15 Reason Competitive Sports Are Great For Kids

“To compete or not to compete? That really is a question when it comes to youth sports.

Why should kids compete? Is competition good for them? Is it necessary to get them prepared for their grown-up lives?

I don’t think that competition is either good or bad. It just is. Rather it is how we think about it and cope with it makes it good or bad. How much we stress the importance of competition that gives it a larger space in our lives than it deserves. And, when we place winning as the most important objective of youth sports, then competition is toxic.

I also don’t ascribe to the belief that competition sets kids up to experience the “real world.” It’s been my experience that competition is not as prevalent in the “real” world as people deem it to be. Success is not a zero-sum game. There is plenty of room for more than one person, product or company to be considered successful and the truth is the “best” is often more subjective than objective. Besides, the most useful kind of competition that I’ve experienced in my life is the competition I have within myself to be the best version of myself that I can be. No one else needs to keep score for me to measure my progress.

All of that said, I whole-heartedly believe that there is a place for competition in the lives of kids, one that can teach them tremendous life lessons.”

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