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happiness is devastating. "Uptight
children are being raised by uptight
parents who evcn direct the chil–
dren's recreational activities into up–
tight games," complains Norman
Whitney. Because such stressful ac–
tivity inevitably leads to high blood
pressure, adds Whitney, it 's almost
a ce rt a inty th a t thes e ove r –
programmed youngs ters will de–
velop clogged arteries later in life.
Classroom Competltlon
Stressful competition in the class–
room, a counterpart of upt ight
games, is ruining the health of
countless students.
"1
get kids in
third and fourth grades with ulcers,
colitis, and psychosomatic illnesses
of other kinds," states Dr. R.A.
McGuigan, former medica! director
of the Evanston, Illinois, public
schools for 25 years. "One youngster
of seven, a second grader, had ul–
cers." His comments were occa–
sioned by the drug suicide of a 14-
year-old boy, seemingly despondent
over his poor academic progress.
"The t r emendous emph asis
placed on winning is a significant
characteristic of American culture
today," says psychiatrist Dr. Loui s
Joslyn Wes t. "Schools , clubs,
YMCAs, business concerns-all are
obsessed with producing or sponsor–
ing winning teams. An inordina te
emphasis on championships can
easily lead to the neglect of the av–
erage perfo rmer whose life and
health could nevertheless be grea tly
enriched by regular participation in
sports.' '
Obsesslon Wlth Wlnnlng
Commenting on Dr. West's sta te–
ments, author Jack Griffin writes:
"There
is
no evil, of course, in win–
ning. There is great value in com–
petition, if the values are properly
scaled. . . . In demanding only vic–
tory, we are unable to live with de–
feat, and it can be crushing.
It
can
also leave a long and terrible
scar.... In our obsession with vic–
tory, we do strange things to our–
selves and our sports heroes. In our
adulation, we raise them to heights
above normal men. Then we turn
on them savagely when we discover
that they are as mortal as we a re
and made of the same clay."
The evidence of our savagery is
26
played out da ily on sports fi elds
a round the wo rld. We cheer the a th–
lete raucously one moment fo r his
fabulous feats, then we boo him
mercilessly the next when he fa lters.
How capriciously loyal foll owers
substitute goat ho rns for the ha lo.
The staunchest of egos is bound to
c r a ck unde r s uch Jeky ll-Hy d e
abuse.
Violence a t the ball park is no t
confined to the playing field. When
fans turn ugly, verbal abuse is sorne–
times supplemented with objects
hurled from the stands. Frequently,
warfare breaks out among hyped-up
rooters at crucia l contests, with the
fighting spilling out into the streets.
Bottle-throwing, beatings, stab–
bings, shootings, even homicides,
have resulted from fan-incited rio ts.
l f winning fever continues to rage
unchecked through amateur and
professiona l sports, many a renas
may become like the ancient Ro–
man Co losseum- bloody monu–
ments to senseless contests. At best,
these travesties of competition a re
Pyrrhic victories. Is winning worth
it?
Wlnning- the Only Thing?
How can sports deepen cha racte r
growth and moral developme nt
when winning becomes, in th e
words of the late American foo tba ll
coach Vince Lombardi , " no t the
most impo rtant thing, but the only
thing"? Can you imagine one of our
superstars kneeling in the locker
room before a game and intoning
Berton Brayley ' s " P raye r of a
Sportsman"? " If l should lose, Jet
me stand by the road and cheer as
the winne rs go by !"
The win-at-all-costs philosophy
perpetuates a sys tem of vio lent , un–
sportsmanlike competition. How
much healthier is the value system
of one of the winningest college
football coaches in the U.S. today:
"1
tell my players that winning is
no t the most impo rtant thing," says
Penn Sta te's Joe Pa terno. " Being
ready fo r the challenge of com–
petition and giving it your bes t shot
is what it's all abou
t."
To counter the win-at-all-cos ts a t–
titude, perha ps we s hould stress the
value of "cooperative" games fo r
youth. T erry Orlick and Ca l Bot–
terill have written a book,
Every Kid
Can Win,
which urges just tha t. Af–
te r critically examining the prob–
lems of kids' sports, they conclude
that " the intrusion of misplaced va l–
ues has crea ted the mess." Give
sports back to the kjds, they urge.
Sports a re no t wo rthy of the wor–
ship often bestowed on them. Le t's
no t forget tha t they were deviscd by
mere mo rta ls like ourselves. "Th e
only thing sacred about th em. "
claims Orlick, "is that they have
been around a long time. Their o rig–
inato rs proba bly neve r tho ught
about behavoria l objectives." While
socialization has long been one of
the sta ted a ims of sports and recrea–
tion programs, little has been done,
he says, to structure activity envi–
ronments lo accomplish this. While
purs uin g r esearc h , Orli c k in–
troduced kids to " coo pe ra ti ve"
games and no ticed "a dra ma tic
change in coopera tive socia l inte r–
action."
P. G. Zimbardo, in his a rticle
"The Social Disease of Shyness,"
states tha t social isolation is a per–
vasive problem in North America.
Such isola tion derives from cultura l
no rms which overemphasize com–
petition, individual success. and per–
sonal responsibility for fa ilure. The
most elfective therapy, he suggests.
may be to understand and change
our cultura l va lues.
Cooperatlon vs. Competition
Coopera tion is critica! for the sur–
viva! o f o ur s pecies. As socie ty
grows inc reas ingly compl ex a nd
competitive, cooperating with o thers
and de riving rejuvenating fun from
our pastimes will become mo re im–
po rtan!. Ga mes and spo rts a re the
means we must use then.
"Whe re else can a child become
so imme rsed in something so joyous
and yet Jearn something so valuable
about himself and others?" asks Or–
lick. " Oppo rtunities for coopera tive
social inte raction, self-accepta nce,
and sheer fun must be nurtured
rather than destroyed in the games
children play. Those of us con–
cerned with overall quality of life,
and more specifically with chi ldren 's
mental hea lth, must wo rk togethe r
so that confident, coopera tive, care–
free, jubilant children do no t be–
come an endangered species."
(Continued on page 33)
The
PLAIN TRUTH October-November 1977