Well, I think that competition does promote growth. When you are into a sport like bowling, and maybe you are just bowling in an alley all by yourself. But on your left, you see a boy, just like you, but he seems to be doing quite well! Scoring a couple of strikes and nines, and seems to be all proud about it, glancing at your score from time to time. Well, this is when competition seeps in. Being a normal human instinct not to 'lose' out, you try to defeat him to wipe that smile off his face, and this is why I feel that competition is inevitable. Competition comes in two forms, a healthy and unhealthy one. Healthy competition just means that you try- to the best of your ability- to win. And even if you fail, you just shrug and shake your opponents hand, wanting to do harder next time.

But UNHEALTHY competition, would be when you get very frustrated when you are unable to defeat your rivals, you keep trying, trying and trying. And frustrated you shall become, when you are unable to win. That is why I feel that competition is inevitable, but UNNECESSARY for sports. Let me elaborate.

Sports is an activity that you shall enjoy. Be it soccer, baseball, tennis, you choose the sport you like and feel good playing it. But competition is unnecessary as humans would be greedy for medals and awards. Are accolades a measure of your capability in the sport? Unfortunately, many athletes subscribe to this thinking and try to win more and more titles in competitions, and if they fail they result to doping, and if they dope, they ruin their life, and become a person with a bleak future. So, why can't sports be more like a collaboration of interests, where people would come together with the same hobbies in mind and just play together. They can still continue to improve themselves as I have already said that competition is inevitable and development is necessary, but they need not have their crazy desire to win. Winning is not everything. Winning has become the only thing to such competitive people. And who says we need competition to enjoy sports? Of course, I am not saying that the Olympics should be shut down, but participation in the Olympic games would be a LEARNING POINT for these athletes, to mix around with other potential athletes and to learn how they excel, etc.

Thus, I would say, do away with the competitiveness, enjoy sport and play it with and open mind.