In a Tweet, I mentioned that sports teach important life skills. I wanted to use this blog to expand on that thought.
Almost nobody participating in sports is going to make it to the pros in any sport. The odds are against you. Even if you do play pro sports, there is one truth to sports no matter what level you play at: at some point sports end. Regardless of how gifted you are, regardless of how well you take care of yourself, regardless of how lucky you are, at some point time or injury or circumstance catches up with you and ends your participation in sports.
The question is, what’s after sports? Life is after sports. We end up finishing school, getting jobs, having families, and living after sports. Sports have the potential to lay the foundation for success in all those endeavors.
How does playing a game do that? Sports have the potential to teach life skills that almost no other place does nowadays, but only if you let them.
Sports teach the value of preparation. Think about it, this is what we do as athletes and coaches, we prepare to play the other team. We often study the other team in minute detail. What are the tendencies of the defensive tackle that I’m going to line up against in the next game? Does the other team’s starting pitcher have any mannerisms to let me know that a pick off attempt is coming while I’m on first base? Does the opposing point guard have trouble dribble with his left hand? Etc.
This is an extremely important life skill and helps to determine if you are going to be successful in school, work, and raising a family. Preparation teaches organization, it teaches planning ahead, and it helps to teach consequences. If you don’t prepare then bad things can happen.
Successful sports programs instill discipline. For me this is about expectations and accountability. As a coach, I have expectations for my athletes. These include effort, following our team norms, buying into/participating in our team culture, desire to learn, and being willing to develop a high sports IQ. Regardless of your genetics, these are all things that everyone can do. These are all things that also help you to be successful in life today.
Sports teach you to be part of a team. I don’t care how talented you are, if the offensive line doesn’t block the other team then you won’t look like a very good quarterback. In sports you are part of something larger than yourself. I want teammates and coaches that credit others for our successes and own their mistakes in our losses.
In today’s world, in school or in the workplace, you have to be able to work with others. A lot of today’s youth aren’t learning the soft skills to work with others and to be part of a team, looking at your screen and making yourself look awesome on social media does not train you to be part of a team and work collaboratively on a project. But sports teach all of this.
Servant leadership is an important quality that sports can instill. It’s not about you! I don’t care how talented you are, someone made sacrifices and worked really hard so that you can be successful and shine. It might be your parents sacrificing for your sports career, it might be your teammates who put their bodies on the line so that you could be successful, it might be the coaches who worked with you.
Someone, probably many someones, made sacrifices so that you could be successful. It’s important to pay that back. We pay that back through service to those who aren’t as successful or gifted as we are. Servant leadership isn’t something you have to do, it’s something that you are privileged enough to be able to do.
If as coaches we approached this right, when sports end you should have a love for both fitness and for sports. When the day comes that there are no more four hour practices, plus weight room sessions each day; when nobody is advising you on how to eat, how to sleep, how to recover, it’s going to be on you. Plenty of ex-athletes get fat. Hopefully you paid attention during your athletic career. As a coach, I also hope that you have a love for sports that you can pass on to others – that’s the only way that sports grow.
One day sports end. But if you let them, they can make you successful for what follows.
