WINNING to the BACK of the BUS

By: Arnold Biondo, Supervisor
Wheaton Park District

Most people can easily name ways in which they are exposed to or involved in competition. TV sports, union elections, students vying for grades, that big business contract, Tuesday morning bowling league, and little league are just a few general examples.

Perhaps, a little harder task is to name benefits derived from these competitive events. Think for a minute and the answers will probably be money, fame, and trophies (depending on an individual's home decorating taste). These are obvious, but there is also sportsmanship, fun, friends, better education, physical fitness, skill development, relaxation and teamwork.

The point is that Americans are up to their ears in competition. In affects our everyday lives in some manner or another. And, the major derivitive of all this competition is that revered status of winner. Think of all the awards shows on television. An article appearing in 1976 in the Chicago Tribune, by Linda Winer, entitled "And the winner is ... nuts, who cares?" points out the increasing number of televised awards shows. More than 23 in 1975.

Regardless of the type of competition, the results are the same. There are those who won and those who lost. Unfortunately, there are more losers than winners. The winners are always happy, the losers, not always.

Winning is definitely a benefit of competition and for some is the sole reason for competing. There is a certain aura about winning. It feels good and no one can deny the winner of that feeling. But, what of the losers? There are competitors from first grade little league to professional sports who have been motivated by a "winning is everything" attitude. If or when they lose, they think they have nothing.

Since recreation programs include many types of competitive activities, the recreation professional must become aware of the benefits, effects, and ills of such programs. The professional must develop an awareness and sensitivity in regards to competition, especially the emphasis on winning. And, he must begin to explore and practice methods of deriving the full benefits of competitive programs, including alternates to "traditional" competitive programs.

In general, recreation agencies have certain purposes, goals and objectives for making their recreation programs healthful and worthwhile. Among these is to encourage participation. This means not only participation during school years, but active participation in sports throughout life.

For the activities to be worthwhile and successful the participants need to obtain a sense of achievement, success, enjoyment, and/or satisfaction. Every recreation department offers activities, especially to children, that ultimately determine winners. Examples are softball, swim team, wrestling, track, chess tournaments, kite flys, dog shows, flag football, floor hockey, and the list goes on. If programs are geared to reward only that minority that wins, the programmers may have failed to offer worthwhile recreation for the majority of participants.

The question arises, "Do purely competitive activities belong in recreation program offerings; are purely competitive activities recreational?" With little deliberation the verdict is probably "yes." Competitive sports and activities in themselves are not necessarily evil, but the push to win-the 'winning is the only thing' attitude that comes out of them, can be.

The vast number of recognizable ills spawned through competitive programs, especially youth football, little league baseball and other organized sports, can be summarized in a few general categories. Of these, there is parental and peer pressure, mental, physical, and emotional harm, and probably the worst effect, elimination-being cut or quitting. The desire and push to win takes precedence over other qualities of sports, including fun. Some illustrations of actual occurences help to exemplify this.

"Taking the Fun Out of a Game" (John Underwood, Sports Illustrated. Nov. 17, 1975) revealed some shocking stories of organized youth football. "Within what has been described as this 'rat's nest' of psychological honors; it is not unusual for a child to have his parent and/or coach falsify his birth certificate to get him in a favored division . . . or to submit to starvation diets to make weight."¹ The article quotes pro Larry Csonka, "Take a kid and put him under the pressure of a big championship game before his parents and his entire world and it can be very bad for him . . . Parents don't stop to consider all the things that can go wrong for a young fellow pushed into that kind of pressure. For one thing, he can come home with a handful of teeth. Worse, he can come home soured on athletics for life."²

Terry Orlick and Cal Botterill in their book EVERY KID CAN WIN (Nelson-Hall, 1975) describe probably the saddest effect of competitive sports, elimination,

Illiiiois Parks and Recreation 4 September/October. 1977

as intentional or unintentional. "Whether elimination is intentional or unintentional, it has similar side effects. Kids come to feel unworthy, unwanted, and unacceptable. It is absurd that on the one hand we feel that sports are good for kids, and on the other hand we set up a system which eliminates poorer performers, girls, late maturing boys . . . and so on."³

The alert recreation supervisor will be aware of the symptoms of "winning-itis" in his or her activities. Here is a partial list to use when administering a program check-up.

1. Award-mania. Ever heard a kid ask when the trophies would be handed out, or how big it/ they would be? If not, listen more carefully.

2. Excessive arguing and fighting. When it gets down to the wire, watch the recreation softball league turn into a blood game, for adults as well as kids. Fair play gives way to cheating. A close play will make the ump a liar in one team's eye.

3. Crying. How many kids are crying because they didn't make the playoffs, or because they lost the championship checkers game on the playground.

4. Open disgust. Disgust with the individual's team mate or his or her self. Signs: throwing mitts, stalking off the court, slamming a ball to the ground, verbal denunciation of team mates on the field.

5. Parental disgust and scolding. Nothing like making an error at second, only to have mom yell from the stands "You dumb jerk! Throw the bum out!"

6. Quitting. The worst. Notice how attendance on the cellar teams gradually declines when it's evident that their team is out of the running for the championship.

When a program is riddled with the above maladies, it is time to evaluate the basic purpose of it and the reason for running it. If the three kids who take home trophies are achievers, are the others non-achievers? Where is the fun in crying, being blasted by mom or your teammates, or arguing about a good close play? How do these symptoms develop? The cause can be traced to the emphasis being placed on winning. "We gotta win!"

