The Thrill of the Game: Why I Crave Competitive Sports
While I enjoy physical activity, my true passion lies in the realm of competitive sports. There’s a unique energy that comes from pushing yourself against an opponent,striving for victory in a short burst of intense action.
Unlike solitary pursuits like weightlifting, which focus on self-betterment, competitive sports like soccer, basketball, or tennis ignite a fire within me. The thrill of the challenge, the adrenaline rush of a close match, and the satisfaction of outmaneuvering an opponent are experiences I find deeply rewarding.
Some find fulfillment in running, even competing against others for personal bests. For me, running is more of a personal journey, a test of endurance and mental fortitude. While I appreciate the discipline it requires,I crave the dynamic interaction and strategic thinking that come with team sports.
My competitive spirit drives me too constantly improve, to push my limits and strive for excellence. While I acknowledge that I still have much to learn about teamwork and sportsmanship, the allure of the game, the thrill of the competition, continues to captivate me. but I am cautious, but I view running as a form of exercise that trains oneself. From my viewpoint, running is a fight against myself. I am still a poor person who likes to win over others rather than myself. So I don’t like just running.
basketball was my main sport until high school. At lunchtime, I always ate in a hurry, ran to the gym, and sweated hard. As I can tell you now, there were many times when I skipped self-study at night and played basketball. Then, when I entered university, the importance of soccer increased rapidly. The university I graduated from had a soccer league every year, and during the year-long league period, I trained and played league games against other departments. To exaggerate a bit, I went to school to play soccer. I made so many memories, and even now that I am in my late 30s, it was really fun to see that the friends I still hang out with are seniors and juniors from the same department and soccer club.
I quit my job and went to Germany to study for my master’s degree. While studying abroad for about two years, I joined a local soccer team, trained during the week and played in local league games on the weekends. (It was a rural area, so there really wasn’t much to do…) It was a time when everyone around me was wondering if I was studying soccer abroad, and I was working out at the gym to get better at soccer in order to adapt to the rough and physical German soccer.It was also the time when I had the best physical strength in my life.
After I got a job, I moved to the city and played soccer with the Korean soccer team every Saturday morning. Since I had a lot of time, I did a variety of activities such as riding a bike, swimming, playing beach volleyball in the summer, and hiking in the winter. Meanwhile, I injured my ankle once while playing basketball, and suffered a serious fracture in my arm while playing soccer. In particular, it took about a year to rehabilitate after injuring my arm, and this experience led me to avoid sports that involve intense physical contact with others and the possibility of injury.
When I got injured, the stress of not being able to exercise for a certain period of time was very high, so I thought about a sport I could play without getting hurt, and the sport I found was ‘tennis.’ now let’s talk about tennis, finally!
I learned tennis for about two years when I was in middle school. I took lessons and played games,and since I learned quickly,my tennis skills quickly improved. Then,I fell in love with basketball and fell away from tennis. I picked up a racket again in my 30s,and fortunately,my body still remembered the sport of tennis to some extent. I thought it was just a competitive sport, but tennis, which I discovered again in my 30s, was different. Unlike previous sports such as basketball/soccer, there was no need to keep pounding as if your heart was going to explode; rather, it was more crucial to keep your mind at ease and control the tempo. Ah, this is it! If possible, I thought it was a sport I would like to play with my son, and even with my grandson/granddaughter when I become a grandfather.
Corona broke out and I came back to Korea. After returning to Korea, I am enjoying early morning tennis. Maybe it’s because I only have free time on Saturday mornings. The weekend with my family begins when I return home from tennis. Many friends who play tennis also enjoy golf together. I briefly learned golf when I was a college student, and even though I tried to hang out with others, golf still wasn’t fun for me. There are many reasons why golf is better than tennis for me as a 30-year-old, but I personally prefer tennis over golf because it consumes less time than golf, so I can spend the weekend with my family, and I still sweat while running. Of course, this is also true from a cost perspective. I may get better at golf when I get older, but the best sport for me now is tennis!
