Hey guys,
I’m around kids of all ages playing the game of basketball. From very young kids, to high schoolers and college, and beyond. There’s one thing that has bothered me lately that I have to share with you. This doesn’t pertain to the young kids. It most certainly pertains to the high school age kids. It is at once perplexing and bothersome and I see it throughout different towns, areas of the state, and skill level.
It is hard to actually form the words to say it, but here it goes…
I’m beginning to get the feeling that kids don’t care as much about winning and losing these days.
Crazy, I know. Now, before I go any further, you’re going to have to understand where I’m coming from. I am an ultra-competitive individual. Admittedly, sometimes, to a fault. I hate to lose. In anything. Period. It gets under my skin and crawls around in there. Whether it’s basketball or board games (can’t remember the last time I played one of those), anything that has a winner and loser in the outcome, I am determined to be on the winning side. I most certainly despise losing more than I love winning. Winning (insert your own Charlie Sheen voice here) is joy, and losing is undeniable misery. So granted, I am coming from the extreme end of the spectrum. You may not be that competitive, and that’s cool. I am, it’s just me.
So where does this opinion come from? I just see too many kids nowadays give up on plays. Too much laziness, too much apathy on the court. Too much “we can get them next time” attitude. It’s a bit disheartening at times. I remember how devestated I used to be after losing. Unhealthy you say? I disagree, as it all depends on how you use the devestation. Personally, I always used it as motivation to get better, to work harder, to avoid the losing feeling in the future. From my perspective, there are too many excuses today. And it drives me nuts. Whether it’s a missed defensive assignment or a perceived missed call by the ref, it’s too often someone else’s fault. The problem is, when we mess up on the court (as we do in life), it’s much better to take responsibility for it, find out how to fix it, and move on. (I’ve always loved how basketball is such a metaphor for life, amazing).
My feeling is that kids today often play in TOO many games. Yep, that’s right. There’s not enough skill development and there’s too much game play. With so many games to play, the attitude often become, who cares if we lose, we still have a million other games to play. Regardless, I still don’t get it. I used to hate when someone scored on me so much that I would take it extremely personally and immediately try to get back at them by making my presence felt on the next possession. Whether it be a scored bucket, or a play that led to the bucket, I had to do something, because the previous possession, I got beat, I lost. And I hated that feeling (I chuckle to myself now as I realize I still often do the same thing today when I play). So forget even about game to game, how about possession to possession. Do you get pride out of getting a great defensive stop? Or are you lazy and let your man go by, reach around in a lazy effort and yell “help!!” while the entire defense breaks down because of your lack of effort. Do you get satisfaction out of setting the screen that sets up the basket? Do you feel accomplishment when you run the play correctly and it leads to a bucket? Or do you only feel good when you score that bucket. Hmmmm…
Think about all the best players to ever play. MJ, Magic, Bird, Kobe, Russell. One thing they all have in common? An unsatiable desire to win and an utter hatred for losing. Yes, I could recount multiple legendary stories from each of them regarding their competitive spirit. It’s no wonder they have 30 championship rings betweet the 5 of them. That’s right, 30. Impressive. Success is predictable.
You don’t have to be a psycho in order to be competitive. But ask yourself these questions. When you lose, how do you feel? More importantly, when you lose, what do you DO? Do you chalk it up to someone else’s mistakes? Do you brush it off as no big deal? Or do you use it as motivation to get better, to become a more complete player. Do you fuel your competitive fire daily into a raging inferno that can’t be stopped? Because if not… Someone else is.
bt
I see a lot of this as well and it’s also crazy to me! I don’t understand it, and I’m not sure if I want to either. I just can’t relate to somebody not wanting to do whatever it takes to win a game. You mention that playing too many games can be a possible cause of this, however I grew up with plenty of highly talented high school players who played over 100 games over the course of a summer, yet they were extremely competitive and busted their tails off. As I now think about it more, perhaps we were just an exception to the norm. Could this be the reason why such a small percentage of athletes go on to play at the next level? Very interesting topic to think about. I know there are many intangibles that make up good basketball players, but this is ONE that will keep a player at a plateau in their development as a player.
Brian, I absolutely agree. Nice blog. The passion and drive seems to be missing in many players these days and seems like they are just going thru the motion (literally:)). Many times I will see some event on the floor that will spark a reaction which will cause a uptick in drive, but if that does not happen, its just another game on the schedule.
Thanks for the comments guys, I agree with you both. It’s funny, the more I think about this topic, the more I realize that nothing’s really changed. I rememeber many times being frustrated (at every level I’ve played) that people weren’t as competitive or didn’t care as much. Maybe the ultra competitive gene is an either you have it or you don’t scenario.