Girls,
All through my childhood, sports was as constant as the sun rising each morning. My earliest memories include being on a baseball field in the role of a bat boy for my Dad’s team. I can remember learning to hit off of a tee, playing catch, and running bases as a kid.
As the years passed, my interest in sports continued to grow. As early as the 4th grade, I was a manager for the MTHS Jr. high football team. My role as a manager continued when basketball started that year. From the 4th grade on, my elementary afternoons were spent on a football field or in a gym at practice. I picked up, washed clothes, filled up water bottles, and watched practice….and I threw a million passes and took thousands of shots.
One of the most important moments of my life occurred during a jr. high basketball game while I was sitting on the floor next to James Smith. During that game, I decided that coaching and teaching was what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.
That was one of the best decisions I have ever made.
Since the 4th grade, my life has revealed around athletic seasons. I have been playing or coaching organized sports since the age of five. For forty years, it has been my honor to be on a field or in a gym “playing” ball.
Over the years, I spent so much time “playing” various sports. As I look back, I now recognize that for almost 9 years it was sports, non-stop. That kind of pursuit isn’t uncommon for kids…it even becomes more than that for those who attend college to play sports. However, it wasn’t long after my high school graduation that I was entering coaching. Coaching would go on for another 14.5 years….and it, too, was year round.
When it was over, the finality of it hits you like a ton of bricks. As a 32 year old, the sadness was enormous. At the age of 18, I knew there would be more. When I left coaching, I didn’t know what would be next.
As we enter tournament season, there are so many 18 years old who will face the same battle this year….the end of their athletic career.
At the end of their career, the one statement that people make to student-athletes that drives me nuts is that saying, “It’s just a game.” Not only does it make me irate, it also shows the lack of understanding those who make that statement have.
Some of these athletes have made significant investments of time and effort, experienced heartbreak from tough losses and learned how to persevere and show up the next night, and learned about work ethic during summer and holiday breaks.
Work ethic, sacrifice, and perseverance….that doesn’t come from playing Monopoly.
Grit, determination, learning how to be a part of a team and the value of teamwork….that doesn’t come from playing Clue.
Games are just that…games. Most games are meaningless, mindless, time-consuming escapes from the real world. Sports fits no where in this.
Let me add….it isn’t just sports. This can be band, cheer, or choir. It can be FFA, FBLA, or Art Club. What it is doesn’t matter, but what it teaches matters more than we can ever imagine.
The life lessons that are learned through these “games” as people call them…will mold these students into the adults they will become.
When you see kids walking off the field or court for the last time this year with those big ol’ alligator tears in their eyes, just know it wasn’t a game of “Connect Four” that broke their heart….it was something much bigger than “just a game.”
Dad of Girls 