Whether you are watching Manchester United play Chelsea or playing against the other team at BUG, how do you view the other team?
Are they your "enemy" "opponent" or "arch-rival"?
We know sports live by comparison. To be better than someone else is a basic thought in sport. So we need competition in order to gauge our performance level. What's the point of having 22 guys in a field kicking a ball if no one bother to take score!
However, when we look at the other team as our "enemies", we would have little love for them. Look at them as "opponents" and we would just want to beat them. If they are our "arch-rivals" then nothing but a win is acceptable. These attitudes may cause us to be very un-Christ like whether we are playing the game or simply watching from the grandstand.
Let us learn a new way in looking at the other team. They should be our "CO-COMPETITORS."
"In sport we need each other to maximize our potential and we need competition in order to maximize our gifts and perform to the best of our ability. Christian competition is about striving with all our might but within the rules and etiquette of the game. It is striving to maximize the gifts God has given us in a competitive environment. Will not the God who promised us in John 10: 10 (I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full) rejoice when we compete and reach our full potential?" - extracted from Stuart Weir book: What the book says about sports [page 69].
When we began to understand that we need them (our fellow co-competitors) to draw out the best that is within us, we would appreciate their competitiveness. With this paradigm shift, surely any competition would become more fun.
-The Saint-