Competition disgust
Competition disgust is linked to the underground world of professional sport, but it also concerns the semi-pro and amateur levels.
Contrary to what many people think, there is no clear line between the recreational leisure level and the competitive professional sports level.
It’s a wide gradient, hard to define, that fluctuates depending on individuals, sports, environments, countries, cultures, etc.
We are not going to talk about the professional level here, as this is an entire topic that deserves to be fully explained, but we can say a few words about the hidden world of sportspeople between the leisure and professional level.
This world is rarely mediatized, yet it concerns millions of people compared to the couple thousand professional athletes combined in all sports.
Don’t get us wrong here, we are not saying that competition is bad. At a small dose and with good spirit, it pushes you to give your best and improve constantly.
However, competition at a high dose with jealousy, treachery, cheating, and malicious intent can be quite devastating.
The blame is not so much on the players but on the competitive sports system. Like a big pyramid, it gives everything to a handful of privileged people and almost nothing to the others.
Whether it is because of financial stakes or oversized ego, people can become little tyrants of their own.
This exists in any sport and at any level (and outside of the sports world too), but like always, the more money at stake, the bigger the problem is.
We are not even talking here about doping, an entire topic of its own too, simply about the behavior certain people can have because they are obsessed with winning.
This can be quite traumatic for sensitive people playing the sport for what it is and not for what it could turn someone into.
How many athletes have quit playing sports because they were disgusted by how it is played? Way too many.
Competitive disgust can perfectly turn someone’s love for a sport into a past traumatic experience that pushes the individual to quit this sport and even refrain from playing other sports.
In some extreme cases, it can turn into disgust for its own body, leading to eating disorders, body complexes, and more.
This is a pity because, fundamentally, sports are incredible human inventions, and they have many health benefits if practiced correctly.
Health benefits of sport
The health benefits of sports are numerous, amongst them we can cite the following:
- Development of new skills
- Physical transformation (increase muscle mass, decrease fat mass, etc.)
- Stimulation of bone growth
- Improved cognitive performance
- etc.
These health benefits can be enjoyed fully when practicing sports intelligently and in moderation.