Youth Sports: Do You Think Obama Played Competitive Youth Sports?

I have several posts throughout Statsdad.com declaring that participating in competitive youth sports prepares children for life. Notice, I didn't say mere participation in sports prepares kids for life. It's competition that inspires one to overcome and achieve. Competition is vital for growth and development. 


Notice too, I did not say anything about winning. Life lessons are learned through winning and losing. Preparing to win is what is important.


Finally, I do concede that there are many benefits to playing sport just for fun. And even in competitive sports "fun" is a key element for success. You have to like what you are doing to succeed.


This same principle applies to young artists and musicians and actors and writers and students. The world is a competitive place for everyone not just athletes. It's a fact, the world typically rewards those who are better or work harder or both. This is a good thing. This dynamic pushes people to work harder to achieve goals. The opposite is communism and we all know how successful that was. 


There's a great post that echoes these thoughts on PajamasMedia called It's how you play the game: The Fate of Western Civilization and Grade School Soccer. A shout out to the always interesting blog Your Kid's Not Going Pro for the link. The article made me wonder if Obama ever played competitive sports growing up?


The Main Point

Save

No Save - