One of the biggest things as a coach that I am frustrated with is people who cannot see how winning against your opponents is not necessarily the right thing to think about.
Too many times basic skills and physical preparation training is forgotten at a young age to seek out success on a school or club sporting podium. Honestly, in 20 years does anyone really care or remember how good someone was at school?
So, it is our job as coaches and professionals in sport, education and health/medical industries to help parents and athletes see the long-term as the goal. Which brings me to the title of the article, winning versus improving. At a young age I consider it more important to see athletes improving in themselves, rather than winning. Of course, as red blooded athletes, we want to win and we strive to do so, but if you get beaten by someone who is just better, but you improved your own performance in any capacity then you only lost a small part of the real title. The real title is consistently driving yourself to better yourself every time you train and compete.
If you are a parent and your child is being coached by someone who constantly talks about who your child beats or gets beaten by, and spends not enough time on the specific components of what success in your sport is made of, and training consists of all hard work and no thinking, feedback or focus on improving the small components that make such a difference in the short AND long term, then you need to consider whether your child is being taught the value of working hard to achieve self-improvement.
Especially through the teenage years, it is demonstrated across so many studies that the variability of maturation physically and mentally across boys and girls is so big, that comparing age groups can be very difficult, especially if your child is a late-maturer.
Focus on long-term and sustainable performance improvements and your child will grow to love the sport, rather than spending too much time thinking about what the other competitors are doing, which they both cannot control and will never gain any satisfaction from.
For a science-based and long-term approach to athletic development and coaching, call us at Vector Health. We give a S*&t about your child maturing into an adult with a focus on consistently improving in more than just who they win against. We also have a track record at helping athletes improve in the short and long-term.