Without Losers There Wouldn'T Be Winners Poem by Francis Duggan

Her mum and dad they often told her that the road to success
can be tough
And that winners receive the big ovations and that second place not good enough
And she believed in their philosophy that 'tis not good enough to compete
That every time you finish second you swallow the bitter pill of defeat.

As a young athlete she was brilliant she always finished in first place
And in the National junior 200 metres final she ran perhaps her greatest race
The fastest teenager in Australia and she dreamt of Olympic Gold
But she may have peaked that bit early she was only sixteen years old.

She trained hard but could not run faster and few other races she won
By the girls she had beaten at sixteen at seventeen she was outrun
Her Olympic dreams were in tatters and success seemed much further away
And she opted out of athletics when at eigteen she called it a day.

Her parents so often had told her and she took in what they had said
That winning is only what matter and by their advice she was led
She only could smile as a winner and she could not cope with defeat
And in retrospect she has learnt that by her attitude she was beat.

Her daughter who has just turned fifteen is now a young junior athlete
And her advice to her be happy what matters most is to compete
Without losers there wouldn't be winners and if you don't win lose with grace
And run for the pleasure of running you too are a part of the race.