The Seven Stages of Competition

1. Individual tasks and scoring / no partners / just players working on their personal best.

2. Add a partner / the activity is cooperative / still no scoring

3. Still with a partner / still cooperative / but now you add scoring, but the scoring is against another team.

4. Partner becomes an opponent / the activity is competitive / keep the scoring as part of a team score. 

5. Keep the opponent / the activity is still competitive / but the scoring is now head-to-head. (I win or lose, this is the first form of opposition)

6. Keep the opponent / but the activity moves to point or match play / but the scoring is part of a team score.

7. Keep the opponent / still point or match play / but the scoring is now head-to-head. I’m on my own (I win or lose).

Summary: First players just try to get better compared to themselves, then you can add partners, then add team competition, lastly 1-on-1 competitions. 

It is also recommended that competitions move from:

• Inside the class the player is already attending
• Then to competition outside of class, but still at the player’s club
• Then a competition outside of the player’s club at another club (i.e. tournaments).