Sports can bring fun, physical well-being and a sense of achievement. We engage with others in a very active manner as team members and opponents. We can release stress and safely channel our aggression. As supporters there is the excitement and camaraderie of watching our most loved team. When we dream of sport we need to ask ourselves about the sport, how we play and our motivations and feelings, as well as what happens.
Games People Play
Different sports will represent different qualities. A rugby or American football match may have more to do with aggression and teamwork than a leisurely round of golf. A chess game represents strategy and has little to do with physicality. Many games are played simply for fun, like beach volleyball or children’s made up games.
Sublimation of aggression
For many, sports and games provide an outlet for aggression and frustration. Hitting or kicking a ball can be a great substitute for doing the same to someone who has made you angry. Analysis of our feelings and behavior and reactions to others within our dream can help uncover the cause of our aggression and enable us to work it through.
Opponents
Who are your team-mates and opponents in your dreams? Your opponents may represent abstract qualities – luck, fate, challenges – or they may be an aspect of yourself that you need to address. Opponents will often be people with whom we having some conflict or power struggle. Who wins is important and can indicate what is really happening, what you wish for or what you fear. Consider how seriously you take the game – are your intentions simply to put your opponent in their place, to hurt them or even to completely eliminate them.
Teams
When we belong in a team we surpass our individual needs for the common goal. We have a role within a team, bonds with our team-mates. We realize friendships and how much we rely on others to achieve our goals. Sports teams can also represent other social groups in our lives, such as the family or work group. Looking at how they pull together and the roles people play may be of significance in relation to these groups.
Competition and Results
We live in a competitive society, our games often prove who is best, who is most talented, skilled or who has the most intellectual ability. For many winning brings a feeling of self-worth. To win or lose a dream game can reveal how you see yourself – your confidence or assertiveness, your relationship to your opponent or your team, and how you view your skills and talents. If you are in a relationship where you constantly try to get one up on your partner, this may manifest in your dreams as some sort of competition.
Playing the Game
Cheating within a dream game may represent an unfair situation in your life, or perhaps someone is being underhanded with you. Rules may represent social restrictions – do you know the rules of the game? Is it you or someone else breaking the rules?