Most competitions are held over a defined period of time—the 60 minutes of football. When the contest is over, competitors can relax, leave it behind, and separate themselves from how well they did in the game. In elite schools, this isn’t the case. The competition for good grades is endless; the comparisons never cease. It’s not just a game—it’s their life, with real outcomes. Competition is not just about winning; sometimes it’s about surviving. To lose in a game is something men can rebound from. But to be losing in life, day in and day out, gets to them. They can’t escape it.
