Think of a sports movie that you have watched recently. Most sports movies share a similar narrative. There is a dominant athlete or team that is discussed early in the movie that seems unbeatable. There is also a ragtag group of average Joes that aspire to defeat the dominant athletes. Shortly following a two to three minute training montage, the underdogs gain enough traction to overcome all odds and upset the dominant athletes. Lastly, the formerly dominant athletes can often be seen slinking off in defeat never to be heard from again.
Movies tend to reflect popular culture, beliefs, and values, so what sort of message is this stereotypical sports movie conveying? It is sending the message that all that matters is winning and losing. In the movies, the dominant athletes often start out being the center of attention. They are the ones that every other athlete or media source focuses on, but after a single loss, they are completely irrelevant. While it does often make for a better movie, in the real world, wins and losses should be much less important and should receive even less attention. What is important, and what should be the center of your focus, is constantly improving and developing your craft.
Tennis legend, Rafael Nadal, had this to say about winning and losing, “The glory is being happy. The glory is not winning here or winning there. The glory is enjoying practicing, enjoy every day, enjoying to work hard, trying to be a better player than before.” You started playing tennis for a reason. Likely, you enjoyed the craft of playing tennis so much that you wanted to dedicate time and effort to developing that skill. It is only after a period of time that you began to develop the mentality of a fan and only focus on wins, losses, records, and rankings.
This mentality leads to the assumption that all wins are good and all losses are bad. However, it is possible that you win with a poor performance, and lose with a great performance. Maybe you won, but your serves were off, you had trouble with your backhand, and every time that your opponent ran to the net, you lost the volley. These shortcomings showed serious areas for improvement, but if you operate under the assumption that winning is the only aspect of your game that matters, you will likely never address these issues. Moreover, you will likely never learn from the things you did well in any of your losses. Tennis has to be viewed as a craft, and whether you win or lose is far less important than the fact that you had the opportunity to learn. All you are doing is developing your craft!
Movies tend to reflect popular culture, beliefs, and values, so what sort of message is this stereotypical sports movie conveying? It is sending the message that all that matters is winning and losing. In the movies, the dominant athletes often start out being the center of attention. They are the ones that every other athlete or media source focuses on, but after a single loss, they are completely irrelevant. While it does often make for a better movie, in the real world, wins and losses should be much less important and should receive even less attention. What is important, and what should be the center of your focus, is constantly improving and developing your craft.
Tennis legend, Rafael Nadal, had this to say about winning and losing, “The glory is being happy. The glory is not winning here or winning there. The glory is enjoying practicing, enjoy every day, enjoying to work hard, trying to be a better player than before.” You started playing tennis for a reason. Likely, you enjoyed the craft of playing tennis so much that you wanted to dedicate time and effort to developing that skill. It is only after a period of time that you began to develop the mentality of a fan and only focus on wins, losses, records, and rankings.
This mentality leads to the assumption that all wins are good and all losses are bad. However, it is possible that you win with a poor performance, and lose with a great performance. Maybe you won, but your serves were off, you had trouble with your backhand, and every time that your opponent ran to the net, you lost the volley. These shortcomings showed serious areas for improvement, but if you operate under the assumption that winning is the only aspect of your game that matters, you will likely never address these issues. Moreover, you will likely never learn from the things you did well in any of your losses. Tennis has to be viewed as a craft, and whether you win or lose is far less important than the fact that you had the opportunity to learn. All you are doing is developing your craft!