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Winning at all
costs'is a phrase
that can blind
participants to what
the costs really are.
Clarisse Machanguana, professional basketball player in the US-based
Women's National Basketball Association, questions the
'win at all costs' ideas that are accepted so often. She lists a
number of incidents to illustrate her concern:
a professional baseball coach who lied to his players about
everything, including being in Vietnam, in order to motivate
his players to win using any means necessary; 7
the father of a hockey player who killed another man in a
dispute over a game in front of his only son and the three
children of the murdered man;
a player who violently elbowed a star member of the opposition,
causing temporary blindness, because he was told by
his coach that they could not win unless that particular
player was removed from the game.
Clarisse Machanguana concluded:
" I think that this eagerness to win at all times and at all co ts is getting out of control, both within the context of sports and in real life issues in general. I think we have
taught ourselves that winning is the only thing that matter
and all else that is experienced while pursuing the goal of
winning is irrelevant. A kid who tries his best to win and
doesn't is most likely to be hassled, labelled as a loser and
thus feel like a loser. "
Bob Knight was coach of the Indiana University basketball team
for 25 years. During this time he verbally and physically abused
his players but many people, such as the following journalist,
found ways of justifying his behaviour:
Unshrink Yourself/MYTH You Are What You Do/Winning At All Costs/Bob Knight/Troy Aikman/Believers In Our Potential/A Confidence Thing/Potential Is Not Fixed/Shrunk Down/Nit Picking/Charles Bronson/MYTH Work Comes First/Missing The Point/Reframe/Get To Work/Artificial Barrier/Live Your Epitaph/Be Your Own Expert | 