Recreation professionals are in a good position to introduce changes in attitudes, and, if they are serious about the purposes of recreation — participation, achievement, success, enjoyment, satisfaction: then they must make the effort to explore new methods and approaches to competitive programs.

To head towards these changes, programmers may have to slap themselves in the face and take a close look at how they set up programs. Programming for winners is the easy way out, mostly because that is the way it has traditionally been done, not to imply that anyone who has ever planned a tournament is lazy.

Take this conversation, for example: about a proposed special event of Saturday afternoon kids bowling. Programmer: "We will be taking a trip to the bowling alley where each kid will be able to bowl three games, shoes free . . ." Citizen: "Oh, I see, you will have a tournament and give awards for highest game, highest total, etc." Programmer: "No, why?" The assumption was that to run a special event such as this, and for it to be fun, winners had to be determined and awarded prizes. This should not be necessary.

Kids should be presented with the idea and attitude that they don't have to win to win. It sounds like double talk, but it's really not. The person who learns sportsmanship, teamwork and skills, makes friends, has fun, becomes physically fit and gets relaxation and who can appreciate and realize it, will derive more from the activity than the one who can lay claim to first place, without being aware of the other benefits.

These values of competition have too long been regarded as secondary, with winning as the primary value. Although in big time college, professional, and even high school sports this may not occur, recreation programs should reverse their role by putting winning in the back seat and emphasizing the "secondary" values. Through good teamwork, better skills, good physical conditioning, fun, and hard work, winning will come along. And if it doesn't there is no need for tears or disgust. Winning is a fleeting moment that quickly becomes a memory.

There are many ways in which to de-emphasize winning, tone down competition and promote participation. Following are some ideas which were used in a summer kids' softball league.

1. Begin with set objectives. For the softball league they were a) improve the child's skill and knowledge of softball, b) promote good sportsmanship (an objective not a by-product) c) develop a sense of teamwork (again an objective), d) provide an enjoyable softball experience.

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Illinois Parks and Recreation 6 Septtmber/October, 1977

2. Coaches and leaders are instructed in the department's objectives, and should conduct the program with these in mind and not pushing for the win.

3. Every kid who shows up plays at least half the game.

4. Coaches or leaders should not hesitate to interrupt a game to offer instructions or explanations to a player of either team.

5. Teams are to offer mutual post-game congratulations.

6. Eliminate forfeits. Borrow players from the other team.

7. Eliminate whitewashings with a five run inning rule. Inning ends after three outs or after five runs score (younger kids softball) and, have a running batting order where each kid is up to bat whether or not she/he has played the field.

8. Offer practice as well as games.

9. Eliminate All-Star games that involve only the elite players.

10. Eliminate trophies or other awards if feasible, or lower the value of an award and see that each participant receives one.

11. Eliminate tournament play-offs which are solely for the purpose of declaring a winner. If used, see that each team enters regardless of its season record. Also, don't advertise standings.

12. Include a statement of objectives in the program brochure. While a leader may be preaching advantages of playing, parents may be screaming for victory and scolding for losses.

13. Rotate the players through different playing positions to insure that they get the opportunity to appreciate and try all skills.

14. Keep score on something other than baskets made or goals scored. Try counting the number of times one child helps another, or the number of smiles you see.

A couple of other problems to be wary of: Coaches may get carried away and forget the department objectives. Referring to the softball league, some coaches went as far as yelling at and reprimanding kids for an error or hitting into an out.

The other problems arose with a coach calling daily practice, above the time alloted for the park district program, in the evenings. The coach, in effect, was telling the kids that they had to practice more to win, making winning the major objective.

The biggest problem that the recreation person will encounter may be the parents. Everybody's kid is a superstar, or should be. Everybody's kid is the quarterback, pitcher, or star of the team. An exaggeration, true, but the flack will come from those parents who demand that Johnny or Betty come home with a trophy. Those who agree with a participation above winning philosophy will probably be quietly satisfied. All that can be done to answer criticism to this approach is to clearly state the objectives of the competitive programs. And, be prepared to back up the objectives with the various values and benefits which they will foster.

In the long run, de-emphasizing winning in the department's competitive programs will increase the department's realization of its basic purpose of offering healthful and worthwhile programs. As noted, emphasis on winning leads to elimination, which defeats the purpose of encouraging participation. The U.S. has a notably large population of "arm chair quarterbacks" who's involvement in sports and athletics is confined to a spectating role. Could past emphasis on winning be the reason?

Because the nature of competitive sports and games is to determine a winner, those who play and participate to win can be satisfied. But, those who otherwise might be "losers"or nonparticipators can derive numerous benefits that competitive activities can offer.

Recreation professionals need to be aware of the ills that accompany programs that are designed to pick winners from a crowd. The recreation services are paid for by the constituents as a whole, and desired by the whole. Programs, therefore, should be geared to satisfy the whole and not the minority that excels.

The evolution to a participatory way of thinking in competitive programs will probably be slow. "It has taken considerable time and effort to produce kids who feel winning is everything and it will correspondingly require time and effort to convince these same kids that winning isn't everything."⁴ Recreation programmers, kids and parents are used to the tourney approach to a variety of programs. It is up to the recreation professional, then, to make an effort to install and create alternative methods to the traditional approach.

Illinois Parks and Recreation 29 Stptember/October, 1977