      When I as in grade 4 I started playing volleyball. I lived on a farm outside a small town and our elementary school ranged between 18 and 22 kids depending on the year. The Vice Principal taught grades 1-3, the Principal taught 4-7, the administrative assistant was also the Kindergarten teacher, and we had a 0.5 time teacher that split between our school and Cadillac. To form a team to compete in the elementary league of grades 6s and 7s in the area everyone in 4-7 had to play.
           I loved the competition immediately. Out of high school I had opportunities to go to the States for junior colleges, but I wanted to go to a university in Canada – schooling was more important to me than athletics. However, there are numerous characteristics that I’ve developed through playing a team sport I don’t know if I would have without it and skills that come from competing that I otherwise wouldn’t have.
           I still enjoy competing. There’s a thrill of doing something to the best of your capabilities with a win or loss on the line. Obviously everyone wants to win, but if you don’t and you know you did everything you possibly could within your power, you’re still a winner – only you know if you gave your gold medal performance.
           This past weekend I was invited to play on a team up at a ladies tournament. The team I was on battled into the final and lost in the third set. It was a relatively close game through and through, but competing at that level is always entertaining and even though we lost the organizers had picked out MVP, best setter, and best hitter of the tournament – so even though we lost I was delighted to find out one of my hitters had earned the best hitter accolade and was quite elated to find out I had been named the best setter of the tournament.
           Prior to heading to the tournament I had watched a video by Russ Rose – a prominent coach in the States. He described what a competitor is and it resonated with me. I could identify those attributes and agreed with him on his points.
           In summary he said that a competitor values the outcome and commits to the process – essentially they keep learning and working in order to achieve success. They’re disciplined. Although playing is fun a competitor gets a thrill from competing and pushing themselves to their limit. They are competitive against themselves, always looking to better themselves, and are competitive against others or against set standards (like improving serving numbers).
           Most importantly though he said that a competitor is never afraid. I had never really thought about this before, but as I heard him say it I realized that when I come up against someone I know is good, I take it as a challenge. I never think a match is already lost. Currently the ladies team I play with, none have done much post-secondary playing, however we’ve come up against ex-university players and have not only held our own, but have taken sets off of them. So, a tough mental game and believing that you’re going to do your best, going in there thinking you’re going to dig this and not cowering away from a big hitter, that’s what being a competitor is.
           To me competition is healthy. The wins and losses on the court teach character. It’s not all about winning medals, but about doing your gold medal best.
