Counterpoint: Fun in Sports is Overrated
It’s hard to say fun is overrated because fun is fun. Kids play sports because playing sports is fun. So once you take the fun out of sports, what do you have left? Blood, sweat, and tears…
For the average athlete playing sports when it’s not fun is a non-starter. All blood, sweat and tears with no fun makes sports pointless for most. However, this is not true for everyone.
For many elite athletes the only fun that matters is the fun found in performing at their absolute best. Furthermore, they accept that doing what it takes to perform at their best is not fun. These elite athletes understand that putting your mind and body through the training pain required to perform at an elite level requires sacrificing fun now to get the reward of fun later.
In fact, the only way to get one’s mind and body to perform at an elite level is to do so by completing boring, repetitive tasks that are far from fun.
Don’t Confuse Fun with Satisfaction
While you decide whether or not you agree with me on this counterpoint, be sure not to confuse fun with satisfaction. An activity can satisfy you and not be fun. What’s more, it’s the satisfaction an elite athlete gains from working hard on their passions that motivates them to toil for long hours doing things that aren’t fun. Often, when an elite athlete describes hard work as fun, they are really saying it’s satisfying to work hard to get better at something they’re passionate about.
This is also what makes elite athletes different. Not only are elite athletes able to endure the absence of fun, they’re also extremely passionate about what they do. Without this passion, there’s no satisfaction. This is why an athlete can only reach an elite level by loving what they do more than anything else.