Of my many beliefs, one of the strongest is my belief about competition. I believe that competitiveness is something that everybody should have. I believe that it is healthy to be competitive, because it gives you more reasons to accomplish something, whether it is schoolwork or a sporting event. Competition can help people improve their health, grades, and skills in many different areas by challenging themselves to reach higher goals by challenging others. For example, one can improve his or her grades by challenging a friend to see who receives a higher grade. The same can be done for a health-related goal like weight loss or exercise. There are too many people in today’s society who are either too lazy or lack the motivation to get in shape or complete a goal. As much as it can be good to be competitive, being overly competitive can possibly harm others as well as yourself. You can get someone injured by taking something more seriously than you need to. That is why you need to make sure you aren’t too competitive since many people are overly aggressive. Many people don’t want to be competitive in gym games or recreational games because they are afraid they will be made fun of. What I have come to realize is that people who make fun of others for trying too hard are usually jealous.
I am an I-want-to-win-everything-or-else type of person because I am an athlete and I always want to be first in any game, competition, event, or race. I play premiere soccer, which does not allow for much joking and fooling around. It may be a serious game, but it is still just a game and is played overall to have fun. I have played competitive sports since before I can remember. I have learned to not be too aggressive, no matter how mad or upset I am, because after all, it is just a game. I try very hard during sports, no matter what I feel on the inside and what I would really like to say to the other team, I stay a good sport and make sure that I don’t leave the impression that I am a sore loser. Even though I despise losing almost more than anything, losing is a major part of competition and I need to accept that. There is nothing I am more competitive at than sports. For example, in 7th Grade when I played for the Junior High soccer team, we faced North Smithfield Middle School. The referee made several bad calls and their team was beginning to play cheap and dirty. Their defender received the ball and when I tackled him, he landed hard on the ground. I didn’t know at the time, but I had actually broken his arm. Since I had never injured someone this badly before, I decided to figure a way to take my competitiveness down a level and not be so aggressive, since it is only a game.

I always want to challenge others at as many things as I can since it not only helps me, but it helps them become more competitive, which can always help them down the road to achieve higher grades and set higher standards. Competitiveness is an important skill in life and it should be developed by everyone, no matter what age they are.