Play For Fun And Play To Win

The beach volleyball game had always been the highlight in our company beach outing, regardless of the weather. This time around was no different. But unlike in the previous years, the current edition requires at least two female players in the court.

The highest ranked officer in our team emphasized that our first objective is to have fun. And the second objective is to win. I am one of those who at any game want the best players on the court. But we cannot just turn away those players who want to play despite their lack of skills. Not in a company sportsfest.

The first set was close. The weaker players were obviously our team’s weakness. So the boss declared that for the second set, winning shall be our first objective. I assisted him in choosing the better players. But the other team was just so fortunate in their plays. We lost in two sets.

In the afternoon, we played against the loser in the other bracket. We were fighting for third place. The rules changed allowing us to bring in our best players with or without females. I thought that had it been the rule in the elimination round, we would have had a bigger chance of winning. It was also the same with our current opponent. The result: we won in two sets after exhausting ourselves under an early afternoon sun. Then after that, we watched our tormentor win the championship.

A teammate and I just shook our heads. Sometimes, the desire to win takes away the fun. And sometimes, there is no fun at all when you lose.