Winners and Losers

I haven't had much time for blogging (or even training) this past two weeks. I've been busy at work and haven't managed to keep the big training going simultaneously.

Last Saturday I took Scott to the state chess tournament for elementary students. When he was about 3, he insisted I teach him to play. I'm not actually a good player, and in fact don't know all the rules, but I taught him the basic moves and was quite surprised when he picked it right up. We have played occasionally since then, and when he started at Alta View this year, he joined a chess club that plays at lunch a couple times a week.

When he came home and announced he wanted to sign up for this tournament, Kim insisted he pay half the entry. He payed his money, and last Friday night I was up late, surfing the web to find out what he had signed up for.

We arrived at the 'U' at about 7:45 AM. They had literally hundreds of chess boards lined up, side by side, on long rows of tables. Every board already had the pieces set up. It was an impressive operation. Each student (and I think there was about 1000 of them) plays 6 matches, each game's opponent chosen based on results earlier in the day. The rounds started in about 75 minute intervals.

As I watched the kids compete (and most were quite gracious in winning or loosing), I thought about a phrase my granddad once used to describe somebody -- "life's losers". It was harsh, but was in fact accurate of the people we were discussing. Sometime early in life we start competing. Humans have this interesting natural duality -- a need for sociality and cooperation, coupled with a deep desire to compete with each other. Here were some 50 first graders, all volunteering to get labeled -- "loser" or "winner". The tough thing about chess, mountain bike racing, running, etc. is that the label is individual and objective. There really isn't any room to say, "well, I didn't really loose". There isn't any team to diffuse off some of the disappointment on, and there isn't any judge to blame for a subjective ruling.

This evaluation can be tough, probably even damaging, so since perhaps the introduction of Sesame Street, it has become increasingly popular to encourage kids to not think in terms of competition -- everyone is a winner by encouraging 'group participation'. It has been noted that Gen Y-Z kids think less in these terms than Gen X or baby-boomers. In endurance sport, I think this is part of the popularity of marathon and ultra races. A few people race to win, but everyone else is accomplishment in finishing, without the pressure of trying to win. Basically anyone can run a 5k if they don't care about speed. Not everyone can ride an Endurance 100.

While I certainly recognize the desire to win can be taken too far, a problem with avoiding competition is that the best performances are almost always accomplished by extremely competitive people. Lance didn't weigh his food every day just to finish. When I'm riding at the front, most of the time I'm not thinking, "ah, nice day to be out on the bike." Instead I'm thinking, "Uh-oh, there's Brad 5 seconds behind, better push harder." Almost no one time-trials as fast in training as they do in competition. They try, but they just don't.

A second problem with competition avoidance is that it is impossible unless one is willing to accept major compromises in life. Human nature drives competition. An obvious example is in business, where some people will be competing. Accept the challenge, or accept relegation. Some people think academia should be different, but no professor would seriously claim this. Have an opinion on how government and society should run and changes that need to be made? Politics is how we get these things done, and politics is a combination of individual and team competition.

So somehow I want to teach my kids to compete, but use competition as a challenge to strive. Learn from a loss, and enjoy victories, respecting and appreciating competitors because they provide the opportunity and motivation for the performance.

After the tournament I stopped in at work for about an hour, and then home to put the kids to bed. Kim was tired from doing a triathlon, so she went to bed early. By 10 PM, I was still up and hadn't ridden, so I decided to do the obvious thing -- light up and go mountain biking. I got a nice 90 minute ride in. I don't like interval training in the dark, but just going out for a ride is very enjoyable.