Good morning,
For anyone who has regularly read my blog posts or followed me on twitter, it will be pretty obvious that my career in coaching is a very important part of my life. Over the years, it has impacted me in ways that go beyond just coaching a team and I have discussed this fact in various posts I have written. Sports can impact lives in different ways. Of course for professional athletes, it is their career, their way of making a living, for others it is a pass time or hobby, and for many, it is probably something in between, a passion and if you are like me, a chance to make a little extra money. Now, don't get me wrong, I am not saying that everyone needs to participate in sports to have a balanced life or that people who don't participate in sports are missing out on something important. However ........... I am a big believer that participating in organized athletics—especially team sports—can teach values and life lessons that youngsters can use in their teenage years and beyond. Noticed I said “can.” This cannot be an automatic assumption. Coaches and parents are key influences when it comes to sport living up to its potential for building character. Too often, because of a lack of guidance and proper reinforcement from coaches and parents, sport ends up creating ‘characters’ instead of building character. Sports can teach children discipline in a palatable way while they participate in an activity they deeply enjoy. They need discipline to learn the skills—the discipline to put in the time and preparation so they can maximize their performance. They learn that if they have the discipline to what it takes to improve and excel—performance rewards can follow. Often, they need discipline while participating in the sports themselves to maximize their chance of success. They learn the lesson quickly—without that discipline they do experience the joy of victory. Sports teach young people that you need to work hard to improve and reach your true athletic potential. They learn that this mentality can make up for natural athletic talent when it comes to being an effective part of a team. They learn that you can extend your potential by just making up your mind to outwork the other kids. Kids learn that it takes a certain sacrifice on their part to participate on a team and contribute to the squad’s performance. They may have to give up things (i.e. time playing video games; hanging out with friends; watching TV) in order to participate in the types of activities that will directly affect their sports skills and enjoyment of the sport. When children become adults, there is an excellent chance that they will be participating in a shared, group working environment that will require teamwork to be a success. Team sports is a great model in which to learn the basics in meshing your efforts into a team format as one piece of the puzzle that must fit with the other pieces in order to create a environment of success. They learn how the importance of the team supersedes the recognition of individual accomplishments—that by working together as a part of a group with a common goal, things can be accomplished that otherwise would be out of the reach of individuals. Kids can learn how to be proud of their successes without demeaning their opponents. They learn that accomplishments can be cherished so that the focus is on the pride that goes along with team success without letting an attitude of superiority drive their feelings toward their opponents. Youngsters can also learn how to deal with failure—not winning the competition or accomplishing particular athletic goals. They can be taught that any failure is just a temporary setback from which lessons can be learned in order to improve and have a better chance of success the next time. Successful people are the ones who set short term and long term goals and focus their efforts on accomplishing these goals. I have saying that I use frequently, " if you don't know your destination, how can you plan your trip". Organized athletics lends itself to setting both individual and team goals and then striving for those goals. It does not matter the skill level of the young athlete or the level of accomplishment of the team. Goals can be set that mirror the improvement desired and then a plan of action can be mapped out to reach those goals. Likewise in life, youngsters will more likely succeed if they are setting goals in school and other areas of lives. They can transfer their athletic goal achieving lessons from athletics to other, more important areas of their lives. Sports can instill the mentality of "Come Ready or Never Start" which can define the importance of practice and preparation in succeeding in sports…or in life. Youngsters can learn the value of preparation and practice in order to allow them to reach their goals as an individual or team. They can experience the success that comes with the proper preparation…or the failure that comes when not enough focus is placed on putting the time in to practice and get better. It’s much the same scenario in their school and later one, work careers. Life isn’t fair and much of it involves overcoming setbacks and other adversity. Youngsters can learn how to overcome adversity and temporary failures through the many situations they face in athletics, both in their preparation and during the competitions. They can learn the mentality they need to both overcome and learn from adversity they face as they strive for their goals. The goal can be just winning the particular game…or attaining a particular athletic goal. Learning to overcome adversity is a mental skill that will serve them well for the rest of their lives. I was lucky that I had parents that encouraged is to be active in sports but also to explore all the possibilities. Everyday we say the important of enjoying an active lifestyle as a means to maintain and improve health, add to this, the benefits listed above that can come from participating in sports,... doesn't have today's youth participating in organized sport, seem to make sense? Does to me, but I am just one opinion.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorAfter many years of coaching at various levels and with different teams, I thought I would share some of my experiences and thoughts about coaching. Archives
January 2023
Categories
All
|