Bridie+Opinion+Writing

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3 September 2009 Whether you play netball, rugby, soccer or basketball you’re always going to have a winning team and a losing team. People have been playing competitive sports for many years and I believe people are getting more and more competitive as each year passes.  Some people are very competitive and will always want to win the sport they are playing where as others will go out with a positive attitude and will tell you they're playing their chosen sport for fun. In my opinion you should always try your best, but winning isn’t always the most important thing and here are some examples why.

Firstly, although winning will make you happy, playing for fun and knowing you had fun will also make happy and even though you have lost you won’t be angry because you have had fun. I think sport is about having fun and playing as a team and if one person is really competitive and wants to win the other team members may not have as much fun if they are being pressured to win. Sports should be about having fun with friends and enjoying yourself and keeping fit.

To continue, if you are wanting to win so bad, this may encourage you to take performance enhancing drugs and this is bad for you as an athlete and also because if you are found out, you could be banned from your sport and then you wouldn't be able to play at all. This may also give the "competitive one" an excuse to get their friends into these kinds of drugs and they may hurt themselves and get really bad side effects. If you play for fun, it's not going to matter whether you win or lose because you have had fun playing the sport you were playing and haven't wasted your life using performance enhancing drugs.

On the other hand if people are playing to win it will encourage them to do their best and will make them better players. So then they will improve and get better at their sport and may even be able to represent their country playing their chosen sport. Take the All Blacks; they don't go out there just to have fun and muck around on the field, they go out there to make their country proud and to try their best to win games and trophies. If they didn't we probably wouldn't be any good and wouldn't beat the other teams such as the Wallabies and South Africa.

Furthermore, if both teams are playing to win it will make the game a better game. Everyone will be trying their best and working hard to help their team win. You will have fun when both teams are trying their best especially if you like competition as it will be harder to win and you will have to work for it. If the other team is just out there for fun, you’re going to win, but you won’t have as much fun as you would when it's a real competition.

So in conclusion, winning can make you a better player, but you won’t have as much fun if you lose and haven't had fun. So you should always try your best but have fun doing it as you won’t be wasting your team and you will have great fair play skills.

 Smacking. Should it be illegal? Smacking is defined as a slap or a hard hit in the dictionary but to me it is an act of discipline, or to teach your child what they are doing is wrong. There is a difference between smacking your child to teach them that something is wrong, and abusing them or hitting them with objects. The bill was passed in 2007 but they are now holding a referendum. I think this is an absolute waste of money and that most people are either going to throw out their papers or just not vote. I believe that there should be no law against smacking children to teach them a lesson but there should be one against abusing your child.

To begin with banning smacking will not only bring more people into court for no real important reason but it will waste money and other peoples time because they will have to be on the jury and will most likely have to take a day off work. People may be prosecuted when they haven’t done something as bad as murdering someone or stealing. All they have done is disciplined their child and the law for this has got them prosecuted.

My second point would be that children know they are being punished when they are being smacked and so they realise what they have done is wrong and know that they shouldn’t do it again. If you put your child in a “Naughty Corner” they are going to find it as a bit of a joke and are going to find it funny because when they run off from the naughty corner you’re going to run after them so basically it’s going to turn into one big game. With a smack they will realise you are serious and they will learn not to do it again.

Furthermore parents are supposed to care for their children and teach them things that are right and wrong so, when punishment is needed, smacking should be allowed. If children don’t learn imagine what schools will be like with every child causing havoc and not knowing why they are being put into detention or getting told off. As long as a smack is for something reasonable it should be allowed.

As I have said I believe that smacking should not be illegal as long as it is in good reason. I believe that smacking teaches children right and wrong and is more effective than any other punishment. I also think that the Government of New Zealand have wasted a lot of money (9 million dollars) on something that wasn’t really worth it. So to sum it up I think the law should not have been put into place and I think they should change it back.