Competition is beautiful.

It’s pitting one’s body and mind against opponents, ultimately motivating all parties involved into the desire for growth. Where one competitor may rise to the forefront on a given day, another might take their place a moment later. Competition is put on public display in sport, but it happens all the time and everywhere. In school, in the economy, even in the home (sibling rivalry). What makes competition beautiful is that no matter the competition, it is ever changing. New strategies are constantly being implemented, and improvements regularly added. Just when you think something can’t possibly be beat, version 2.0 comes out. 5 years from now we’ll wonder how any phone ever existed without at least 7 cameras.

Competition is the cornerstone of change and evolution. We are constantly competing with the past, so that in the future we can be better than we were. Those we compete with the hardest, end up shaping us the most, because when we fight to surpass our rivals and idols, we are also surpassing who we once were. When that desire for growth is reciprocated between competitors, that’s when the truly significant steps forward are made. If Federer didn’t have Nadal, would either of them have reached the same level of skill or popularity? Where would women’s hockey be if Canada didn’t have the Americans to push them to be great? If LeBron didn’t look up to Michael Jordan as a benchmark, would he have gotten into the conversation of best ever players?

But just as competition is beautiful, it can also get ugly. Emotions run hot in a competitive environment, and the win at all costs mentality can sink in. The focus of competition begins to go sour when the object of competition changes from defeating one’s opponent at their best, to inhibiting them so they can’t get there. When cheating and obstruction set in in competition, everyone suffers. This could be something small, like pulling the plug on your little brother’s gaming console so he can’t beat your high score. But it often incites a like minded or escalated retaliation, and all of a sudden, no one can play because he pulled all the joysticks out of the controllers. Not to get political, but you can easily witness it via the smear campaigns that tend to take over at election time, which often overshadow the actual platform that a candidate actually represents.

Unfortunately, there are other variations of competition gone awry. Exclusion and unfair treatment also play their part in tarnishing the beauty of competition. For example, sport organizations, or whoever else that fail to improve conditions for their athletes, or provide an equal opportunity to athletes of all genders or races. This poor treatment, more than anything, often results in heated arguments, fights, and lawsuits, hurting everyone involved. These are the things that we should all strive to overcome.

Let’s do our part to keep competition beautiful by following the NBVL’s official motto: Compete Together. Often competition isn’t linked with togetherness, but when we work together and push each other while competing, that’s often where we achieve the most growth, and the most rewarding outcomes. In 2020, NBVL Calgary with Compete Together with NBVL Vancouver, trying to outshine the other, while also striving build each other up. Men and women will Compete Together on separate courts but towards the common team objective of taking the 2020 crown, playing as many of the NBVL’s unique Overtime sets as necessary. All registered athletes will Compete Together at the Combine, comparing themselves to the beach players of various skill levels, while pushing each other to shine in front of team Owners and get chosen in the 2020 Draft (Nov 23rd in Vancouver, 24th in Calgary). Team Owners will Compete Together, vying to put together the strongest teams, and taking the first steps of the season to creating the high level pro beach volleyball environment that will ultimately benefit everyone listed to this point.

Competition is beautiful. When we compete together, it nears perfection.