Explain Why Winning Isn T Everything It's The Only Thing Essay

It’s often an uphill fight. The ego-driven culture of basketball, and society in general, militates against cultivating this kind of selfless action, even for members of a team whose success as individuals in tied directly to the group performance. Our society places such a high premium on individual achievement, it’s easy for players to get blinded by their own self-importance and lose a sense of interconnectedness, the essence of teamwork.”

Coach Vince Lombardi of the Green Bay Packers made the statement “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.” HAving read the story about Timm Rosenbach in The Main Event, I would infer that he would disagree with Lombardi’s statement.

It is the first round of the Basketball State playoffs, and with eight seconds left, the talented Northwest team is down by three. The star point guard speed dribbles up the court, the tension on and off the court is immense, the pressure is even greater. Everyone during and prior to this game, had witnessed a season full of promise, and the consensus conclusion for most recognized this team as the best team to have ever come out Northwest High School. This was our best and likely only chance for success. So as the point guard puts the ball up, time nearly stops, it has a chance, but in like in life, the game of basketball is unforgiving, he misses. As most made their pre-conceived predictions of the future, or lack thereof, a young sophomore and his Junior Varsity teammates, we were inspired by our elders walking off the court, and the doubters going home. Bonded together, and we believed we were destine for something historical, and mythological outside our small circle. Thus two years later the 2016 Northwest Varsity Basketball team, the discourse community, where I developed relationships with the people I still call my brothers. A community which has shaped my work ethic, and has given me the knowledge of the amount of effort and work it takes to be successful. All of which was in efforts for a goal not even pronounced among our teammates, to us the future was still a mystery, only realized to us a one

Coach Steve Rocker is one of the most successful high school basketball coaches in Kentucky’s history. Coach Rocker was very successful in previous years. Strangely, this year was very different for him. For the first time in his professional life, he is falling short of his expectations, the community expectations, and the team’s expectations. His team lost a lot of games, but most importantly the boys had no motivation or desire to bring the team out of the rut they found themselves. His players have lost their will to win, their love for their teammates, and their passion to play. Coach Rocker’s motivational methods that have always worked before and resulted in success are now failing, and he doesn’t know why. He argues that his players have become selfish and bored with winning because they have been so successful in previous years. “And there’s no question that my guys have lost their drive to win because they’ve won so much in the past. Now all they want is individual ‘wins’…which just doesn’t cut it on a team” (Gongwer, 2010, p. 17).

It is my job as a coach to help develop athletes physically, psychologically, and socially while helping them have fun by playing a sport. I will do this by being enthusiastic and having a positive attitude in practice, games, and while not coaching. This cooperative approach to coaching will create a sense of community within the team I coach, and the athletes will feel more welcome to discuss their thoughts, ideas, questions, and concerns with me. Creating this setting and relationships with athletes will only benefit the team by creating a team culture necessary for the well-being and success of high school sports’ teams. Success in sports means accomplishing goals set by the team, not winning. Winning is important, but just striving to win is even more vital toward the success of teams. As a coach, I will also be a motivator for athletes. Athletes will see me come to practice with a positive attitude, displaying my passion. This is the beginning of how I will motivate athletes. Motivation starts with my attitude, and athletes pick up on this. In order to motivate and want to be motivated, there must be a reason, a why? I will use the teams’ goals they will set, in order to motivate them to give their best effort in order to achieve success by reaching their

Ideally, the celebrations of hard fought victories will outnumber the agonizing losses in large quantities. However, the lessons learned from devastating defeats are often the most important tool in the quest for success. As Bobby Jones suggested, losses, by their very nature, offer the most compelling evidence that modifications and improvements are warranted. In other words, a loss encourages the athlete to channel the disappointment into a positive progression of steps, thus instigating a more favorable outcome in the future. The fact is that in both life and sports, defeat is inevitable, and the skill to use the lessons learned in a loss to initiate the groundwork for future success is a winning

However, when we talk about youth sports, our main concern is with providing players with a positive, character building experience. Winning is not the only acceptable outcome for youth players, and coaches need to understand this principle. “With a winning philosophy young athletes may lose out on opportunities to develop their skills, to enjoy participation, and to grow socially and emotionally. Well informed coaches realize that success is not equivalent to winning games, and failure is not the same as losing.” (Enhancing Coach-Parent Relationships in Youth Sports, 15)

