Where Are We Going in Sports And Life?

Where Are We Going in Sports And Life?

Dr. Malcolm Conway

www.ConwayClinic.com

In the light of $2600.00 seats at the new Yankee stadium it looks like sports in general is much like the economy….going down the tubes.

In an HBO special with Bryant Gumble, the show highlighted the “New Physical Education” being taught in our schools.  They are proposing or have enacted changes in physical education that caters to everyone emotions.  It’s not about ‘no child left behind’ it’s now about no child’s feelings left behind!

There is a move on to eliminate the century old game of Dodge ball.  The man wants it eliminated from school because it can hurt young children's feelings when they get eliminated from the game too early. They have gone as far as to eliminate playing ‘tag’ in the school yards.  They feel that there are too many bumps and bruises caused by such a rough game.  I personally thought that was part of being a youngster. 

They have instead initiated “shadow tag”…where the kids have to step on each other shadows for them to be ‘it’.  This way they can’t get offended if a faster kid catches up with them to tag them. The genius head principle of this particular school took it one step further and will not allow any touching at all in the school.  That means no pat on the backs, no hugs, no high five’s!  The kids have to do “air high five’s” which means that they can go through the motion but can make contact.  They can wrap their arms around each other as long as they don’t make any contact.

What the hell is going on with our society? 

Have we all gone nuts….has political correctness taken over the minds of educated individuals?

I doubt very much that if we reviewed the studies that most serial killers where the ones who were put out of dodge ball first.  I doubt that most mass murders were tagged too hard and therefore developed a lifelong obsession to seek revenge.

I can’t even imagine what the Olympics will be like when the bulk of these kids grow up in the future.  I can see it now, the start of the 400 meter run.  We can’t shoot the gun because that may upset one of the runners (well I guess I’m too late for that one – they don’t shoot a gun anymore).

We’ll have to start each runner individually because starting all at once may be too stressful and may promote low self esteem.   I can see that there will be no finish line… “Just stop when you get tired…we don’t want you to get too stressed out about the finish.”

Hey folks, let’s get real here.  Feelings whether good or bad are a natural part of life.  If your “feelings get hurt” it’s more your problem than anyone else because you’re the only one that can allow those feelings to get hurt in the first place.

Sports promote competition amongst others and amongst yourself.  Many individual sports such as golf, swimming, and running are just a few that  allow you to push yourself to areas that are needed for you to grow as an individual.

If sports are so bad in developing self esteem than why don’t the same educators drop all grading systems in school?  If Johnny gets and A and Mary gets a C what happens to her self esteem?  Well then if this happens in sports then it can as easily happen in educations, music, art and everything else in life.

Then what do we have then…. “ladies and gentlemen the Boston Pops now will play Mary Had A Little Lamb….we tried to play Beethoven but it was too stressful for our musicians.”

So where are we going in sports?  Sports are about physical accomplishment, sweat, hard laborious work, time away from your family, injury, commitment and competition. 

Competition against yourself, competition against another athlete, competition against another team and competition against another country…it’s how humans measure themselves against one another.  And with competition comes winners and losers. 

Competition drives our society.  Competition actually drives our economy…the more hard work and success the more money will follow.  That is why that everyone on the planet can’t become a medical doctor, lawyer, physicist because it takes effort, sweat, laborious work, time away from your family, commitment and yes, shall I say, competition.

We compete for money…the more value that you add to yourself and others around you then you are rewarded with more money.  Telling everyone that they are special, that they are equal, that they are entitled to have everything without producing a viable exchangeable product for that work is criminal.

I believe in one very strong principle… “It’s not what happens to you – it’s what you do about it that makes a difference.” Sports is a reflection of life and it is the outlet for many Americans to view the ultimate in human competition. Competition doesn't promote a feeling a poor self esteem. It produces a feeling of production which normally spills over in life. A person who has developed a strong work ethic can take that "feeling" to help his family, neighbors and community better experience a better life.

The more we get away from nature the more complicated our lives become. Nature in its purest form can be harsh at times but it continues to thrive decade after decade. Nature is competition. Trees grow or die, animals in the wild eat or get eaten all of nature competes for survival day in and day out. When left alone, it seems to take care of itself.

Balance is the nucleus to life...Moderation initiates balance…and Common Sense is the engine that drives it all.