2.3.5: Competition

Games are a great ally to defeat frustration, replacing this big demon in learning with fun, enthusiasm and motivation. However, with games comes competition, and with competition comes a question:

Is it good to have competition in circus or should circus, as a ‘non competitive’ activity, reject competition?

Before answering this question, it is a good idea to analyse the form that competition takes and how we can manage it. There are 4 kinds of competition:

Competition with others when the game or the challenge is with or against other participants; Competition with groups when the game or the challenge is between different groups or your group against another group; Competition with yourself when the game or the challenge is with or against yourself;

As you can see, there are big differences in the types of competition we can make use of, and in general the last two listed build more positive energy within the group, and encourage longer lasting individual motivation. This does not mean that the other two types are ‘outlawed’ in circus education. On the contrary they can be used, carefully, to increase inner motivation and also to reach the 3rd level with more enthusiasm and the 4th level with more passion and cohesion.

By developing competition as a group, by creating challenges and trials, we are encouraging the group to collaborate together. To get the best results, the group will need to support each other, communicate, develop strategies and recognise the qualities of each individual.

Tips to manage competition positively are:

• Put focus on the game, the challenge and the process, and minimise the importance of the result. • Propose competition across different areas which require different competencies. If we always suggest challenges based on strength and agility, we will encourage a small group, but discourage many others. Instead, if we want make use of competition, we must make sure that we vary the attributes needed: for example creativity, elegance, cunning, etc.

We’ll finish this chapter with Donald Winnicott’s wisdom: “Playing is itself a therapy”13 . Competition as a group when the game or the challenge is with or against your own group.

13 “to arrange for children to be able to play is itself a psychotherapy that has immediate and universal

application, and it includes the establishment of a positive social attitude towards playing”; from Winnicott, D. W. 1971a. Playing and Reality. London: Routledge (p. 50).