I've written about what "being competitive" means to me (you can read a past blog about it by clicking here), and if you watched Sergio Garcia and Justin Rose battle on the back 9 at The Masters over the weekend, then you saw exactly what I'm talking about.

Throughout the back and forth of the round, and especially during the final few holes, the two golfers continued to give each other thumbs up and words of encouragement after good shots.

Obviously, both competitors wanted to win badly. But at the same time, they didn't want to win by watching the other guy fail and you could tell they really enjoyed the battle.

Equally as impressive was that despite the enormous stakes, neither golfer let their desire to win prevent them from continuing to play with class and respect for their opponent.

Beating a evenly matched opponent is much more satisfying than beating a clearly out-classed opponent (think of your own Little League games this year where you won 17-2). Those blowout wins aren't very exciting or nearly as satisfying as beating an evenly matched opponent, and honestly wins like that aren't even that much fun. And it's certainly not fun to be on the losing end of a blowout.

But what is fun for both sides is having a good battle.

We've already seen this a few times this season in the Big Leagues, most recently when Lorenzo Cain made a spectacular catch robbing George Springer of a HR. Springer's reaction, rather than get upset, was to recognize Cain's effort by tipping his hat towards him in the outfield.

Check it out:

http://m.mlb.com/video/v1262529783/must-c-catch-cain-robs-springer-tips-cap

Springer did his best by trying to knock it out of the park and Cain did his best by trying to rob him. That's competition! When two players are going all out to help their team win and the results hang in the balance; that's the fun part!

All athletes will win and lose throughout their career.

Learning to enjoy true competition and continuing to play with class, even when losing and especially when winning, is something all our kids should strive for.