Mf115+Winning+is+everything

==If you've ever watched professional sports, then you've probably seen people get carried away by their emotions, like on the TV . Players might start fights, coaches might scream and pressure their team, and fans sometimes throw things at bad players. But is doesn't just happen with professional sports. Even in schools and on travel teams, people get carried away when the team they like is ether doing bad or great. In both cases, the emphasis on winning is ruining everything! Maybe George Washington didn't win every battle but he did win all the battles that where important. In my opinion, winning is not everything. ==

==People have too many other things to do than to just focus on that one thing they're trying to be the best at. What if in class, a girl named Jamie though about basketball and not to the teacher? The next day, Jamie has a test she didn't know about because she wasn't paying attention to the teacher when it was announced. Then what would happen? Jamie might earn respect when she wins in basketball after school, but not on the Science test that she just failed, if i were jamie I would have just study and payed more atention.  Also, if you had soccer or hockey or basketball all week long, when would you do homework? When would you do anything else? Another example is from the book Rules, when Katherine is concerned about being popular with Kristi. She ignores her new friend Jason and even her brother to make an impression on the new girl next door. If you only focus on winning all the time, you will neglect to focus on other priorities. ==

==A team that wins every game never learns from their mistakes. Maybe it feels good to win, but it also shows you that if you are losing, you have to work harder to win. If you lose a game after a whole week of the coaches yelling during practice, "Cover the net!" then you will learn that you need to listen and practice. Also, what would you learn if you win every game? For example, on our last hockey game of the season, we were tied with the other team. We went into overtime and after six minutes we were still tied so we went into a shoot out. The other team’s plan was to save their best players for last; we had the first two goals, they had zero. They realized it was time to put on a great player and guess what? He missed! As my friend Chase got ready to shoot, she skated up to the net, faked it, and then shot. We won! It was the first goal Chase ever made I hug her and felt so happy for her .  We were all screaming but the other team wasn't; instead, they were frowning because they lost. As we shook our opponents’ hands, not many were smiling, but one to me was really smiling. As Birdie was shaking everyone’s hand, she had a huge smile on her face. Then she went over to the other team’s coach and said thanks and then skated away with a big smile. From that day on, I thank Birdie for showing me that even if we lose, we can still have fun doing it. And I could tell that was one of the most fun games Birdie had ever played. The last time I talked to birdie she said that she thank you so much and then she said that her mom had the srorry hanging up in the kichen . Maybe it makes people happy to win, but if you played your best, you should still be happy! ==

==Kids get pressured easily when adults get angry about losing. People like to scream when you don't do something right or you miss the shot. Sure it feels good to win, but sometimes you have to try better next time and deal with the fact you lost. Also, what if people start to cheat because they're too pressured? For Helen Keller, a loss was being blind and deaf, but she overcame that and instead of helping herself she helped others. Cheating is poor sportsmanship, and ruins the game for everyone: the players, the fans, and the coaches. ==

==Wouldn't you get sick of winning every game? You don't think you would, but isn't competing about winning and sometimes losing? And if you won all the time, those medals and trophies would fill up too much space. I'm just happy with the end of the year banquets and maybe medals for other things. Also Maybe you feel like you did something wrong or you aren't good at what you love to do, but say you were against the best team in the state, who do you thinks going to win? The other day my friend Grace said to the coach, "they may have more goals than us, but we are having way more fun then them." I think that winning isn't everything. ==