Sport and competition hold a tension between the pressure to prove our value and our need to belong as we are.

Healthy teams invite each individual's values, goals, and skill set into the collective vision.

Instead of a battle, competition can become a shared challenge and a way to pursue excellence together.

Sports, and especially team sports, embody many values we hold dear—hard work, commitment, the pursuit of competence, teamwork, camaraderie, and working together toward a shared goal. They give us the chance to navigate challenge, rely on others for support, offer support in return, and experience being part of something where we feel valued, seen, and included, and a sense of belonging.

For me, this is one of the most powerful possibilities of sport and competition. They give us a place to develop these values while also learning how we respond to the pressure to perform, be evaluated, and belong.

Interestingly, the root of the word competition comes from the Latin competere, meaning to seek, strive, or come together in pursuit of something. In this original sense, more than defeating an opponent, competition carries the idea of coming together around a shared challenge.

When I reflect on my childhood, sport and being part of a team originally felt like that. Competition was about play, friendship, shared effort, learning, challenge, and belonging. It was about practicing something over and over again, until we became competent in it, and confident we could repeat it, even under pressure. It was about the joy of being part of something, working together, and discovering what we could become was more than I could pull off on my own.

But somewhere along the........

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