Competition is good.  Why?  Because it teaches kids how to lose.  Over the last couple of decades the cultural trend asserting that everyone is the same has gained momentum.  This philosophy takes away any real sense of achievement or opportunity to build self-esteem and, more importantly, resilience.  Even  If we want to build resilience in children we have to let them experience disappointment and teach them how to cope with it.   Life will provide them soon enough with experiences of not measuring up – when they don’t get the ATAR they hoped or the job they wanted – and being a Physie girl can actually help them learn to cope with what adult life will bring.  At Physie they learn to work towards goals and that this takes time, sometimes many, many years.  In today’s society of instant gratification, this is a valuable lesson.  Recently a lady in her thirties who won a national title said to me, “I’ve been working for this all my life and I finally achieved it.”  But not everyone can be a winner.  In Physie, when things don’t work out the way a girl wants, she will get support from other team members, her teachers, her club supporters and the friends she has made.  If she doesn’t win she is encouraged to keep trying.  But even more importantly, she will learn that winning actually isn’t everything and that being proud of yourself, achieving a personal best and getting a hug from a physie mate are priceless.  That’s a real lesson.