Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing!
With Rio in Olympics just around the corners, inspirational quotes for the participants keep flowing everywhere we look. Right from the Prime Minister to common men, all have something or the other to say to our athletes that could give them the much needed encouragement for bring us back medals. Our PM recently advised them to win hearts rather than medals.
If winning is really not important, why else would they have medals for the winners only? Winning definitely seems to matter when it comes to the reputation and career of the athletes. In a country where people only recognize the top notch athletes, winning is of high priority.
The above quote is attributed to UCLA Bruins football coach Henry Russell Sanders and later wrongly attributed to American football coach Vince Lombardi who quoted Sanders. They must have meant it to motivate their teams but the quote is used till date to lay emphasis on how important winning is.
For :1. Recognition : You only earn recognition in your field when you win. You played well and tried your best but did not win – nobody is going to remember who you are and what you did. You bring honor and pride to your country only when you bring back medals. Participation and good effort acknowledgement by the media is only to assure that you try better next time. The will to win isn’t enough to get you a place in the memories of fans and followers. You either win or are lost from the history of sports.
2. Anything for winning : Look at all the efforts athletes make to ensure that they get nothing but the first position. Even bronze and silver do not satiate their hunger for winning. It is either gold or nothing. They work hard, extremely and sometimes brutally hard. Some even go for the unfair means of winning. Performance enhancing drugs, for instance, are taken by sportsperson even though they are well aware of the negative effects of these substances in the long run. The craze for winning is so high that they ignore their health in the process.
3. To stay in the game : Better opportunities and chances present themselves before you only when you win. You get to participate at better platforms and many such events throughout the year only when you are someone known to have bagged medals and trophies. Every opportunity seeks you out and you are requested to be a part of the arena. To get going in sports, you need to be known or else you are replaced sooner than later. It’s a competitive world after all.
4. There’s not always a next time : You lose and you will be told that there will always be a next time but there isn’t a next time for everyone. You are selected to represent your country in big games such as the Olympics because you proved your efficiency by winning the previous games. If you bring in medals, you are in the run for the next time too but if you lose, they will consider someone else for the next big game.
5. Winning hearts : You want fame, fans and followers but that is only a distant dream until you win big. And it does feel good for anyone to have a huge fan base that cheers and follows your every move. It is not just sports where winning is important. Even in other spheres of career, you are only apt to garner respect and recognition, when your work has been considered the best of the lot. You win hearts only when you win a game.
Against :1. Spirit of sports : Sports spirit is all about playing the best that you could and being fair and honest to your game. You know well when you enter the arena that only one will emerge a winner and the other will have to do with the runner up position. Everyone cannot win and yet their part is equally important in any game. The way the opponent challenged the winner also defines his capability of the game. A winner gets his respect only when he has dethroned someone who gave him a tough run.
2. Not the end of line : So you participated and put your hearts in a game but lost at the big moment. That, my friend, is not the end of line for your sport or career. There are millions other opportunities that would beg to have your presence. There would be challenges and struggle phases in your life but that is what makes you better in your game. You become stronger with challenges and learn to take the struggles of losing positively.
3. Ups and downs : Every sportsperson will tell you that there have been the down phases in their sports career where they lost and kept losing. But did that stop them from playing better and making a comeback like never before? Those who gave up lost and those who tried harder after losing made history. Falling doesn’t make you a cripple, but not willing to stand up again does it. The determination and dedication to make your way back to where you were takes you to the zenith of your sporting career and defines the way the world is going to remember you.
4. Obsession with winning : Those who are obsessed by making up their minds with thoughts like winning is the only thing resort to unfair means and in the process spoil their lives and careers. Working hard towards winning is good but making it an obsession to win only is definitely not the right thing to do. Building up of too much pressure is harmful for anyone and only leads to anxiety related diseases. If only one understands the balance between winning and losing, they can have a healthy and happy life and career.
5. Meant to inspire : The aforementioned quote was only used to motivate and inspire the players so that they try the best that they could to win. It was later interpreted in way that showed that winning was the most important thing in sports. There has to be a winning team and a losing team in sports. Everyone cannot win every time. Their records are to have both ups and down if they are a great enough player to take their sports to the long run.
Winning is important. It feels good to win, to have people cheer for you and know you everywhere. But it is definitely not the most important thing. You win and you lose. It is all about time and situation and your own efforts in your game.
If you are a great athlete, you know you have your reputation at stake in a game and you work hard to win but it might just not be your day and you lose. Is it the end of line for you? Definitely no! You need to take it positively and appreciate that the other player played better than you and that you too could do that if you try harder next time.
