The competitive spirit of our youth.

We have a very unique outlook here in the United States concerning how we approach youth sports.  When we have a youth program we are more concerned with our children's feelings than with enhancing their competitive spirit.  We teach our children that everyone is a winner and of course everyone gets a trophy.  We don't tell them, to kick butt and WIN we tell them to do "Just do your best".  There are several good reasons for this, because it enhances the child's self image and sense of belonging.  No one's gets their feelings stepped on and everyone is a winner.  It enhances pride in Team and the whole working with others thing that is so important later in life.

But does the "There are no losers, only winners" attitude help or hurt our nation's competitive spirit.  Do we lose sight of the fact that it's a tough world when schools out and there really are winners and losers.  Both in athletics and in virtually every other aspect of our lives it takes every thing we have not to fail.  We have a reality now where we are not as competitive with the rest of the world as we once were, not just in athletics but in business, education and economic advancement.

Maybe it's time we told our children again 'To Win"!  Instead of "just do your best".

Comments welcome.

Thanks for Reading.