Why we play

Tennis star Maria Sharapova speaks during a news conference in Los Angeles on Monday, March 7, 2016. Sharapova says she has failed a drug test at the Australian Open. AP

TO PLAY for the sheer love of it is the usual reason why it’s very enjoyable to learn a new sport. We have no expectations and no self-judgements. 

To borrow the NBA tag line on TV: “This is why we play.”

Though old in news but still lingering in my heart is the news of Maria Sharapova’s use of banned drugs.

I have always admired her in the road she took to rise and attain her stature in the world of tennis.  As she, together with Ana Ivanovic, was in my bucket list, I saw her in person play in a tournament a few years ago.

What is it that drives an athlete with already so much fame and fortune to break the rules of the game of life to the point of endangering her longevity not only in the sport but in her life?

She only had a few hundred dollars in her pocket when she left her homeland to train in the US.  Knowing this makes me ask the question of how far one goes before waking up to the realization that maybe one has crossed the line?

What have we allowed the “games” we play, whatever game it may be, unknowingly to turn us into?

It may be a good time to reflect on what it is that really pushes all of us so far and hard that we lose sight of our moral compasses.  I was always of the belief that the athlete and those who support him have the choice of where to draw the line.

Perhaps the regulating bodies will have to take a more active role in helping the athlete not lose sight of why he plays.  In doing so, we may save Sharapova’s painful tragedy from going to waste and remember, after all, why we play.

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