Spent a week with my relatives and saw upclose, the sheer chanceness of winning in sports.
Till now, I believed that the winners in sports are unique and to some extent superior (to those who come second, third, fourth, etc) because they won. But after watching a young pre-teen kid swimming in competitive events, I discovered a whole lot of factors, UNRELATED to the swimmer which affects winning. Winning is not simply because of the winner's talent and efforts. Winning/not winning is heavily impacted by factors over which the swimmer has little or no control; winning is affected by so many factors and people. I am listing below a few I discovered last week.
This kid has parents who are supportive and can afford the swimming costs. If this kid's parents were too busy at work or not disciplined enough to wake early, drive to and bring her back from the pool daily for years together, she would not be swimming competitively.
The swim suit itself affects speed I discovered! Apparently a body-fitting swimsuit increases speed of swimmer and those who wear it can swim a bit faster than those with other swimsuits!(a few seconds or milli-seconds faster)
This kid belongs to a Brahmin family of strict vegetarians and her diet consists of mostly rice and junk food which kids eat...ice creams, cookies, etc. She has only recently added eggs to her diet and I know for a fact that she would have more stamina, muscle if only she had meat in her diet. I firmly believe that a vegetarian competing with meat-eaters in a physical sport such as swimming is really handicapped.
I discovered that the lanes in the pool are affected differently by the currents. The lanes at the edge of the pool are affected much more by currents than the middle lanes and so the speed of swimmers in the end lanes are negatively impacted. Apparently the coaches put the weaker swimmers in the end lane and in my opinion this is like handicapping an already handicapped person!
The meets (competitions) are held the entire day and my niece competed in a number of them. She did well in the earlier competitions and was selected but did not do well in the competitions which were held at the end of the day. I believe that she would have fared well in all the competitions if they were held on a different days instead of having them all on one single day. Timing of the meets, number of competitions in a day, number of competitions the swimmer is competing in a day, etc are factors affecting the fatigue level and hence the performance.
The temperature of the water affects speed and this is another invisible factor affecting a swimmer's speed.
The swimmer having cramps or some physical issues on the day of the meet affects performance and chance of winning or losing.
Age of the swimmer definitely affects many aspects of the swimmers. My niece is 12 and competing in an older age group and she is agt the bottom of this group due to her being younger and less experienced. Putting her with older kids was the coach's idea.
My niece would have missed this meet and ergo not go selected as she had to visit India. The function in India was postponed for some reason and so she happened to be around and got selected during the meet. Her being around and getting selected was definitely due to luck to some extent.
I discovered the many factors affect one's chance of winning that I respect the non-winners much more now!
Till now, I believed that the winners in sports are unique and to some extent superior (to those who come second, third, fourth, etc) because they won. But after watching a young pre-teen kid swimming in competitive events, I discovered a whole lot of factors, UNRELATED to the swimmer which affects winning. Winning is not simply because of the winner's talent and efforts. Winning/not winning is heavily impacted by factors over which the swimmer has little or no control; winning is affected by so many factors and people. I am listing below a few I discovered last week.
This kid has parents who are supportive and can afford the swimming costs. If this kid's parents were too busy at work or not disciplined enough to wake early, drive to and bring her back from the pool daily for years together, she would not be swimming competitively.
The swim suit itself affects speed I discovered! Apparently a body-fitting swimsuit increases speed of swimmer and those who wear it can swim a bit faster than those with other swimsuits!(a few seconds or milli-seconds faster)
This kid belongs to a Brahmin family of strict vegetarians and her diet consists of mostly rice and junk food which kids eat...ice creams, cookies, etc. She has only recently added eggs to her diet and I know for a fact that she would have more stamina, muscle if only she had meat in her diet. I firmly believe that a vegetarian competing with meat-eaters in a physical sport such as swimming is really handicapped.
I discovered that the lanes in the pool are affected differently by the currents. The lanes at the edge of the pool are affected much more by currents than the middle lanes and so the speed of swimmers in the end lanes are negatively impacted. Apparently the coaches put the weaker swimmers in the end lane and in my opinion this is like handicapping an already handicapped person!
The meets (competitions) are held the entire day and my niece competed in a number of them. She did well in the earlier competitions and was selected but did not do well in the competitions which were held at the end of the day. I believe that she would have fared well in all the competitions if they were held on a different days instead of having them all on one single day. Timing of the meets, number of competitions in a day, number of competitions the swimmer is competing in a day, etc are factors affecting the fatigue level and hence the performance.
The temperature of the water affects speed and this is another invisible factor affecting a swimmer's speed.
The swimmer having cramps or some physical issues on the day of the meet affects performance and chance of winning or losing.
Age of the swimmer definitely affects many aspects of the swimmers. My niece is 12 and competing in an older age group and she is agt the bottom of this group due to her being younger and less experienced. Putting her with older kids was the coach's idea.
My niece would have missed this meet and ergo not go selected as she had to visit India. The function in India was postponed for some reason and so she happened to be around and got selected during the meet. Her being around and getting selected was definitely due to luck to some extent.
I discovered the many factors affect one's chance of winning that I respect the non-winners much more now!
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