Accepting Defeat and Rising Above it
By: K. Smith
Harsh Reality
Sports teaches us a lot of things, which can range from life skills, leadership skills, communication skills, but most of all accepting defeat and rising above it. Accepting defeat may look different to everyone. Although, that does not necessarily matter as much as what it teaches us. Being in sports is not all sunshine and rainbows. There are hardships that also come with it.
Defeat can hurt confidence, and sometimes even make us question our abilities. The most important thing is the way you go about it when defeat makes a presence. Defeat is tough and inevitable. You can also learn so much from it. There are ways to lose like a winner.
How to Accept Defeat
As much as losing hurts, being gracious when you lose shows what kind of person you are. Being gracious in defeat requires real strength of character and concerted practice. This can portray in a way such as congratulating your opponent and walking away with your head held high. Another one is remembering setbacks are not permanent. You can not let a loss get the best of you. It is only temporary. There is always a bigger picture which in this case is taking it as a way of learning from your mistakes and seeing things in a different perspective. People set high expectations and goals for themselves, if you focus on those the minor obstacles matter much less.
Apart from defeat, it is imperative to separate yourself from it. It is easier said than done, but most of the time people tend to identify who they are correlated with how they play. You are a person first before an athlete. If you become too wrapped up in defeat, you lose focus of other things, and you can even turn into a person you are not. it is such a valuable skill turning a negative experience like a defeat into something positive.
Sports are much more than wins and losses
Another perspective of the way defeat controls athletes is due to the high pressure win and not to lose. This comes from the people surrounding them. The feeling of potentially disappointing others, such as coaches, parents, trainers, etc. is a lot to deal with sometimes. It takes control and has so many negative feelings attached.
In order to accept defeat, you need to address the fear of losing by helping athletes understand that support and cheer will be given to athletes regardless of the final result. This helps athletes alleviate the emotional and mental burden to feeling the immense amount of pressure to win, which then leads not having to internalize expectations from others.
In conclusion, sports have positive and negative benefits attached to it. It is all up to you the way you handle them. Accepting defeat is hard, but the benefits that come with it will make you stronger, appreciate the little things, and help mend you into a better athlete and person. Not saying it is easy, and more than likely will be a slow and long process, but I can promise it is worth it. Rising above the things that try to set you back has an indescribable feeling, in this case it is defeat.
http://sportsmentaledge.com/general/accepting-defeat-order-win/
https://www.successstartswithin.com/blog/how-to-deal-with-the-agony-of-defeat