Introduction Why do people say "it 's not the winning but the taking part that counts"? It 's a phrase echoed by the founder of the Olympics, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, who said "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not winning but taking part; the essential thing in life is not conquering but fighting well." Most people seem to agree that trying and loosing is more admirable than not trying at all. In practice, though, most people seem only to be interested in the medalists. In young children 's sporting events, last place is often rewarded with a 'wooden spoon ' or booby prize. Grown-up athletes don 't even have this to look forward to. Perhaps 'taking part ' is just a myth designed to cheer up the slowest children: to take …show more content…
The pressure to succeed can cause athletes to become overly aggressive and violent in the game. Players have to stand out as being strong, being leaders as well as team players, and ultimately being the best. For men, their masculinity is on the line, and for women, their femininity can’t be the focus. Therefore, men often strive to prove and display their manhood in stereotypical ways, and women often seek to prove and display their strength and endurance. Consequently, violence in sport is not just about physical activity or competition, it’s also about biology and nature. Biologically, we still have natural instincts and desires that date back to our hunter-gatherer days and our times of being warriors. In a way, a sports game is like a small-scale war, with one team declaring battle on the other. The spectators often act as the soldiers, getting just as involved in the game as the athletes playing it. Ending or curbing violence in sport would be a great battle, and it appears that we don’t have a fighting chance. Although harsher penalties and more extreme crowd control efforts might help, they won’t eliminate the desire or the demand for violence in