W. Douglas Baker emphasizes the importance of being a teacher have had on children but also the importance getting involved with them extents the abilities (Baker 38). Baker describes that the sport of basketball has the same virtues language arts (English) also has (Baker 38). Baker states, “The language, expectations, and time demands of coaching student-athletes contrasted with those elements of teaching literacy” (Baker 38). Any opportunity baker gets to emphasize language arts in the game of basketball she does it (Baker 39). She implies how also motivating student-athletes to push hard, not only in the game, but also in their studies helps them to get farther (Baker 39). Baker emphasizes that she does not only push the children but she

In Damon Burton’s article, “Winning Isn’t Everything: Examining the Impact of Performance Goals on Collegiate Swimmers’ Cognitions and Performance,” (1989) he assesses the effectiveness of a goal setting training (GST) program and the impact it has on collegiate swimmers’ perceived ability, performance, and competitive thoughts, such as anxiety and confidence. In this study, males and females on the varsity swim teams of a Big 10 university either participated in a 5-month long GST program or they did not participate in any program. The season-long training period was necessary to allow athletes the time to acclimate to the program, master goal setting skills, and develop a competitive success history (Burton 1989). In addition, the GST program trained both athletes and coaches in order to create an environment that fosters the development of specific, short-term, and individualized performance goals.

In the essay “Two losses, one game” I tell the story of my last basketball game and when I finally realized that that would be my last game. Throughout the game, I reflect on the past season and the seasons prior. Eventually, these memories prompt me to consider the influence of the sport on my life and how I learned to say goodbye to something that I once loved.

When the score is 46-32 during the last quarter of the championship basketball game, the losing team should never give up with six more minutes. The leader doesn’t just tell the team that there is no time to get back up and win this game because they have no faith in the recovery. Instead, the leader spreads the motivation through the whole team to feel determined to win that trophy. Nothing is ever impossible for hopes and dream that a hero has to strive for. Even when a difficult time comes to make hard decisions, they use the motivation when everyone is not on the same ‘team’ as them. They don’t need all those negative minds in their life, but when they do, they never let them affect their motivation and strong belief. Not every person like heroes need back up of people who can help them for the simple way out, like supporters but can find the true experience of being their own supporter in

Nothing was going well: the cool breeze caused us to “spray the ball” over the fence, the obnoxious football players frightened me with their persistent cry for help, the tennis balls’ freshness and pristine presence quickly vanished. As I glanced over, I saw a slender body, with speckles of gray bellowing at us, slowly trotting over with a blank expression. I was thinking, “Aw man, he’s gonna come over here and yell at us or tell us the same old “give me 110%” or “stay focused.’” A Northwestern graduate (wise beyond his years) , a basketball and tennis player (athletically gifted) , our coach’s words enchanted us with delight and captivated our attention. With a grin on his pale pink face and a sparkle in his glimmering eyes, he let out an optimistic sigh while saying, “You guys just gotta battle. I don’t care about the score anymore. Just gotta love the battle no matter what

On any given sunny day, when flowers were blooming, and grass was growing, there was a game of basketball being played. I sat on my auntie’s porch watching the older teenagers and sometimes adults fearlessly tackle the game as if they were playing for the world championship or at least the national title. The only title gained was bragging rights for the rest of the day. Despite the horrible language, the twisted ankles, and sometimes busted lips, the players continued to show up daily to compete. Although I was a tad bit scrawny for my age, I desperately and eagerly wanted to join the game. I knew then I wanted to learn the sport, and it wasn’t long before I began to do so. Eventually, basketball became a passion as well as therapy for me. Every day, I dreamed of being the next Maya Moore or Skylar Diggins. Although that dream never came to be, my love of the sport continues. There are many players who agree that basketball helped them just by being on the team. Others swear that they learned to make better decisions in their lives because they played the sport as youths. Some experts even suggest that

The main focus should be to learn how to play sports, how to listen to a coach and be part of a team." That in fact is very true. Sports are important, but one will not always have them in life. Being a loser isn’t necessarily a bad thing. One tends to learn from losing. In like manner, if you are given a trophy for everything you do, you will not learn how it feels to lose. Losing makes people want to improve on what they aren’t successful in. By the same token, this is a motivator in what they want to be fortunate in, and continue to strive in

Thesis: This paper argues that basketball is the most difficult sport, for a number of reasons that will be pointed out through the literature on the game, the coaches, and the players.