It  starts with your heart pounding and a tingly feeling, athlete’s get when they know the win is coming. For some athletes, this is the only reason to play. For softball player Deighton Butenschoen, the feeling of accomplishment that comes from winning is one of her favorite parts of playing any sport. The feeling of winning sparks Butenschoen’s competitive spirit, driving her to achieve that feeling every game.

“That feeling of winning,” Butenschoen said. “Just the feeling that I have done as much as possible to contribute.”

To do this, Butenschoen and others rely on several different techniques to drive themselves to win, including different rewards and punishments after the game, a pregame ritual or something else. For Butenschoen, having a good attitude going into games and practices allows her to contribute all she can to the team to be able to win.

“Your spirit definitely affects how you will play,” Butenschoen said. “I know if I’m not having a good day I’m not going to play as well.”

Butenschoen knows she cannot be the only one with a positive attitude on the team if they truly want to win. She knows her teammates will help lift her up and they can help each other to make the game or practice the best that they can.

“If I go into a game and I’m not having a good day but someone else is they’re going to help me get my spirit up to want to go and win that game,” Butenschoen said.

Despite trying to keep the positive attitude, not all athletes have the same motivation to play sports to win. According to Butenschoen, she has no problem with people who just want to have fun while playing, but she has her doubts about them saying that they just want to play for fun.

“Everybody is going to have some sort of competitive spirit,” Butenschoen said. “You may start out for fun, but by the end you’re going to have some competitive drive.”

Sometimes when athletes get too serious, they forget about being a teenager, do not encourage their teammates or do not enjoy the sport they are in. For senior track and field athlete Danielle Tebbe, running means having fun with her team and staying in shape.

“I mainly run for the exercise, but I also like the team environment,” Tebbe said.

Tebbe has run track for four years and has had many ups and downs throughout her running career. These troubles have helped Tebbe put her running career in perspective, deciding when it is right to be very competitive and when it is not.

During her earlier years of track, Tebbe was very competitive because of the older girls. The upperclassmen were stiff competition. If she wanted to be that top girl, she would need a lot of competitive drive.

“All of the older people were intimidating and you wanted to beat them so you could show them what you got,” Tebbe said.

As she has gotten older, Tebbe has realized that some people are going to be faster than her and she cannot let that be the only thing that motivates her. She has learned not to be upset when people beat her, but instead enjoy her time running and enjoy her team. Rather than trying to beat them out for a Varsity spot, she cheers for them to do their best.

While Tebbe supports all of her fellow athletes, there are times she thinks that athletes take it too far. When athletes are only motivated by winning they may begin to not be a team player, get overly cocky or push themselves beyond what they should do.

“When you’re just playing to win you can push yourself too hard and burn yourself out from that intense training,” Tebbe said.