilisation, I vaguely realized then - and subsequent observation has confirmed the view - could not progress that way. It must have a greater guiding principle to survive. To treat it as a carcase off which each man tears as much as he can for himself, is to stand convicted a brute, fit for nothing better than a jungle existence, which is a death-struggle, leading nowhither. I did not believe that was the human destiny, for Man individually was sane and reasonable, only collectively a fool.

I hope the gunner of that Hun two-seater shot him clean, bullet to heart, and that his plane, on fire, fell like a meteor through the sky he loved. Since he had to end, I hope he ended so. But, oh, the waste! The loss!

- Cecil Lewis
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