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SittinOnDubsWGW · 02-25-2006, 12:30 PM

Is it the most important thing in sports, or is having fun, or is it something else?

I had previously written papers for a "Philosophy of Sports" class a couple of years back dealing with similar thoughts in regards to "non-competitive sports," but haven't really thought about it much since then until today.

After working out, I went and enjoyed some breakfast. While I was sitting there, one of the usual managers came in with his son, who had just got done playing a game of basketball. I'm guessing the son was around 7 or 8 years old. While just hanging out waiting for the food, many of the waitresses came over and would say hi to them and whatnot and either the father or son would reply that they just got back from a basketball game.

The first question after this from the waitresses would always be "Did you win?" to which the father would always reply "at this age, they don't keep score, its all about having fun and developing their skills." The reply was usually "oh, I see." One of the replies that I thought was somewhat unusual was;
"at this age, they don't keep score, its all about having fun and developing their skills."
"yeah, but did your team still win?"
"What?"
"you mean that you guys didn't keep score in the stands to see if your son's team won?"
"No."
"We always do at our kids' games. It's not worth playing if you don't have a winner."

I see both sides of the fence here. I can see how for young kids, it should be more about going out and having fun and developing their skills. On the other hand, kids are going to have to face the fact that they are either good or not at things and will have to learn how they match up against others and find their strengths and weaknesses.

I think that as we get older, we become a lot more results-oriented and do not focus so much on the activity itself, and that is why winning is so important to us, as to where kids can go out and enjoy just the pure fun of "playing" the game, as to where us adults thrive on the competition and trying to be the best.

Anybody else's thoughts on the subject?

02-25-2006, 12:30 PM	#1 (permalink)
SittinOnDubsWGW I make bad decisions. Join Date: Dec 2004 Location: The Desert Posts: 3,018 Internets: 108015	Winning? Is it the most important thing in sports, or is having fun, or is it something else? I had previously written papers for a "Philosophy of Sports" class a couple of years back dealing with similar thoughts in regards to "non-competitive sports," but haven't really thought about it much since then until today. After working out, I went and enjoyed some breakfast. While I was sitting there, one of the usual managers came in with his son, who had just got done playing a game of basketball. I'm guessing the son was around 7 or 8 years old. While just hanging out waiting for the food, many of the waitresses came over and would say hi to them and whatnot and either the father or son would reply that they just got back from a basketball game. The first question after this from the waitresses would always be "Did you win?" to which the father would always reply "at this age, they don't keep score, its all about having fun and developing their skills." The reply was usually "oh, I see." One of the replies that I thought was somewhat unusual was; "at this age, they don't keep score, its all about having fun and developing their skills." "yeah, but did your team still win?" "What?" "you mean that you guys didn't keep score in the stands to see if your son's team won?" "No." "We always do at our kids' games. It's not worth playing if you don't have a winner." I see both sides of the fence here. I can see how for young kids, it should be more about going out and having fun and developing their skills. On the other hand, kids are going to have to face the fact that they are either good or not at things and will have to learn how they match up against others and find their strengths and weaknesses. I think that as we get older, we become a lot more results-oriented and do not focus so much on the activity itself, and that is why winning is so important to us, as to where kids can go out and enjoy just the pure fun of "playing" the game, as to where us adults thrive on the competition and trying to be the best. Anybody else's thoughts on the subject?