"God answers my prayers everywhere except on the golf-course."
Competition
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Gary Warner, Publisher: David C. Cook, Elgin, IL 1979 ISBN 0-89191-074-3
Gary Warner deserves immense praise for attempting to wrestle with issues of competition in sport from a Christian perspective as long ago as 1979.
His starting premise is that most Christian athletes, coaches, parents and fans struggle with their own competitive nature. [Page 10]
Warner makes an excellent contribution to the debate on the relationship between winning or performance - is it more satisfying to do a personal best and lose or win because the competition was undemanding? Similarly he raises the issue of whether the preparation and the whole occasion are not more important than the result. [page 29]
A good example of this is a letter sent to the author by Tim Davenport, a bright and articulate quarterback at Harvard, ''Why, as a junior in college, am I just learning to enjoy the sport that has been such a big part of my life? The Game is such a small portion of the total time, effort, and commitment involved in most any sport that it is a shame it receives so much emphasis. I wish someone had helped me learn to enjoy the preparation and expect less of the outcome. The championship season or the game won seldom results in expectation fulfilled.'' [Page 26]
The chapter "Jesus the competitor" is interesting and draws on some useful additional material.
A valuable contribution to our understanding of competition.