Team Sports and Character Development

People have always wondered if participating in a team sport has any influence on character. First of all it needs to be known what the difference between good and bad character really is. Good character includes honesty, compassion, generosity, integrity, fairness, and self- control. Bad character includes Lying, being disrespectful, having low self-morality, and being overly conceded. Having known what each character category involves, the real question is whether or not team sports really help develop good character? I’m here to tell you that it most certainly does.

I’ve seen this question answered many times first hand, as I’ve played sports all my life.

You would be amazed at how much it can change a person. It all starts in the elementary years. Think about the trouble maker at school who is always in the principal’s office and dips at an extremely early age. More times than not, this kid isn’t involved in team activities like the others who are respectful and are rarely in the principal’s office.

Many factors contribute to making this statement true, as in: they don’t have as much time to get in trouble, most friendships are made from childhood sports, and having the right coach and leader can set kids on the right path in a heartbeat. Not to say that 100% of people in team sports have good character, but the numbers are increasingly better than those who choose not to participate.

One thing for sure is that if you played on my pee wee football team, you weren’t a trouble maker.

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There was absolutely no time to be! All it was during football season was school till 3, and football from 5:30 until it gets dark. Not only was there no time to do anything, but everybody was wore smooth out. The kids with bad character didn’t last long either. If you were in the wrong than it was a lot of running and as it is with most trouble makers, they would just rather take the easy way out, and quit.

I can’t even begin to explain how many people I’ve seen come out for football and you could just tell they wasn’t going to last long, and more often than not they were packing their bags before the first game even started. This isn’t always limited to just pee wee sports either. Every year I’ve ever played there has always been at least one kid not make it through, whether it was junior high, or even my senior year in high school. Most of the time if you see a young child say sir, and maʼam, or even hold a door open for the elderly, you can bet that they participate or are involved in some type of team sport.

I believe that a big reason for sports developing good character is that you use many of the same tools in every aspect of your life. A major thing a sport teaches you is teamwork. Team work is required for many things, such as: Solving problems, raising a family, and winning most all types of sporting events. One might also think that sports occupy too much of a student’s time, but I know from experience that it’s completely wrong. I went to school in a football town and if you don’t keep your grades up to play football, than its bad news for everybody. When I was just a freshman in high school I had gotten ineligible one week.

Everybody in town, even people that I didn’t know, found out in a hurry and asked me why my grades weren’t up to standards. It had gotten where it was really embarrassing and made me work my tail off so I never had to answer these questions in that miserable tone again. I believe sports makes all students work harder knowing that it’s a privilege to play. Not a gift. I go to the football games today and see people getting questioned about it all the time too, so I have to believe striving to be successful is part of good character.

I also am a huge believer that you have to stick with the sport to have the right character too. It’s like the old saying “Rome wasn’t built in a day” and it goes a long perfectly with this too. More often than not if someone sticks through the whole sport they feel accomplished, and like they’ve done something special. I myself have always hated practice, but once the games start there is nothing in this world more exciting. The trouble makers are the ones who don’t make it the whole season so technically they didn’t give the sport enough time, but if they make it through the whole season, the athlete comes out a better person than before they started.

I personally know people that have been looked at as trouble makers, and are apparently going to end up in jail whose lives have been changed dramatically by learning to be a team player. I know this one kid who used to get suspended from school on a regular basis. One day we convinced him to try out for the football team, and he finally agreed. At first it was horrible for him. Being out of shape and 100 degree weather is rough for anyone and after a week he wanted to quit.

After many efforts we convinced him to stick through it and that we needed him to be successful, so he finally stuck to preseason practices out. He turned out to be one of our best players, and he mad tons of new friends and his grades and attitude changed historically for the benefit of everyone. He hardly ever got in trouble after that, and it’s just amazing to see how much a simple team game can change the culture of how someone used to be.

Team sports help build character because they teach people discipline, how to work in a group, and how to have good sportsmanship. Discipline is something that everyone should have because eventually, no matter what occupation you’re in, you are going to have bad days, people are going to get on your nerves, or there’s just going to be some coworkers you simply do not like. The discipline learned by the team sport can help you to control this anger and help you make the best possible decision so everything works out for everyone. Working in a group is something that’s necessary for anything you do in life.

Some people say that nothing is learned in sports, but the lessons are there. Sometimes a tough or unseen loss can be just what the doctor ordered to make people come together and know everything in this life isn’t going to just be given to them. The importance of this topic is the fact that many parents stop their children from playing sports. Football is the main one that I see many concerned parents in because of the brutal contact that is required to be successful. Most parents don’t want to risk their child’s health over a simple game, but I believe football is the sport that best develops people’s character. It requires every trait that you need to be successful.

If there’s one thing you can take from it whether you win or lose is gaining good sportsmanship. No matter how talented you and your team are there will always be someone better. Knowing how to handle this fact in a civilized way is a positive trait for anyone. It always feels good to be able to shake hands and talk with an opponent who grinds and puts their all into something as much as you have. Sportsmanship has helped me meet new people from all across the state, and I know it has the same effect for others as well.

Nothing is learned though without a good teacher and leader, and this all starts with the coach. More often than not the coaches’ attitude reflects on the players. I’ve seen teams give up their seats in restaurants to people and do everything in unison, and in an unselfish, well- mannered fashion. It’s very easy to spot a good character job if a coach has everyone acting respectful to people they don’t even know. A coach is just as important as the sport itself, but if you get the right one to lead people than that must mean they have good character too, and guess where they probably got that character? From playing the sport at a younger age that they are now coaching. People don’t think about how much something learned so many years ago can have a major impact that far ahead in the future.

I don’t think there’s any question anymore to whether team sports develop suitable character. It’s taught me, and many of my friends that nothing is given in life and you have to earn it. I thank God every day for allowing me the opportunities I had to develop friendships from sports that I will have for the rest of my life. I have been very blessed to not suffer any major injuries while learning many of life’s valuable lessons, and I also hope one day to be able to lead individuals on the right path, as they go through their journey in life.