Nowadays, one of the most justifiable fears a parent might have is that their kids will grow up to live a lifestyle replete with unhealthy habits. We are moving further into an age of increased obesity, where one’s chance of dying due to heart disease related conditions is 30%. It’s important to teach our kids to be active because we want them to carry those good habits on. However, there’s a lot more our kids can learn from getting involved in team sports. Here, we’re going to look at why you should get into your community youth sports efforts.
Passion
Motivation is the golden goose of all achievement in life. Without being thoroughly engaged in what you do, it can be hard to truly excel. Yet a lot of young people go through life not fully understanding what passion is or where theirs is. A hands-on coach or administrator can help share their passion and help people understand how to love sport. Not just is it a good idea to give those without a passion something to put their heart into. It teaches the importance of passion and engagement in getting results. That’s a lesson that can easily apply to just about any other challenge those young people then take on.
Responsibility
Some people fear that we’ve been on the track of creating a selfish culture that passes blame and takes credit. Team sports, when done properly, is one of the easiest ways to teach the exact opposite values. You can teach younger people to take responsibility for their mistakes without having it define them. In sporting fields, the mistakes are easy to see and correct with the right thorough approach. Framing the act of taking responsibility as a positive is important. You also teach the importance of the individual’s responsibility in the team, as well as the team’s responsibility for the individual. A good volunteer in youth sports will spend time with team building exercises, ensuring that the all-for-one and one-for-all principle remains an essential part of that team.
Discipline
To some, discipline has become something of a dirty word, with connotations of punishment and denial. But in sports, the exact opposite use of the word has a chance to shine. Instead of focusing on punishment, sports show how discipline and, most importantly, learning self-discipline is what leads the path to excellence. You will be able to advise your team members on how to better shape their own lives and habits even without your supervision. A lot of this is tied into helping them find ways to live a healthier life. Naturally, you can only play the role as an advisor, but those who listen will begin to show their results, setting the example you can show of why discipline works for those who take it in their own hands.
Achievement
Making those results tangible is important to a lot of young people. They are finding their identity and they want to be able to show it to the world. One of the ways you can help them do this is by giving them physical proof of their achievements. If your team competes in some sort of youth league, then participating and, in particular, winning those will help that sense of achievement. But you can help it yourself. With your own football medals and trophies, you can take the time to award those who show the most progress, those who show the best sense of teamwork, those who embody the best aspects of good sportsmanship. Your team will look to you as an authority so the recognition you could give them will be truly valuable to them.
The ups and downs
Even more important than showing the achievement of victory and progress is how you teach young people to handle defeat. Being able to lose graciously teaches real resilience. Your team won’t win every game and putting the burden on them to do so will do nothing but damage long-term morale and warp their priorities. Treat losses as more of a learning opportunity than anything. If some of the team members, in particular, seem to take a loss hard, take them aside. Address what issues they have and help them best them. Whether it’s helping them hone their game or teaching them their responsibilities with the team. Teach them that falling is only one step on getting back up and getting further on the road.
By taking what experience you have in your sport and using it to help youths develop the traits mentioned above, you’re not just helping them stay fit. You’re preparing them for life with lessons they simply might not learn from home.
