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put winning before having fun, Justin’s father would pull them aside. “It’s hard for everyone to have fun when all you care about is winning,” Justin’s father would say, and he was right. When Justin got a little older, this started to change. A few of Justin’s friends signed up for Little League baseball, so Justin asked if he could join, too. Justin’s father was happy to see his son was interested in sports, so the next day, he signed Justin up and even offered to coach one of the teams. Justin’s father was a good Little League coach. He treated all kids equally and cared a lot more about having fun than winning. The first few years of Little League were a lot of fun for Justin. He grew closer to his friends on the team and learned a lot about the game. His favorite positions were pitcher and third base. Justin had a strong arm, which is important for third basemen. There is a lot of distance between first and third base. Being able to quickly throw the ball from third to first meant he could get a lot of kids out when they hit the ball his way. After a few years, Justin’s father stopped coaching. His work schedule changed, which made it hard for him to make it to practices. But he never missed one of Justin’s games. He loved to see Justin having fun with his friends. Justin’s friend Tony’s father took on coaching duties. He was a lot more competitive than Justin’s father. When someone is competitive, he cares about being better than others at something. Being competitive when playing sports can be good—if you still care about having fun. Being competi- tive can also make a player put his team before himself. For example, when an important game was coming up and it was Justin’s turn to pitch, Justin’s coach asked him if he wouldn’t mind let- ting Malik pitch instead. Malik was a better pitcher than Justin, who was the best third baseman on the team. Justin liked pitching and was sad to give up the position to another player. But he knew that his team would have a better chance of winning if Malik was pitching and he was on third. He told his coach he didn’t mind and only wanted what was best for the team. This was a good decision. Justin’s team won the game by only a run, and he knew they might have lost had he pitched. Being too competitive and caring too much about whether your team wins or loses can be very dangerous. Not only can it take the fun out of the game, it can lead someone to put winning before her own health and safety. You move a lot when you play sports, and small bumps and bruises are bound to happen. When someone is too competitive, she may think she should just “suck it up,” or continue playing despite the pain. Some very competitive people think sucking it up is an important part of playing sports. For example, Justin was fielding a ground ball at third base when a small bump in the field caused the ball to pop off the ground and hit him in the face. Justin quickly scrambled for the ball and threw it to first. The player who hit the ball was called safe. Justin’s coach ran onto the field and asked if he was okay. Justin said yes, despite the large bruise that was beginning to form on his cheek, where the ball had hit him. Justin’s coach told him to take a breather and ice the bruise, but Justin refused. He wanted to stay in the game to help his team win. Justin’s coach said, “OK,” and returned to the side of the field. The next ball was hit down the third base line. This time, Jus- tin fielded the ball well and threw it quickly to second base. The second baseman threw it to first,

Real-Life Stories

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