Life Lessons Children Learn Through Sports

This is the second and concluding part of our series on "Life Lessons Children Learn Through Sports"

In the first part of this series we talked about following Life Lessons:

1. It’s okay to make mistakes.
2. How to control emotions.
3. Setting and achieving goals.
4. Success requires hard work.
5. How to win/succeed with class.
6. How to lose/fail with dignity.
7. Success requires sacrifice.

In this concluding part, we are going to talk about seven more important Life Lessons which Children Learn through Sports:

8. Taking Responsibility

Sports is one of the first places where children start to take on some serious responsibility.

A good coach always imposes a rule early on that it’s the players' responsibility to bring a drink bottle and their necessary equipment like balls and bats to practice. It’s not their parent’s responsibility to remember for them.

Players will also learn that they are responsible for their actions and for their own improvement.

We don’t expect the parents to have to force their players to complete a few ball-handling drills after school each day. This will create unnecessary conflict between the player and their parents.

A coach emphasizes at practice that if they want to improve their game then it’s up to themselves to make it happen.

9. Life Isn’t Always Fair

This is a tough rule for players to learn at an early age but one that is gradually taught nonetheless.

Injuries happen. There will be missed foul calls. Parents will arrive at the wrong stadium and their child will miss the game.

Things will happen and players have to learn to accept them and move on because most of the time, sulking about it isn’t going to change anything.

For those unfortunate enough to experience the full power of this lesson, we’ve all heard of at least one player that has worked their butt off for months to get ready for a season and then within the first week of pre-season end up blowing out their knee which leaves them sidelined for the season.

Life is tough sometimes.

10. Importance of Team

T – Together
E – Everyone
A – Achieves
M – More

A team will always be more successful if everyone’s on the same page and the players are all focused on achieving the same goal.

One single player that deviates from this and only cares about their own points or other statistic is enough to derail a team.

Players will learn that their best chance of success will be through cooperation with their teammates and that this is the same on the court, in the classroom, or professionally.

They’ll also gain social skills by interacting with and meeting new people with similar interests which will carry over into all of their relationships.

They’ll learn how to deal with conflicts between teammates, how to interact with a number of different personality types, and even how to get along with people they don’t like.

11. Facing Tough Times

Perseverance is a skill that’s important for all players to learn at an early age.

There will be setbacks. They will fail. There will be obstacles they must overcome.

“If you’re trying to achieve, there will be roadblocks. I’ve had them; everybody has had them” – Michael Jordan

Players will experience the emotions that come with these obstacles and failures and will learn how to push through them and not quit when it gets tough.

Teach your players that when times get tough and they feel like quitting to stop looking too far ahead and start thinking step-by-step.

Instead of “I’m never going to be as good as them”, change it to “What can I do today to improve where I currently am?”.

Then it comes back to consistent hard work and being patient. Remember, success dodoesn't happen overnight.

12. Efficient Time Management

Depending on age, most children have a lot of commitments that they must juggle. Attending school, homework, sports, family, friends, employment, and possibly other activities.

This leads to an overly packed schedule for most players. The only way to get it all done is to prioritize and manage your time efficiently.

As players get old enough to start managing their own time, I encourage parents to allow their children to start developing time management skills by planning their days themselves.

They’ll be forced to prioritize what’s most important in their lives and sacrifice what they consider less important.

Obviously, this is done with parental assistance but it’s a fantastic skill to work on for their future.

13. Respect

Through their youth sports journey, players will learn the importance of respecting those around them. Not just their coaches and the referees, but also their teammates, the opposition, and everyone else involved.

For this respect to be instilled in players, there must be consequences for acting in a disrespectful manner like putting down a teammate or mocking an opponent.

Coaches can’t give empty threats or it will be hard to establish respect. The players must know that when you say you’re going to do something, you mean it.

A few ways players can show respect is by not talking when someone else is talking, shaking hands with the opponents and referees after the game, and retrieving the basketball for the referee when it goes out of bounds.

Players must learn that the amount of respect they show others can’t be determined by their levels of frustration or the outcome of a basketball game.

The overriding principle of respect being “Treat others how you want to be treated”.

14. Focus on What You Can Control

Coaches must make it clear that there are only two things that players can control at all times: their effort and attitude.

There’s simply no point sulking over things that you can’t change.

Too short? Get out there and work on your handles.

Not as athletic as one of your teammates? Work on anticipating where the pass will be made or where the rebound will land.

This also goes for things that happen during the game.

Think you got fouled when you turned the ball over? The referee didn’t call it so there’s no point complaining. Get back on defense and contest the shot.

Missed an open shot? It happens! The only thing you can do about it now is getting after the rebound or get back on defense.

Players must learn that there’s no point dwelling on things that are out of their control. Move on and focus on the things you can control.

Here’s a quick recap: