Abstract
This paper attempts to draw attention to the problem of self-competition as a very specific and controversial type of competition and gives a proposal for division between self-competition and internal competition, both of them as special different forms of competition within one individual person.
This basis of the problem is inspired by the article On Competing Against Oneself (Howe, 2008) published in Sport, Ethics and Philosophy. Howe is engaged in the motive of competition which is usually called "self competition". She disagrees with Krein (2007) who argues that self-competition cannot be spoken about within adventure therapy because of the absence of competitors and the lack of repeatable measure of performance.
As a consequence of this question the contribution is focused on the relation between self-competition and individual challenge on the one hand and the phenomenon of experience on the other hand. The term of "internal competition" is suggested here and the differences between self-competition and internal competition are explained. The mentioned relation is understood as an equivalence which is accompanied by some concrete examples from the area of movement activities.
The aim of the essay is to show the complexity of the relationship between experience and competition motives. The other goal is to introduce the term of internal competition, as the phenomenon closely connected with experience. At least in some cases internal competition can be considered as the essential part of experience. While self-competition is very closely connected with the result of the activity and level of the performance, internal competition is far more focused on the process and depth of the experience.