Thanks to the COM352 students for contributing a bunch of new pages! I'll be moving these pages into the main area of the wiki soon.

From UMassWiki

Competition is striving to do your best while trying to outdo another. Being competitive is one of the most important traits I have and it affects almost all of my actions and decisions. Psychologists believe that there are two types of motivating factors for people. The first comes from within. Some people are motivated all on their own and are satisfied with achieving their own personal goals. The other motivating factor comes from rewards and praise from others. In my experiences, I have been motivated by both. They each contribute to my determined personality.

In sports, at school, and at home, I always find something to fight for. This can be extremely positive, especially during sports and at school; however it does have its downfalls. Always striving to be the best at something can lead to me becoming very anxious over less important things such as, learning the game of checkers for the first time and needing to beat someone who has played their entire life. This is when being competitive is negative, but it is who I am and this is how I am identified. I find excitement from thinking that everything is a challenge. I believe that this is what makes my life fun because it keeps me on my toes.

Sports are a great way to highlight my identity because they are competition. I enjoy playing because most people who play are all out there for the same thing, to win. I am a fighter. I strive for excellence and it is how I am successful in all that I do.

I always played a sport in high school, partly because I loved it and also because it kept me busy. I have played soccer since I was five years old, so when I came to high school I knew that I would have no problem at the varsity level. In the winter however, I did not have a choice to play any other sport besides basketball. This was not my strong sport and I really did not even enjoy playing it. It was something I needed to do because I did not want to be a one sport athlete. When I started practicing, I noticed that there were a lot of girls better than I was and they were all younger. This became a huge issue because I did not want to be a substitute below girls that were two years younger than me. I began to work really hard to make sure that I could find myself a starting spot on the team. I strived for two weeks and the spot was mine! I played one game as a starter and then sprained my ankle right before the game was over. Usually, this would slow a lot of people down, but because of my yearning to be on top, I worked extra hard. I did one week of training and I was back on the court. However, I was not a starter. My spot had been taken by a sophomore. Instead of complaining to the coach and telling her that my ankle was completely healed, I proved myself in the game. When I got off that bench, I played like I never have before. I was actually executing and moving the ball in ways I did not even know I could. Even though the season was nearly over, I won back my spot. My motivation to beat others and be on top paid off.

This is an example of my competitive nature affecting me positively. I was determined to get my spot back in the starting line up, like most people would, but it wasn’t because I wanted to play. The main reason I worked extra hard was because I needed to prove that I was better than the younger girls. I did not want to be a senior on the bench. I think back and feel that I was completely ridiculous; however I do not regret it. I had a lot of fun in the end, but the extra effort took a lot out of me, especially since it was for a sport that I did not like the begin with. This might seem negative, but the satisfaction that I got when I finally achieved my personal goal, was extravagant. In this case, I was motivated within. Nobody had to tell me that I was good and that I could do this. It was almost like I was competing with myself, my bad basketball skills versus my good ones. I was trying to become a better player than the younger girls, but subconsciously I was competing with myself for pride. Without this competition, I would have never come back after my injury. I probably wouldn’t be playing basketball at all. It was self motivation that forced me to become part of the staring line up.

Another positive aspect of this trait has to do with my motivation in school. In high school I was an average student, excelling in some subjects more than others, but for the most part I was pretty much well rounded. One subject however that I was not so good in was United States History. I was not recommended to be in the advanced placement class; however I asked if I could try it out. The teachers had no problem with this so I was put into the only available class at 7:50 in the morning. It was very hard to pay attention when I had just woken up five minutes before, so my notes were not very good and the class was incredibly hard. By the end of the first quarter my teacher advised me to go to the regular regents’ class. I didn’t like this idea because it would mean that I gave up and took the easier route. I fought it and she let me stay. By the second quarter I had not shown any improvement. My teacher took me aside again and warned me that it was only going to get harder and there were a few people that were trying to get into the class. I thought twice about it and then once again told her I was going to stay. She warned me that if by the middle of third quarter I could not get my grade up, I would be kicked out. This brought me down for a little bit, however I was motivated. I was not going to let myself slip especially because there were other people just like me trying to take my spot. That month I studied every night, I read everything twice, and I took my notes to the best of my ability. By the end of that quarter my grade had gone up 15 points.

I had competed with myself this time. I was determined to not only get a better grade, but increase my grade by a lot. The other people trying to get into the class did not know that I was in their way of getting into the class and they would have never known whose spot they took. The fact that it was a possibility I would need to step down, forced me to try harder. With out this motivation and aggressiveness, I would have never been successful.

On the other hand, I have had some problems with being this way. I compete over smaller things as well. Things that do not have any meaning to me or anybody else, like checkers for instance. I have never played checkers before and I was very interested in learning how. This summer my boyfriend and I sat down and he taught me the rules of the game. It seemed fun so I challenged him to a match. He warned me that he was very good, but it didn’t faze me because I thought the game was simple. The game was not simple, but extremely complex. It was a game of thought, thought that I was not ready for. During the game he had almost all of my pieces and I had one of his. I am not used to being bad at bored games, so I began to get really aggravated. I left the game before it was over and got really mad. I told him that the game was ridiculous. This reaction happened because losing is not an option for me. I hate losing because it defeats the purpose of playing anything, or at least that is my mind set. After the scene I made over losing, I wanted to play again. Each and every time I ended up walking away. This is where being extremely competitive is not good. It forces me to become mean and not fun to play with.

Being competitive also results in me putting too much pressure on myself. I never give up. In everything I do, even if it’s not worth it anymore, I will not lose focus. For example, in soccer I was a captain of the varsity team for three years. This was because I was a good motivator and leader. I took this job very seriously and was always trying to lift up the team if they were down. I wouldn’t give up even if losing was inevitable because it killed my pride as well as the teams’. In this sense, my motivation was a positive aspect. However, the last soccer game I ever played was about a year ago and it was for the Section Champions of my county. There was a lot of pressure on our team because we were favored to win. All game I was pumping the team up and getting them excited and focused at the same time. At the end of the game it was tied and we needed to go into shoot outs. The pressure was on and I felt that I had the most pressure because I felt that I had to take the blame if we were to lose because maybe I did not do my job. I needed to win this. Not only because it was the last game I would ever be playing, but also because the team had worked so hard. After a few shots on goal, we ended up losing and the pain that I felt hurt so much that I started to cry. I felt that I could have done so many more things to get this team where we should have been. I was striving to be number one and on the way I had overloaded myself. I snapped under pressure and it probably wasn’t worth it.

Ultimately, whether I inherited my determined attitude, or I developed it over time, it has certainly been a huge part of who I am and where I am today. My acceptance to The University of Massachusetts, as well as several other schools, shows good reflections of my hard work and strong-minded focus. I believe, for some, college to be a make or break time. For me, it will only strengthen my mind and hardworking nature and hopefully over time I will be able to control my determined mind-set to a point where I can focus it in a positive direction all the time.