The Greatest Failure Makes the Sweetest Success For many years now, there has been an on- going argument in regards to whether competitive sports benefit or harm public schools and communities. Many experts argue that competitive sports drive kids to perform better in school and in life. On the other hand, other experts worry that adults push kids too hard at such a young age and cause lifelong emotional issues. Each side states valid points however, schools and communities that push children to perform their greatest have the correct outlook on the real world and preparing children for the future because competition never disappears in this world, and sports contain a controlled environment that can teach children vital lessons such as never to give up on your dreams or simply just to work harder for what you want most. Competition often pushed people to reach their full potential. Competition drives people to do their best and to achieve their goals in life before anyone else does. The pressure of competition contributes to the well being of people; it allows them to focus and to succeed in the challenges of everyday life. Competition drives this world and there is no better way to prepare our children for the pressures of life than through sports. School and communities should promote friendly competition because it produces children that understand character and discipline. Mark Trapp once said, “If children are never allowed to fail, they will never succeed” (Source D). The feeling of loss allows children to reassess strategies so they can improve next time. For example, in any given sport when an athlete commits an error one must pick them up and put it out of their head because if they dwell on it more errors throughout the game will occur. In source B the girl becomes depressed because of limited playing time, so she never plays again. She let one moment define her outlook on sports; instead she should have focused her energy on developing her skills. If she would have stayed focused she would have had the opportunity to improve and could have had the potential to play over her teammates. As one can see, competition is not a horrible crime committed against our children but in fact it pushes them to do better and there is no better way to be competitive than through athletics. Some experts say that competition ruined their childhood and made them feel less worthy (Source B). Many feel like competition has no place in society because it makes children feel less equal. The people that cry foul on competition make up scenarios in their head about what others think and feel about them, for example “The coach kept me on the sidelines the entire first half of the game… He was saving his trump card, me for the last half of the game” (Source B). This girl was building false ideas in her head about how great she was, but was later disappointed when she was not played. The coach did nothing to her, he simply just did what he felt was best for the team during that game. Maybe he wanted to play her for the second game and have children switch on and off every other game. Whatever the reason is, she jumped to conclusions about the coach which in turn only hurt her. The question is, did she decide her own fate by giving up? Yes, if she would have worked hard at it, her opportunity to play would have increased. Competition is meant to motivate and push someone to their limits but never discourage. While competition is a great tool, in some scenarios it can be harmful. Competition will only need to be controlled in extreme cases when it begins to bring harm to oneself or other’s health, for example too much of a good thing is a bad thing. Competition should not cause health complications but should instead just push one to do their best. Like in (Source A) the girl plays herself until she is physically stressed. That is not a healthy option and should not be done due to the fact that competition is fun and exciting and should only be used as motivation. That situation could easily be handled with a conversation with the parents, the parents could express concern and ask them to still be competitive but also have a good time. There is a fine line between competition and over the top, but for the majority of people competition is a source of motivation and is not taken to extremes. This is why it is the schools job to have competitive sports, and to promote goal setting and to have children follow through with them. This debate has been a hot topic for many years and will continue through the generations but one thing will remain, competition allows people to reach their full potential. It should remain the community’s job to promote competition because it produces children that are headstrong and ready to face the challenges of this harsh world.

Works Cited
Schwind-Pawlak, Jennifer. The Thrill of Victory...The Agony of Parents. N.d.
Trapp, Mark. Human Targets. N.d.
Whitney, Margaret A. HERS; Playing to Win. N.d.