I was scrolling through Facebook just like any other day, watching the occasional dog video and reading the amusing, relatable memes. Then, I came across this video and I thought to myself, "This has to be a joke," - a ball-less, score-less soccer team for children.
Look, I get it. We are trying to invoke children to become more involved, and we try to make them into civilized, good-natured citizens before they become adults. There is still a problem, though.
Healthy competition is a good thing. I am not saying to throw the child in a shark tank and watch them battle it out, but I am saying that ball-less, score-less soccer is taking it too far, and here's why:
1. You are encouraging thoughts and beliefs that life is always fair
For example, let's consider the job market. You just graduated with your doctorate degree in animal science at the age of 27, you have experience within various internships, and you apply to management in an agricultural setting. You meet all requirements and your only competition is someone who received their master's degree in animal science who is two years younger than you. They get the job, and you have no idea why because life was always fair as a young child. Now you believe something is wrong with you as a person, but in reality, life is unfair and no one taught you.
2. Competition is (quite literally) how we know earth's shape
Pretend you are sitting wherever you are at this moment still pondering if the earth was flat, squarish, rectangular, or a sphere. We all know how we found out what the earth looked like - by landing on the moon. Why did we land on the moon? We were trying to beat the Soviet Union. With competition, the United States was able to put a human on the moon before any other country. Even though this competition was fueled by the wants of supremacy, it's important to realize that competition is not exhaustive to sporting events. It is crucial to improving societies.
3. It is a natural human trait
No matter how much you say that you are not competitive, your mind is still searching for something to call your own, for something that you are better at than anyone else. I tell people I'm not competitive all the time, but I still want to win 3-on-3 basketball and win my professor's "best story lead" in class - and that is okay! It is okay to want to be the best at something. When being the best becomes all you can think about, that is when it becomes a problem.
I say, let's stop viewing competition as a negative concept and start promoting healthy competition because the world is not fair, and it never will be.
