Your kid should be an athlete…And so should you. What sports teach us about life

Have you ever observed youth athletes at an all star team tryout? It’s the strangest thing, Everyone gets along and supports everyone else almost universally. When someone makes a big play everyone celebrates; and when someone makes a mistake everyone rallies to remind them to shake it off and be ready for the next opportunity. Almost instantly these kids become friends. 

At first glance it seems obvious; they play the same sport, it's a major interest in their life and people with similar interests tend to get along. The cynic may even say they’re just trying to impress the coaches by being a good teammate. But what’s really happening (at an unconscious level and often for the first time in younger ages) is that they’re recognizing their hard work in another person. Deeper than the common interest in their chosen sport, they recognize someone else that aimed upward in life, worked hard for an opportunity and dared to try…not many people do that in life. 

Being an athlete means aiming upward in life. It means understanding that you’re not everything you could be, there is work to be done yet. It requires a high level of self awareness to identify the areas of your life you could improve; and to actually improve them requires the voluntary adoption of responsibility that gives life meaning. 

These are lessons life will teach you one way or another, but they’re much better learned early in life through sports, where the existential risks are minimal. That’s why your kids should be athletes. As for you, whether you're playing football on a sunday afternoon for millions of dollars or playing with the grandkids in the backyard…you should consider yourself an athlete and work hard to realize that image. Because aiming upward is the highest possible good you can do for yourself.