Life Lessons from sports 4 - respect for opponents
Things can really go wild in the heat of competition. 
Recently one 14yr old rugby player in our country was banned for 2 yrs from inter school competition for biting another player. And Mr. Tyson is well known for his taste for human ears. Almost all sports favor the aggressor. Most games e.g. squash, that favor defensive play at the top level tend to become boring and lose popularity fast. In fact in contact sports, not being the aggressor increases the chance of injury. When i have to tackle a big guy n the rugby field I must think "Im going to drive that guy into the ground" rather than "I'll hang on to his leg and i hope he falls." The 2nd mindset will get me hurt because i will enter contact half heartedly and probably in a poor posture.
However there is a need, in all competitive areas to acknowledge and respect the opponents. Shouting and using every means at your disposal (within the rules) to distract opponents is fine. but talking bad about their religion, race, gender or family is not. The guidelines of decency to other humans comes into play. And of course theres that "would you like it if XYZ happened to you?"
Another reason to respect opponents is because they are far more similar to us that we think. We may be adversaries on the field of on the court, but the fact that we are even playing agianst each other means that we enjoy the same activity and have the same live of competition (and i would assume... winning)
Finally I know i must respect the opponents because without them, there is no game, no competition and sports loses almost all its meaning! Shooting baskets alone is far less thrilling than being in a close game (reagrdless if we win or lose!)
posted by Coach Jonathan Wong @ 4/12/2006 02:06:00 PM
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