We grew up and we live in an era where, whatever the current competition, we often hear: "Come on, the important thing is to participate!". What we do not notice, however, is that this phrase is said predominantly after the defeats. What are the reasons for this sentence?

"THE IMPORTANT THING IS PARTICIPATING"

For very young children, who come across the first competitions, it is often a way to prevent them from being disappointed in a possible defeat.

For adolescents, the adult repeats it because, in his heart, he knows that the boy will most likely not be up to the competition and therefore, puts his hands on him . "The important thing is to participate and have fun!"

Finally, the phrase repeated to an adult denotes the sad truth of considering it a probable loser. The same applies to the "self-talk". Repeating this sentence mentally, well do nothing but undermine the trust, ambitions and motivations we have.

These are the reasons why I believe it is one of the most dangerous phrases that can be said to an athlete, on any type of competition he is about to face.

Up to some levels at least. Try to say to Juventus, now that they have taken Cristiano Ronaldo, that winning the Champions League is not important.

The important thing is to give everything you have. The important thing is to work hard to try and win! The important thing is to engage with all your strength to improve yourself. You can win or lose, but playing, just to play, in my opinion is not educational.

Suppose a sport in which there are no prizes. "The important thing is to participate" implies the fact of not giving importance to a "reward". So what is the meaning of the sacrifice? What sense do all the training have? Could you just compete? There would be no recognition if there were no competitions. Wouldn't it be a bit sad? Could it really be called sports?

A sport, in fact, also teaches to lose , teaches a myriad of values ​​such as respect for the opponent, motivation, sacrifice, ambition …

"I'm going to run to the park for the pleasure of running", "I go skiing on Sunday because I like skiing” And these people are definitely right. Sport is above all passion, basically, each of us, every time we make a sporting gesture has some kind of purpose. There will not be Olympic medals or world cups but it could be, for example, keeping fit. Then the ride to the park to "have fun" will end with getting on the scale and see how many kg we have disposed of, or even just the satisfaction of having done something for ourselves, for our psycho-physical well being;

Finally, there are those people who go running and playing sports because they have to do it. Because they know that if they do not go to make movement on their health and fitness they will get worse. Maybe they make a huge effort but despite this, they put on their shoes and go out to sweat. What makes them satisfied is the fact of doing something for themselves, for their health and sometimes for their profession.

So I appeal to all athletes, parents, coaches and anyone dealing with sportsmen of any age and level ... BE AMBITIOUS !!

Do not be content to participate. You dream big and set yourself attainable goals, in order to become confident with the victory and to raise the bar from time to time.

RATHER THAN SAYING "THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO PARTICIPATE" YOU SAY "THE IMPORTANT THING IS TO GIVE EVERYTHING!"