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Competition #2: Ping Pong in Phuket

Posted by Stuart at 07:31 PM on November 07, 2006

After writing the post a couple of days ago about competition in Thailand, I was reminded of another recent event where my competitive streak came out. Piyawat and I spent last weekend in Phuket, and our hotel just happened to have a Ping Pong table. It had been years since the last time I played, so I wanted to give it a try.

Needless to say, I was terrible. And I hated that. Piyawat and I played about six 10-point games, of which I won exactly ONE. Not only was I losing, I was losing by a lot. I think the average score was around 10-3. The more he trash talked me and made fun of my failures, the more frustrated I became. The more frustrated I became, the worse I played.

Finally, I was able to gain control and play a better game. We finished with a 21-point game. I lost by two, which I was satisfied with. At least I was not beating myself

So that is twice in one week that my competitive nature came out, and it was a real mental exercise to focus and gain control. And in both cases, I was reminded about how Thai people in general are not that competitive. Certainly there are exceptions, but by and large I don't see much desire to "win".

I certainly noticed it in my University students. It was very rare that a student would work extra hard to get the best grade in the class. Most were happy being average. The bell curves for the class were always very steep and tall, with not many pushing themselves to stand out from the crowd on either end of the spectrum. They would also be very willing to do homework for their friends and happy to let people copy from their exams. I'd say that is a rare thing in the US, where most are fighting to "beat the curve".

As I mentioned in the last post, I think that I have learned a lot of patience from living in Thailand. And that is a good thing. But I am not so sure that losing my drive or my competitiveness is so good. Maybe it can be toned down a bit though. Everything should be in moderation, after all, right?