Let the Games Begin
The Value of Competition to Learning
Swen Nater

Competition Can Accelerate Learning
Under Coach Wooden, all practices were divided into five sections: Fundamentals, 3-on-2 Conditioning, Breakdown of offense or defense, Scrimmage, Special situations. The last four were mainly game-like competition. The first, Fundamentals, were taught in isolation but often turned into competitive situations as well. One example is The Shooting Competition. Once the basics of the jump shot were taught, Coach divided us into three groups and we competed. First team to 15 wins.  Hold that thought.

I would guess that in at least 70% of UCLA practices under Coach Wooden we were competing against each other in some way. Don’t get me wrong; he drilled in the basics every day. But he didn’t wait for mastery. He put us into the heat of competition to test our skills. Are you a classroom teacher? Are you a drill team or cheerleading coach? Are you a sport coach? In almost any teaching venue, competition, if properly managed, can accelerate learning. Here are some reasons why. Competition…

1. Exposes what fundamentals are weak and need more work.
2. Allows student to take self-inventory.
3. Displays how students react to adversity or success.
4. Adds pressure and pressure speeds up thinking and reacting.
5. Creates teamwork.
6. Prepares students for exams, to be your best when your best is needed.
7. Helps students learn from failure and come back stronger and wiser.
8. Keeps students on task longer.
9. Drills in the fundamentals at high speed, increasing repetitions and shortening the feedback loop (Alan Lambert).
10. Simulates life. Life is competitive (Earl Salter).
11. Is fun. With good facilitation, more learning takes place when students are having a good time as well.

Competition Must Be Controlled to Be Effective
Competitive games, if carefully devised, can be productive. If not, they can have no value or even become counterproductive. Going back to The Shooting Competition, in order to make the game drill in the fundamentals of passing, shooting, and following the shot, Coach set rules.
1. Shooter must rebound his own shot (nobody else can touch the ball).
2. Shoot fifteen feet from the basket on this spot.

That’s it. Had he not set the rules, a non-shooter would have waited under the basket, got the rebound or miss, and fired it back to the next shooter. That would speed things up. And, we would have cheated by moving in closer to the basket.

Rules are important in order to help competition get the desired results. Here are some other guidelines that will help.
1. All fundamentals needed in the competition must be developed to a satisfactory degree before putting them to the test. Otherwise, it will be sloppy.
2. Competition cannot embarrass or discourage the less-talented and less-skilled.
3. If possible, the movements in the game should resemble the real game.

Let the Games Begin
I told you about Mr. Calvetti before. He’s the Victorville, CA, elementary school teacher that was teacher of the year more times than Pee Chee has folders. He created a competition for multiplication tables. After teaching value, I witnessed an entire 5th-grade class virtually memorize their 8s in one hour.

Competition need not be against people; it can be against a clock or record that needs to be broken. Can you come up with a competitive game to accelerate spelling? How about diagramming sentences, memorizing the presidents or the US states? Can you come up with a game to help cheerleaders memorize the routine faster? Let the games begin.

Competition in Perspective
Two final thoughts: Competition must not be overused, and Competition is not an end-all.

Coach Wooden used some form of competition for most of practice. But for classroom teaching and depending on the class, that may be too much. It’s the teacher’s call. Don Dinero, author of Training Within Industry, The Foundation of Lean, says,

I think competition is like stress; we need some to have us perform at our optimum, but too much will have the opposite effect.

Competition is not an end-all. As Franklin D. Roosevelt reminds us, it’s just one step toward the ultimate—working well with others.

Competition has been shown to be useful up to a certain point and no further, but cooperation, which is the thing we must strive for today, begins where competition leaves off.