Competition teaches as much as the classes do!
Imagine you’re a mountain climber and you set up a goal of reaching the top of Everest. A few days later a friend of yours asks if you want to go with him to the top, but this time by helicopter! You would never accept it, right? There’s no pride in this achievement.
In summary, the real glory of winning is not really the podium, but the road your walkthrough to reach that place. All the hard training, the diet, and everything you gave up to became a champion!
That been said, I can tell you that, regardless of the winning, you will learn so many good things in that walk.
COMPETITION TEACHES YOU DISCIPLINE AND COMMITMENT
The first thing you will learn is that there’s no win without discipline and commitment! If you want to get the gold, you must work harder than all the other competitors, and trust me, they will be working very hard!
BUILD A STRATEGY AND PLAY BY THE RULES
Even training very hard, sometimes the best competitor technically or physically won’t win. It is very important to have a strategy and know the rules very well. You don’t want to rush too much at the beginning and gas out at the end. Neither you want to save too much energy at the beginning and let your opponent take advantage out of it.
The same applies to rules, competitors that know the rules well, know when to rest, and when to explode. They know if they really need to put more effort in that fight or if they can save their stamina for the next one, as they’re already ahead of their opponent.
PLAY UNDER PRESSURE
Sometimes you might be in a bad situation but not necessarily losing! Knowing how to manage that pressure teaches you how to save a lot of energy not stressing out. When you find out what your body is capable of and your limits you know when you can hold each pressure.
YOU WILL LEARN FASTER AND BOOST PERFORMANCE
Competition is the time you put all the movements you’ve been training into practice. It’s the proving time! Training with teammates is a bit tricky because you know each other’s games, so things you think that doesn’t work, actually works pretty well in an adversary that is not expecting and the same way around, when you’re fighting with somebody you don’t know, you have no idea of what to expect, so you need to be better prepared for all types of situations. This mindset you create for competition definitely makes you being ahead of the other students.
COMPETITION TEACHES YOU HOW TO TAKE THE BEST OF WINNINGS AND LOSSES
Knowing how to win and how to lose is also a very important output on competing! Losses are mostly a good way to learn where do you need to improve, you shouldn’t be upset with a loss, but understand what you did wrong and don’t make the same mistake next time! Same with winning, you won’t win always, so take that chance to analyze what have you done right and make it even better next time.
IT BUILDS UP SELF-ESTEEM
By saying all that, a well-disciplined competitor has a whole mindset that works in a way of knowing their strengths and limits, until when they can reach and the pressure they can support. All this knowledge about not only your own body but also your mind ends up building up strong self-esteem.
COMPETITORS HAVE THIS MENTALITY IN ON OUT OF THE MATS
The best part comes now! Most of the competitors take this mindset for their own lives outside of the mats. It actually helps them to be better people with a different view of the world, including not only respect and commitment in their daily lives but also making their minds answer better to adverse situations.
Of course, you don’t necessarily need to push yourself to compete if you don’t like the experience but know that you shouldn’t be scared of doing so, and if you do get into it, a lot of good benefits will come in consequence!