What are the Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports Competition?

[Sunstone]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sports competition?

For instance, does it improve a person? If so, how?

Again, does it bring out one's best?

 

[Nimos]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sports competition?

For instance, does it improve a person? If so, how?

Again, does it bring out one's best?

I don't think there is anything particular wrong with sports competitions, the result of such competitions can be an issue, which is when you have fans connecting to a specific team, person etc. And then gets so attached to these that they are willing to beat up others because of it.

I have always had it very difficult with this whole fan thing, whether its sports, music or whatever. And that these stars are treated as if they are gods. The whole posh thing etc. is not really healthy I think. Its sort of like, they don't deserve it, if that's the right way to put it. But maybe that is because I tend to value what people have done for humanity more than simply being good at something random. So having young people thriving towards wanting to be famous regardless of how, is not a good thing. You have all these reality shows etc. where you can get people to do pretty much anything, as long as they get their 5 minutes of fame.

Looking at a lot of those people that have become famous, rich and have all these fans, it seems that a lot of them are not really able to handle it very well. So I do think for especially the younger people that experience this, that it can be quite overwhelming and suddenly you have to be careful what you say and do etc.

The only advantages I see from these things is that it can supply some entertainment to people. Besides that there is very little gained from it. But again, im not interested in sports or being fan of anything is not really my thing. I do however think that its the wrong people that gets all the praise and that it ought to go to those that actually makes a difference for humanity.

 

[Epic Beard Man]

Let's ask Allen Iverson

 

[Cooky]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sports competition?

For instance, does it improve a person? If so, how?

Again, does it bring out one's best?

If you're really good, it can become a very high paying job. I know my wife's cousin married a pro basketball player last year, and after he cheated on her, she is now filing for divorce, and so she is going to get a lot of money too, so everyone wins with pro-sports.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sports competition?

For instance, does it improve a person? If so, how?

Again, does it bring out one's best?

Do you mean competing oneself, or more pro-sports? I read the OP as the former, but the answers are more around the latter so far.

In any case, hopefully not off-topic...

Sports has been a very important part of my life, and generally a very positive part.
It provided a place to;
1) Have secondary and tertiary friendship groups, which was particularly important in my teen years.
2) Meet girls, which was particularly important in my teen years...heh (tennis and basketball clubs are very much mixed gender environments)
3) Stay fit. I'm not much for running or bikes, but put up a scoreboard and I'm there, almost regardless of sport.
4) Connect with people outside my 'normal' peer group. This is still important, more in terms of a network of friends. But as an academic teen at a pretty rough school, being on 4 different sports teams meant I was never targetted for bullying. Either that or my pure magnetic charm.
5) Learnt about teamwork and sacrifice. Far more so than in the business world, sports (especially basketball and football) taught me about how teams work, what sacrifice for the greater good looks like, etc
6) Kept me busy and focused on something when a lot of my friends were pulling bongs and causing mischief.
7) Gave me away to connect with people when in a strange place. More than once, basketball has been my path to establishing a brand new social group in a place where I knew very few people.

Is it all positive? Nope. It's not. But for me personally, it has been overwhelmingly a good thing.

 

[Vinayaka]

What are the advantages and disadvantages of sports competition?

For instance, does it improve a person? If so, how?

Again, does it bring out one's best?

I coached (volleyball) for a long time. It helps with working together, and much of life usually is spent with a group of some sort. Communication, trusting others, not criticising mistakes, and more. It's also great exercise for the physical body.

But all that goes away with a poor 'winning is everything' attitude. Helps to see it from a somewhat detached perspective.