Sports treat it as a mechanism for success.  

Being in the fastest lane or sporting the No.7 jersey, athletes long for being in that someone’s shoe or owning that shoe. This human emotion is commonly prevalent in all of us and athletes too are no different experiencing this- the emotion of Jealousy, the act of Envy. 
Jealousy, said to be the most negative of emotions and looked at as being detrimental to an athlete’s growth, does have its positives. 
Startled!!! Well, you read it right, Jealousy has its positives, and resonating this belief, is leading Counselling and Sports Psychologist and Founder of Mind Sports, Mugdha Dhamankar- Bavare. An erstwhile ace swimmer, Mugdha comprehends the mental well-being of an athlete, and therefore is of the view that, “Jealousy is not always negative. You can convert an opportunity to grow by learning from others how excellence can be achieved. This thinking is way more effective and helpful than being negative and draining yourself.” 
Jealousy hits the roof, when athletes treat social comparison in bad light, shadowed by the pointless guilt of being inept. Sports experts say that, Comparison is to be dealt with reverence and value, coupled with the right approach. So what’s the approach?? 

Streamline Approach!! 

Likewise a swimmer’s perfect streamline, here is an approach to deal with Jealousy, followed in the sports eco-system of India, in one such institution, the Glenmark Aquatic Foundation (GAF), India’s leading swim school. Associated with GAF, is aquatic Coach Sathish Kumar, who trains and mentors competitive swimmers. Instilling the spirit of Competitiveness and overcoming the Green emotion Jealousy, arising out of social comparison, Coach Sathish adapts to varied strategies, one of them being knowledge exchange of strokes amongst swimmers. This activity highlights every swimmer’s ability at its best and tones down the feeling of timidity within the athletes. 

Echoing her coach’s teachings is Kiara Bangera, a swimming prodigy, having several national and international medals to her credit. Kiara, being at the peak in her swim life opines that “Jealousy is an emotion; most people look down upon, as it shows a ‘petty’ character, but I think it otherwise. Jealousy can be used in a positive way to get better and work on yourself and as my coach says, you can’t control what someone else does; but if you manage to deal with the emotion positively, it will take you closer to your goal”. 
Intent – Let Go 

Moreover, Coach Sathish feels that Sports is all about emotions and the very aspect of it being Jealousy, is something which one shouldn’t shy away from displaying; but at the same time not hold on to it. He firmly believes that the intent of ‘let go’, gets the athlete to be better in the sport and most of all better beings. 

Going with the same ideation is Kshama Iyer, yet another promising swimmer, training at GAF; she enthusiastically comments on the usual scene, faced by an athlete on an and off the pool, “I too have felt jealous at some point, and did shy away from expressing it, but after years of training and competing at meets, I realised that Jealousy is just a simple feeling which is lesser than envy and the best way is to express it is in the pool and should be used as a positive driver to push the swimmer further”. 

Moreover, being a keen follower of Auto Racing, Coach Sathish, takes learnings from his idol Lewis Hamilton, and imparts it to his young swimmers. The objective is primarily to make athletes realise that, akin to Hamilton, who believes that Success is a religious process and that falling prey to social comparisons can be mentally damaging to one’s growth. 

He further adds that, there are distractions and diversions physically and mentally in every walk of life, and it's here that one has to believe in oneself and have broader and a hawk eye vision to handle Jealousy. 

Hawk Eye View 

In verity, and if looked at with a hawk eye view, we should rewrap this emotion Jealousy and open it up with the objective in mind to improve ourselves to be better athletes. Thus, accepting the fact that every athlete has a different skill set and feel inspired that in this process of development, a feeling of glee that you are a better athlete today, than you were yesterday. 

It is also imperative that we identify the sparkle of jealousy as an impetus to move towards betterment and additionally, let the negative phase off. 

-Shefali N. 

Shefali is a Communication and Content Specialist, an ardent Sports enthusiast and a Happy Swim Parent. She was associated with the Public Relations Domain, working for various Corporates; she has independently worked on varied Content Writing projects, weaving articles primarily for webpages and marketing collaterals. Of late, Shefali has been pursuing her passion- teaching, wherein she tutors and facilitates Speech and Dramatics to prep, middle school and high school students. 

Disclaimer: Views and opinions expressed in the article are solely of the participants.