31/08/2026
We often tend to focus purely on winning and losing, instead of the process, enjoying sport, individual needs and achieving PB’s. After all a new world record is simply a new PB for that performer. This ‘winning is everything’ attitude discourages and restricts both participation and high-level success. It is also a welfare problem, as a blinkered emphasis on winning will mean that horses are more likely to be overstretched.
THE SPACE BETWEEN
Our performance taskmasters
sell triumph or disaster.
No retreat, no surrender,
Not a sport but a war.
But where is the space
for competitive rapport?
Do or die,
death or glory.
But where is the space
for a more nuanced story?
Fortune or failure,
go big or go home.
But where is the space
for the less monochrome?
Pass or fail,
win or bust.
But where is the space
for a little less ‘must’?
Glory or oblivion,
sink or swim.
But where is the space
for something less grim?
Champions or chumps,
rise or fall.
But where is the space
for a less divisive call?
Make or break,
conquer or perish,
But where is the space
for mistakes to be cherished?
First or forgotten,
triumph or fail.
But where is the space
for a sliding scale?
Put up or shut up,
win at all costs.
But where is the space
for learning from loss.
All or nothing,
now or never.
But where is the space
for glorious endeavour?
Winner takes it all,
zero sum game.
But where is the space
for joint acclaim.
Fame or shame,
grace or disgrace.
But where is the space
for joy’s embrace?
Our coaching taskmasters
sell triumph or disaster,
but let’s reject
this sad binary choice,
where difference has no voice.
Instead let’s seek the space between,
where all performers can thrive and dream.
Not a war but a sport.
With space for all,
seen or unseen, fat or lean….
the wrinkled and the wacky!
Happily achieving,
not achieving in order to be happy.
Let’s have a more personal race,
personal action and personal best,
with space for
acceptance and a little less stress …
less cardiac arrest!
The space between means everything,
The space between is pure dopamine.
When we find that space
We win our race.
William Micklem FBHS
