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W is for Winning
By Aimee C. Kimball, PhD, CC-AASP
People often belong to two camps—1) Winning is the source of all things good or 2) Winning is the source of all things evil. Frankly, when it comes to sport, either can be true but the reality is winning is as important as you make it—which is neither good nor bad. This article discusses the concept of winning, from the good, to the bad, to the ugly.
Love to Win
Personally, I love to win, and I’m not ashamed to admit it. One problem I see with the current generation of athletes is they are often too reserved. They won’t admit how much they want to win and how confident they are in their ability to win. I love confident swimmers who come into my office with some well-deserved swagger and talk about winning like it’s a given rather than something in question. Coaches sometimes get criticized for telling swimmers to go out and win it or for pushing them to out- swim everyone else. Somewhere along the lines people decided focusing on winning was a bad thing. I disagree. Focusing on winning is perfectly fine. The problem really occurs when the ONLY focus is on winning. Overall, the athlete who enjoys winning and sets it as one of his/her goals is doing something all athletes should—competing to be the best, which gives them a much better chance of achieving their best.
It’s Not All About Winning
Success isn’t defined by how often you win. Winning is simply one way to assess your abilities. To me, athletes are successful if they do everything they can (physically, mentally, nutritionally, etc...) in pursuit of being their best.
No matter how much you want to win, train to win, and deserve to win, it doesn’t always happen. There will be times when someone is better. There will be times when you’re not at your best. That doesn’t mean you’re a failure. It just means you didn’t win that race. No biggie, you will live to swim another day. Ultimately, you don’t control whether you win or lose. All you control is doing everything you can to put yourself in the best position to swim well.
Remember, winning is a by-product of your hard work. Winning is a reward rather than necessity.
