A parent was once asked why on earth so much money and time was spent on sports at school; sport at school is not exactly cheap, after all, with all the equipment, travel, gear, entry fees, not to mention time away from work. The response is intriguing and insightful, given in full here.
“Well, I have a confession to make; I don’t pay for my kids to do sports. Personally, I couldn’t care less about what sport they do. So, if I am not paying for sports what am I paying for? I pay for those moments when my kids become so tired they want to quit but don’t. I pay for those days when my kids come home from school and are ‘too tired’ to go to their training but they go anyway. I pay for my kids to learn to be disciplined, focused and dedicated. I pay for my kids to learn to take care of their body and equipment. I pay for my kids to learn to work with others and to be good team mates, gracious in defeat and humble in success. I pay for my kids to learn to deal with disappointment, when they don’t get that placing or title they’d hoped for, but still they go back week after week giving it their best shot. I pay for my kids to learn to make and accomplish goals.
“I pay for my kids to respect, not only themselves, but other athletes, officials and coaches. I pay for my kids to learn that it takes hours and hours, years and years of hard work and practice to create a champion and that success does not happen overnight. I pay for my kids to be proud of small achievements, and to work towards long term goals. I pay for the opportunity my kids have and will have to make life-long friendships, create lifelong memories, to be as proud of their achievements as I am. I pay so that my kids can be out on the field or in the gym instead of in front of a screen… I could go on but, to be short, I don’t pay for sports; I pay for the opportunities that sports provides my kids with to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their lives and give them the opportunity to bless the lives of others. From what I have seen so far I think it is a great investment!”
It has to be said that in such a statement there are some real gems! Many of those observations and statements marry with what has been shared about the five Fs of sport in previous articles, namely that sport is meant to be fun; sport is for friendship; sport is for fitness; sport is forever and sport is about values (remember, the letter ‘v’ is defined as a hard ‘f’). We could also highlight the statement that sport provides opportunities “to develop attributes that will serve them well throughout their live” as we have also previously noted that sport does provide unique opportunities for character development, through disappointment, adversity, practice, defeat and victory, and much more.
However, let us simply focus for a moment on the second part of that sentence which states that sport gives “them the opportunity to bless the lives of others.” That is not the standard view of sport, it has to be said. After all, sport is competitive where it is a matter of overcoming others, of being better than others, of spoiling others’ fun and opportunities and success. How on earth can we bless the lives of others? Not many people consider they are blessed by losing? In fact, some folk consider competitiveness, wanting others to lose, as being a sickness. The parent is right, though; we can bless the lives of others through sport. To bless is to wish well for others, to build and lift up others, and we can do that whether we win or lose, all the more so when we win (by the way we treat them). We can (and have the responsibility to) make others still feel good, knowing how much we would wish to be uplifted when we lose. It does not mean, however, that we deliberately go out to lose, to make others feel better.
In conclusion, we might also ask one other important question in the light of the parent’s revelation. Are coaches and teachers (the beneficiaries of those parents paying money, let us remember) aware that such is what the parents are wanting from the practice sessions and matches? Are coaches and
teachers therefore providing such opportunities or are they so focussed on winning that all other desirable aspects are totally ignored? The desired investment must be given a sporting chance. Sport is indeed all about opportunities. Players must take opportunities to score when they come along, for sure, but in the bigger picture players must seize the opportunities that sport provides to do so much more, for others as much as for ourselves. Opportunity knocks, loudly, at the door of sport. The price of entry might appear high but sport pays off in the end – for everyone.
