Life Is More Like Boxing Than Running Track: A Metaphor

Introduction: Metaphor and Sports

Using metaphoric examples is something that has been done in literature for many years. Metaphoric examples allow the writer to explain situations in terms that may be more easily grasped by the reader. In addition, they paint a clear picture of what the writer is trying to convey by comparing and contrasting ideas in various lights, using metaphors as the foundation. In describing life, it is easy to find many metaphors that could be applied so that the reader will understand the underlying points. Using sports as a metaphoric tool is a technique that authors often employ to paint a picture for the reader, since illustrating life can otherwise be a complicated venture.

Early Life and Initial Training

Using sports metaphors, one can easily compare life to track and boxing. When one examines the issues found in each of these sports and holds them against life's path, it becomes clear that life is much more like boxing than it is like track — though there are similarities to both.

The early stages of life can easily be compared to the beginning stages of both track and boxing. The childhood years can be likened to training for either sport. Children are busy learning the ropes of life, which include morals, values, and other things that will assist them throughout their adult lives. These lessons also cover many basics such as primary education and the important social skills that will be needed later on. The basics are taught through many avenues, including modeled behavior, formal lessons, and common sense developed through experience. The sports of boxing and track also require a certain amount of preliminary training, including learning about the sport, understanding the rules, and mastering other foundational elements. These rules can be learned through the same methods by which life's rules and lessons are absorbed — watching modeled behavior, receiving formal instruction, and gaining common sense through lived experience.

The Boxing Metaphor: Dancing, Weaving, and Seizing Opportunity

In both boxing and track, one learns the sport initially by taking baby steps, and this holds true in life as well. Track and boxing participants begin with small exercises and introductory events to get a feel for the discipline, just as people in life begin by crawling before pulling themselves up and walking upright. This, however, is where the similarities end when comparing track and boxing to life's path.

After the initial training has taken place — the learning to walk, the formal education, and the accumulation of common sense through experience — life's path begins to resemble boxing in many important ways. Life is filled with ups and downs. A boxer must learn to duck, dodge, and step in. A boxer steps in when he or she sees a prime opportunity for a successful punch, and steps back to avoid incoming blows. In the same way that a boxer dances and weaves to exert some control over what happens in the ring, people dance and weave to exert some control over their own lives. When a person sees a prime opportunity, they tend to lean into it and rush toward it to accomplish a goal — much in the same way a boxer leans in and delivers a knockout combination.

The dancing and weaving that all boxers learn to perform can be likened metaphorically to the maneuvering that is done in everyday life. As one goes through life, obstacles arise on the spur of the moment, just as a fighter encounters unanticipated events in the ring. Those surprises can be positive or negative, but they are often unplanned, and the response is made spontaneously. One might not be planning to change jobs and may be entirely content, until suddenly hearing that an opening has appeared at a very desirable company. The decision to send one's résumé immediately is made much in the same way that a dance and weave would be executed in boxing upon encountering an unexpected jab from an opponent.

Conclusion

Comparing life to boxing and track provides an opportunity to illustrate the way metaphor can be used to make a point. Boxing is like life because of its very unpredictability and the many surprises it provides. Track cannot be as easily compared to life because track is far more pre-determined — the hurdles are known to exist before the race even starts. Ultimately, the spontaneity, social complexity, and open-ended outcomes of boxing make it the more powerful and accurate metaphor for the human experience.