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Martina Navratilova (on winning)

It being March, me being an irredeemable basketball junkie (and hoops purist, which is a difficult double these days), I’m thinking a lot about winning.

(FEAR NOT, MOTHERS-IN-LAW AND OTHER STRANGERS WITH LIVES OUTSIDE OF SPORTS: THIS ISN’T REALLY ABOUT BASKETBALL, AND IT’S BRIEF.)

Life is hyper-competitive these days, has been for a long while, and most of the favoured paths to success, or happiness, or just plain fame, take the path of least cooperation. Beating that guy, out-performing those rivals, one-upping the neighbours, even defeating those personal demons: everybody’s urged to be competitive, and if you’re going to compete, then it’s usually better if you win. (Though not always.) Even the English language chimes in — being able to do your job, to have useful skills, is to be competent. Cooperation is often framed as secondary, nice for kids, a good refuge for the untalented. This is one of our biggest philosophical/historical misunderstandings, say I, but let’s not go there for now. Let’s say we’re competing, and we’re okay with that, and winning isn’t the only thing, but trying to is, but we want some sanity, too.

I wrote recently about the hiring of a college basketball coach, a guy with (allegedly) some moral warts but a really good record of winning, wherever he’s gone. There, I quoted from the novel One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, which contains one of my favourite little meditations on winning. Here’s another:

“The moment of victory is much too short to live for that and nothing else.”

Martina Navratilova (1956-) did a remarkable amount of winning as a tennis pro: she won *18* (!) “Grand Slam” singles titles, one more than the magnificent Roger Federer, AND won 31 Grand Slam doubles (!!) and 10 GS mixed doubles crowns. (Nomination: sporting record never to be broken, as few of the top players even attempt doubles anymore. FIFTY-NINE GRAND SLAM WINS? Ridiculous.) She is also a brave, outspoken and thoughtful person, so let’s say that her winning streak continues. Still: look at what she said. Who’d know better than her?

 

Comment (1)

  1. Karl Mearns

    AN OLD COACH’S PHILOSOPHY OF WINNING – PAGE 1 OF EVERY PLAYBOOK:

    State of Mind

    (The Man Who Thinks He Can)

    by Walter D. Wintle

    “If you think you are beaten, you are,
    If you think you dare not, you won’t,
    If you like to win, but don’t think you can,
    It’s almost a cinch that you won’t.

    “If you think you’ll lose, you’re lost,
    For out in the world you’ll find,
    Success begins with a fellow’s will:
    It’s all in a state of mind.

    “For many a game is lost
    Ere even a play is run,
    And many a coward fails
    Ere even his work is begun.

    “Think big and your deeds will grow,
    Think small and you’ll fall behind,
    Think that you can and you will,
    It’s all in a state of mind.

    “If you think you are out-classed, you are.
    You’ve got to think high to rise,
    You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
    You can ever win a prize.

    “Life’s battles don’t always go
    To the stronger or faster man,
    But sooner or later, the man who wins
    Is the fellow who thinks he can.”

    And who tries.

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