The Parallels of Sports and Life

Sports are very much like life, pushing one to the limits. In playing a sport, one is being challenged at a multi-faceted level, where the mental, physical, emotional and spiritual factors of a person are put to the test. Likened to everyday life, a sportsman is met with opponents - hurdles to success - who serve as a hindrance in getting that medal. The endless struggle in the survival of the fittest of life is clearly exhibited in the sporting arena on a smaller scale. Furthermore, sports may not encompass the full complications and reality of life. Miniaturized reality has taken away certain focuses which life requires. Nevertheless, sports have shown to be a replica of life in motion and teach lessons which can be learnt on a large scale human reality as well.

In sport, honour and glory are brought to the sportsman and the organization he is representing through the attaining of medals or trophies in competitions. The fight to get to the top is evident in the amount of focus, hard work one puts into the game. In the process of competing, opponents who are weaker or stronger than one are inevitable. Failure and victory are the realities of the sporting scene - one either wins or loses. Similarly, survival of the fittest is the reality of life. The education system as well as the workforce is becoming more competitive each day and the fight to emerge as the smartest or to become a manager of a company has become increasingly tedious.

One such example would be admissions into a sought-after university in Singapore, The Singapore Management University (SMU). Statistics show the only one-third of the number of applicants eventually get admitted into the school. The process of elimination is done through an assessment of academic merit as well as an interview. The need to stand out in the areas one is good at or interested in is crucial should one wish to progress. The sporting arena clearly reflects this competition as well. Even though there may be over two hundred countries participating in the Olympic Games, only the best man wins. To be able to win, one must be outstanding in timing or skill. Therefore sports present the harsh reality of life.

In life we often hear the phrase, 'Carpe Diem', given as valuable advice. To 'seize the day' would mean to seize opportunities to excel and contribute. This is very much applicable in sports. When in the court or on the field, players are often told to 'keep their head in the game; so as to seize the right moments to catch their opponents off guard. The need to be constantly at the highest state of alertness is the key to throwing the opponent off the game. Resting on one's laurels would only reflect complacency and result in failure. An example of the exhibition of such alertness and focus would be the badminton match between Singapore's Ronald Susilo and Malaysia's Lee Chong Wei (who is ranked World's Number Two) in the ongoing Olympic Games in Beijing. Lee showed great technique on the court. Lee constantly throws Susilo off the game by scoring when the latter has a lapse in concentration. This clearly exhibits what happens when one seizes opportunities presented. Similarly in life one must grasp chances to improve and excel when they are presented in front of one's reach. Remaining focused on one's goals in life would allow one to take up the appropriate opportunities when they arise, whilst life is a game of chance, one must take control of it. Life in the sporting arena has shown that these values of life are very much applicable and shown in the games as well.

In wanting to excel and overcome difficulties, people many a time could choose the easy way out and often neglect integrity. In life many have seen to have climbed their way up the corporate ladder through connections or what we usually say, 'through the back door'. People give bribes or are sycophantic so as to get what they want in life as their abilities do not enable them to. Similarly in the sporting scene, we are constantly presented with incidents of competitors who use drugs to boost their physical strength as they hope to do better in the competition. A very recent example would be the twenty-seven year old female cyclist who got banned from the Olympic Games this year as she failed the drug test. The cyclist may not be even allowed to compete in the London Games in 2010. We see in sports that people try to cheat to get their way up to the top, some get caught while others do not. Likewise in life, people use different underhanded means to get what they think they deserve. It is such greed that is exhibited in both life and in the sporting arena that leads to one's downfall and reflects the moral degeneration of society.

However one very crucial aspect of life that is not encapsulated in the realm of sports is life beyond the working world. Relationships with family members and friends show the need for one to be selfless in giving. In life we constantly rely on people who are stronger when are not and turn to them in times of trouble and crisis. This is vastly different in the sporting arena. In sports, competitors fend for themselves. Since it is the batter where only the best man succeeds, a level of selfishness is bound to arise. However much people may preach about the intangible idea of sportsmanship, sports can bring out the worse in a person. In wanting to reach the eventual goal, one stands alone and can only depend on oneself to achieve it. This is very much unlike life where the need for warmth and support from a fellow human being is crucial. Sports in only able to encompass the cold, hard reality of life and has failed to be able to embrace the very essence of what defines human life: that of the heart.

The sporting arena has shown the determination, skill and resilience one needs to overcome challenges. These are the very factors which lead one to success, whether in a sport or in life. But the intangible nature of human life cannot be measured in this manner. The 'mind over body' mentality that sportsmen preach cannot be fully applied to life. Human lives are made significant through relationships and emotions, the fundamentals of life itself, which sports do not usually exhibit. Sports have nevertheless shown what is needed to survive in a world, which is competitive and relentless. It presents us with the very tools needed to live our lives.