Why Do Some In Our Team-Sport Dominated Culture Prefer Individual Sports?
Adapted from Why We Prefer Individual Sports Over Team Sports
Why does there seem to be this divide in the sporting world where some prefer competing against others while some prefer to compete against either their own previous best or against other athletic endeavors? To answer this let’s look at why some people prefer individualistic endeavors.
Pure Preference
Some of us choose, for reasons rooted in our own individual psychology, to pursue individual sports. Many of these people may be more introverted and prefer to avoid the responsibilities of team play. Alternatively if they are successful the glory is all theirs. This is very satisfying, since there are no teammates that have to share the glory and there is no question who was responsible for victory. However, when things go in a less-than-successful direction there are also no teammates to share in that and you will have to take full responsibility for it. In an individual sport you can train the way you want and make all the decisions. You do not have to train under a coach whose philosophy you may not agree with.
Rationalization Preference
While the above reasons are probably true for a fair number of people, it happens unconsciously based on many factors: socialization & personality. Maybe your parents started you off in an individual sport like swimming when you were three years old or you tried out for basketball but you just didn’t make the team. It is hard to come back from that kind of rejection and kids will often take it very personally. So personally in fact that they may turn against all team sports. How do we react? Usually by switching our loyalty to another sport, individual sport or being too afraid to play sports at all.
Impact on life
Why someone chooses an individual over a team sport has a lot to do with socialization & personality. Which of these has the larger impact is hard to say. We are born with a set of personality traits but socialization also has a huge impact on how those traits do or don’t develop. with personality. It all impacts everything else in a person’s life: work, social life, health, etc. For example, many who participate in individual sports end up doing work that is more individually based versus working with a group. This is not necessarily good or bad. There are pro’s and con’s to each. It just depends on what you want or what your child wants.
Happy fall!
Dr. Michelle
Photo cred: en.wikipedia.org
