I have been going to many of my son’s swim competitions. Varying sized pools, near and far at different institutions. Lots of parents and athletes combine in a fervor of emotion. There are several interesting observations.
The first one is the incessant yelling of the parents in cheering for their kids. I am not against supporting the kids, but here is the problem as the parents literally scream at the top of their lungs across a huge auditorium like facility where the hope of the child hearing the celebratory cheer is slim to none over the blaring music and the loud announcers booming informative. The athlete is wearing a plastic head cap covering their ears and to boot they are under water and focussing on their taught stroke and form in the prescribed event, and not listening to anything except their breath and the agony of trying to finish faster than the seconds whizz by on the enormous unforgiving clock on the wall.
The second one, is that the moment the heat is over, everyone goes back to their screen devices that beckons their attention, like as if nothing happened. Were you not creating a sound machine noise akin to the boom box of a loud midnight DJ club a few moments ago? What changed. We just went from 100000 decibels to silence.
The next observation is how much parents talk about their own past sports accomplishments when they were the same age as their child competing is now. It is as if they are reliving their own unfulfilled dreams through their offspring.
The other witnessing is the direction of the athletes’ gaze when they complete the event. As soon as the head bobs out of the water and they reach the end of the lane, Some will look at the score board timer to see where they ranked. Others will look towards the direction of the audience to find the thrilled faces of the parent for praise. Some will look directly at their coach for approval. Self acknowledgment of performance is the key.
There is no judgment in any of these observations, simply an awareness of the different human reactions and behaviors during a sporting event. What thoughts go on in their minds? What are the discussions like during the car rides home?
For me, I do not yell or scream. I am more focussed on videoing my kid’s swim during the competition so that he may learn from the event. We discuss in the car his strengths and perceived weaknesses and what I can do to help him to get better, in addition to what his coach is going to probably tell him on the next training day. I do not believe in the value of competitions. I believe we are only competing with ourselves till one day we realize that there is no competition, just the opportunity to have fun and excel.
The concept of a competition is to try to be better than someone else is lost on me. Some say we do it for fun, but there is always ego involved. For each person is like a ray of light experiencing its own reflection and so every human being is doing the same. The rays of light do not compete with the next ray. When the ego is taken out of the equation the experience is heightened.
…………..
I love you
Leave a Reply