Competitive Edge Research Paper

Competitive Edge

Have you ever been in a competition? Competition is present in each stage of life, from preschool to retirement. Competition has helped me grow as a person. I began competitive swim team at the age of five, and I continue to experience competition in my career. I was prepared to handle competition in school. Facing competition at a young age is a good thing because it teaches a person cooperation, discipline, and patience..

Competition teaches cooperation, which is essential in a school environment. For example, when you have to work on a group project you have to cooperate with your group to get work done. If you get in a disagreement with a group member then your work won’t get done and your grade will suffer. In order

to successfully cooperate, a person has to practice discipline to control their emotions and actions.
Discipline teaches a person how to conduct themselves when working with others and teaches them how to push themselves to succeed. When I swam, I was constantly put on relay teams where we would have to rely on one another to swim fast so we could win. On the relay team, each swimmer had to be disciplined in their training so they would not let the team down and compete poorly. The drive we all had to not let the team down taught us to be disciplined in our training and our work ethic led us to victory. Discipline is a vital component to being a strong competitor and it requires patience to train your body and mind to become strong.
Patience is the key to being able to push yourself to be the best version of yourself so you can experience individual and group success. Swimming on a relay team is a stressful experience because everyone wants to win, but they cannot control how well everyone competes. It takes patience to support your teammates as you all train and rely on one another to have a good race. When a team is patient, they thrive in the moments where they cheer one another on and push each other to train hard, so they can win together. Patience allows you to cope with the stress of competition and reach your goals.