A Little League sign lists reminders: kids are involved, the activity is a game, coaches volunteer, umpires are human, and no scholarships are awarded. The sign reflects concerns about youth sports becoming expensive, time-consuming, and driven by parental frustration. Youth sports include players with different motivations, from wanting to excel to simply wanting to play with friends. Some children react to failure with tears and shame, while others stay upbeat regardless of outcomes. The same pattern appears across life: people pursue excellence in some contexts and accept mediocrity in others. The excellent and the ordinary coexist with tension, especially when seriousness is misapplied to situations meant for play.
"What's true for Little League holds for the rest of life. In some contexts, at some times, we strive for excellence, pushing ourselves. Elsewhere, we shrug, accepting our own ordinariness or mediocrity. The excellent and the ordinary coexist, but have an uneasy relationship."
Read at The New Yorker
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