is winning important in sports?

Sports were activities engaged by The Chinese and Egyptians from as early as 4000BC. From then to now, there had been great changes to it. One very obvious transformation is the commercialization of sports and ever since, winning had become a very important factor.

Everywhere, people had long fused winning and sports together, from a casual game in school to a famous global sporting event. The ‘want to win’ mindset had begun ever since sports were created. In schools, even though there is no trophies or other rewards for winning, students engaging in sports will naturally have their mind set on victory. On the global stage, winning and losing could determine one’s future. It is just that important.

We see reports of winning in competitions in the Sports Section of our newspapers almost every day. However, is winning really that important? I personally feel that winning is important in sports, most often in competitions. However, apart from that, winning is just not necessary!

Winning is important as it brings with it plenty of advantages. One of which is that one is able to gain world recognition and become famous. He or she is also able to build up his or her sporting reputation. With fame, one will attract the attention of media, sponsors and most importantly, sport teams. Famous teams will begin offering and persuading him or her to join them and one very simple method is to provide attractive remuneration or other incentives. In other words, the now famous athlete will begin to live a wealthy life. He or she will also be approached by sports companies such as Nike or Adidas, to appear in their advertisement to boost sales. This will provide a secondary source of income.

One athlete who had gained from such advantage is Lewis Hamilton; a rookie driver who started his Formula 1 career in 2007 and had since already won 5 grand prix. With this incredible result, he became well known and had media buzzing around him. He has also attracted the attention of various sponsors.

Money is the other rational advantage. With the commercialization of sports, the prize money for competitions had increased tremendously. Therefore the income of the athletes will be greatly increased. Take Tiger Woods as an example. For every event he wins, he takes home at least US$100m, and according to the Straits Times report, a financial analyst forecast that ‘Woods will be sport’s second billionaire before 2010’.

However, winning is not only about the prize. Apart from all the monetary benefits, winning can be used as a target. With the target in place, the athlete can work towards it by improving his or her skills and putting in his or her best efforts. Winning can also be used as a motivation or encouragement to continue to participate in the sport and also to increase the enjoyment the sports brings. For tournaments such as soccer, it is even more crucial to clinch the final overall win especially if one is very close to success. Otherwise all efforts, hard work and time spent on organization and preparation will go to waste and will pose as a discouragement. Hence, winning competitions is important.

However, there are times when it is not important to win, especially those playing sports for personal recreation or to improve their health. Most people regard sports as a form of exercise. There are others who love a particular sport and play it with passion and have no winning objective in mind. These people engage in sports simply to have fun. Thus, for the above scenarios, winning is just not necessary and neither is it important.

At times, being over-competitive and over-obsessed with winning can also spark off angers and arguments, thus threatening friendships. This contradicts the fact that sports is for leisure and fun.

I feel that people have to be wary of the different situations – at times, they have to strive for the win while other time, they just have to take a breather.

justin