Philosophy Reflection 3: Something that I have learned in the course that is meaningful or
interesting to you?
By: Kiley Lance
The topic that I found to be meaningful to me throughout this course was the idea of the
Olympism. Growing up I was immersed within sports, between my sister and I we played what
feels like almost all of them. However, as I got older, I choose to focus on soccer and like all
young athletes I had dreams of playing for team Canada at the Olympic games. When it came
time for high school, I opted to go to a sports high school to further my focus on soccer. When
the Greek philosophers were looking into Olympism, they stated that they would come back to
the question “what is it to live a good life”. It later goes on to explain that they believe that in
order to live a good life human need to flourish, and we can easily tell if we are flourishing or
dying. I found this meaningful because I believe that many young athletes have very high
expectations for themselves, however quiet often they do not take a step back to realize that even
if they do not exceed every expectation or goal they are still flourishing. For me personally I do
not believe that I would have flourished in other aspects of my life if I was not an athlete and that
is why I believe this flourishing ideology is very meaningful.
Works Cited
Ryall, Emily. Philosophy of Sport: Issues and Ideas. Bloomsbury, 2015.