When you play a sport, winning is one of the greatest feelings in the world. That rush of exhilaration you get the moment all your hard work has paid off is matched by little else in the world. But for every winner, there must also be a loser. Losing, consequently, is one of the worst feelings out there. You went out and busted your butt, giving everything you had, but someone still bested you. Maybe you feel cheated, like the referees were biased or the other team was rude and deceitful. Nobody likes to lose, but I feel like losing is an important part of life. Learning to lose with dignity is one of life’s most valuable lessons.

This past week, my field hockey team played two extremely tough games. In each, we had a huge opportunity, and many chances, but we just could not come out on top. We could cast blame on the referees, the weather, the other team, or anything else on this earth. At the end of the day, we lost. This does not mean the games we played this week don’t count for anything, nor that we should just put them behind us and forget.

One of the most important benefits of losing is that we as a team gain mental toughness. We learn how to give our all even if it looks like there’s no hope. Even when there’s absolutely no chance of victory, and we know this, we learn how to go down fighting. In times long ago, warriors with no hope of winning a battle strove to take down as many of the enemy as they could along the way. Although in field hockey there’s no killing, there’s a similar mindset. Each member of the team must reach inside themselves and decide that they are not going to lie down and play the remaining time without effort. If we let ourselves just give the bare minimum, what reason do our teammates have to do anything more?

Another reason that losing is beneficial is that, however cheesy this may sound, it does build character. I don’t mean that losing makes you more honest or hardworking, but you do learn to keep your head up in a tough situation. We’ve all dealt with those who are sore losers, and this attitude carries even when they are not competing. Losing a game or competition is not an excuse for the losers to act as if they were victimized, bullied, or cheated. When we lose we must accept our loss with dignity, our only thoughts being how to improve and come out stronger next time. We learn when and where we must focus our efforts, and we learn grace and poise even when it is not shown to us. By losing we avoid arrogance and ego, instead revealing our weaknesses so that we may eradicate them.

Losing is not something that should cripple us or make us quit. Instead, it’s an opportunity to come back stronger. We need to use our losses to fuel more hard work, because at the end of the day, there’s always another chance to prove ourselves at last.