October 11, 2013

Why I Compete

Pin It!
Topic of day: Competition.  Ready for this? 

Tomorrow is District Auditions for piano and in a couple weeks we have State for volleyball.  I really enjoy competing. Sports didn't become competitive for me until middle school and in the beginning, it was the same as gymnastics and soccer and swimming; just for fun.  Now, as I play in my next to last year of volleyball, there is no such thing as playing volleyball "for fun" (I'm half kidding;)  Competing requires time and energy and passion.

Being a Christian and being competitive is a fine line.

I'm very competitive and really don't like losing.  Whether it be Flashlight Tag with my siblings or a volleyball match against Veritas, I'm going to give it my all.  As I've gotten older, I've been able to let things go :) but it'll always be there.

...
Sports provide countless opportunities to practice/learn patience, respect, perseverance ... things that are good.  Its not bad to want to win.  But how you do it is important.

Here are some things I've learned through sports:

Being a leader is not being the best.  As we learned at Worldview, a leader is anyone who has influence.  Being a leader sounds important, but you aren't a leader if you don't have followers.  And you won't have followers if you don't prove yourself to be worth following.  Nobody wants to follow a self centered, prideful person, even if they are talented.

Put in the time off the court and you'll put in time on the court.  Conditioning, practicing - it's part of being on the team. One of the things that bug me most are people (and this is NOT limited to volleyball) who expect to play without working or just because they joined.  That's one of the joys of varsity sports. You don't play if you don't work. People will say that's not fair, but is it?  Is it fair to ignore hard work?  Is it fair to reward laziness?  Hello - no. Sports aren't rewarding if that isn't true. If my coach wanted it all to be fair, he would have to let me play as a middle hitter.  That isn't fair to me not the team. Some of us are talented at sports, some of us are talented at school, some of us are artsy, some of us are mathematicians, and that's okay. But in the sports are a, you let the athlete play the most. And in the math arena, you let the math whiz shine.  (Okay, I just realized how long this paragraph is compared to others ... I'm a *little* opinionated on this topic:)


Thinking you are right doesn't make you right.  Ahh, yes, humility again.  Sometimes, players think they can see things that the coach another teammate can't. The player may be right, but more often than not, they aren't. And part of sports is accepting criticism and willing to learn new things, even if they seem "wrong."  Honestly, I prefer people correct me. Even if I don't like them or the criticism, I usually do need to fix whatever they're talking about.

You respect hard work more than you respect talent.  Even if a person isn't a good volleyball player, I know they'll do well down the road because they practice good character traits in practice and in games.  Even though a person may be a natural setter, if they aren't a hard worker, an encouraging team mate, or a respectful player, their talent will only take them so far.

Your parents can be your biggest fans.  I LOVE having my mom and dad come to games.  They're gut honest with me about me and the game and I really appreciate that.  And ever since JH, they've always acted like my games are important. And trust me, my JH games were sloooooow.  But they didn't act like that at all!  

As for piano competitions, it's different than volleyball because its all me. If I mess up, no one can save it. There's the upside of being responsible for the outcome and the downside of being by yourself.

Competing can be hard.  I get frustrated with myself. I get frustrated with my teammates and coaches. It's not all character building and fun, but it's worth it.  One of the biggest thing about competing with the team is the friendships.  I've been offered to play in other sports, but I keep coming back to volleyball because if the girls there. Nothing can replace the people.
 


Did you/are play(ing) sports?  What was/is your favorite thing about it? 

15 comments:

  1. Great post lady! Confession: I've never played a team sport! As a result I'm pretty competitive with myself. This can be a dangerous spiral but I'm also working on finding that fine line.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It is a fine line! I'm competitive with myself, too, and I have to be careful. Thanks Davida!

      Delete
  2. Good luck at your piano competition and game! I used to play piano when I was younger but haven't in years. Such a beautiful instrument. :)
    Tina at www.tinaschic.com

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Tina! I do like piano ... and I think the violin is beautiful, too.

      Delete
  3. This was such an inspiring post, Mary Frances! Thanks for your honest opinions, girl. I'm so with you in the paragraph about hard work/effort/ and lazy people who don't work yet still want to play!
    It makes me so glad that there are young people like you who put so much effort in everything they do. You're so talented! Keep up the great work and best of luck with your volleyball and piano competitions :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks Consuelo! You do a lot, too, girl, and I know you work hard!

      Delete
  4. Wow Mary Frances! This was a great post. I really agree with your thoughts, and it was also very inspiring. Thanks for always being there to encourage me when I make mistakes. It means a lot.:) Hope auditions goes well!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aww thanks Anna! You're really sweet and your words always mean A LOT to me, too. Auditions went pretty well ... thank you, girl!

      Delete
    2. Ahem, "pretty well" is an understatement!!! Mary Frances played REALLY well, and she made it to state!!!

      Delete
  5. Wonderful and wise words! I played tennis during high school, and I learned so many important lessons. However, my personality doesn't like to compete much...so I stopped playing competitively my senior year. You are clearly a talented and thoughtful person! So excited to see what is to come!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw thank you! I played a little tennis when I was little and it was really fun. Kudos to you for playing in high school. Thank you for your kind words, they mean a lot!

      Delete
  6. That is so true ,also being a Christian I know that we are supposed to win gracefully. From my last volleyball team just a couple of months ago I learned that winning is not everything. We lost EVERY game:( P.S. this is the last and final time that I'm going to change the name of my blog I promise, check in a few days and should have posted by then. Maybe.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Being gracious is hard! but its true, God gives us the power to. Thanks!

      Delete
  7. Dear Mary Frances, Enjoy and love what you do and you will do it well and always keep your smile. Blessings dear. Catherine xo

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw thank you Catherine, your sweet words are very encouraging! Hugs back!

      Delete

Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts! Your comments make my day!

DMCA.com Protection