SfC Home > Competition >

Explanation of Factors in Head-to-Head Competitions - Strategies to Win Competitions. Also refer to offense, defense, opponent, rival, contestant, criteria, victory, submission, decision, judges, Ron Kurtus, School for Champions. Copyright © Restrictions

Factors in Head-to-Head Competitions

by Ron Kurtus (15 June 2007)

In a head-to-head competition, two opponents vie for the same prize or reward, while trying to stifle the rival's efforts. Contestants alternate between being on the offense and on the defense as the competition progresses. The criteria for victory may be submission by the loser or the decision of judges. In some head-to-head competitions, there are no clear winners.

Questions you may have include:

• What happens when a side is on the offense?
• How does a competitor defend its position?
• How is the winner declared?

This lesson will answer those questions. There is a mini-quiz near the end of the lesson.

Offense

Offense is when one side is attacking or trying to score points, and is directly trying to get the prize.

• In basketball, the team with the ball is on the offense and trying to score points
• A monkey, trying to take a banana from another monkey, is on the offense
• In politics, the candidate that is campaigning and trying to get votes, while criticizing his opponent is on the offense

At some point in the competition, the opponent may take charge and put the contestant on the defense.

Defense

Defense in a head-to-head competition is when one side is trying to deflect the attack by the opponent. This may be trying to stop the opponent from scoring points, from taking the ball, or from defeating the contestant.

• In soccer, the team on the defense tries to stop the other team from scoring a point by blocking a kick or stealing the ball
• The monkey holding the banana tries to prevent the offensive monkey from stealing it from him
• In business, a company may defend its position from an aggressive ad campaign by a competitor by countering with its own ad campaign

At some point, the side on defense can go on offense and attack their opponent's position.

Declaring the winner

The winner in a head-to head competition can be decided by submission or specific limitations to the competition. There are some competitions where they is no clear winner.

Submission

In some head-to-head competitions, the winner is decided by the submission of the loser.

• In some chess matches, a player may see his position is hopeless and submit to defeat
• In a fight between two dogs, one may give up and go into a submissive pose
• An endurance competition will end when one side gives up

Specific limits

Head-to-head competitions that have a set of rules and specific limits—such as time limits or points scored—can be decided by some criteria or the decision of judges.

• A political competition ends on election day when the votes are counted
• A beauty contest outcome is determined by the judges
• The baseball team that is ahead in runs at the end of 9 innings (unless there is a tie) wins the game

No clear winner

In some competitions, there is no clear winner. This is often seen in business competitions, where one company may be ahead in sales, but since there is no end-point, they continue with their competition. Only in the case of a company driving the other out of business is there a clear winner.

Summary

Two opponents vie for the same reward, while trying to stifle the rival's efforts in a head-to-head competition. Contestants alternate between being on the offense and on the defense as the competition progresses. The criteria for victory may be submission by the loser or the decision of judges. In some competitions, there are no clear winners.

Answers to Readers' Questions

Resources

The following are resources on this subject.

Websites

Competition Resources

Books

Top-rated books on Competition

Miscellaneous

Mini-quiz to check your understanding

1. How can a store go on the offense in a business competition?

2. What defensive moves must a baseball do to go on the offense?

3. What determines the winner of a boxing match?

If you got all three correct, you are on your way to becoming a Champion in Winning Competitions. If you had problems, you had better look over the material again.

What do you think?

Do you have any questions, comments, or opinions on this subject? If so, send an email with your feedback. We will try to get back to you as soon as possible.

Share link

Feel free to establish a link from your website to pages in this site.

Or use our form to send this link to yourself or a friend.

Students and researchers

The Web address of this page is
www.school-for-champions.com/competition/head-to-head.htm. Please include it as a reference in your report, document, or thesis.

Where can you go from here?

School for Champions

Competition topics

Factors in Head-to-Head Competitions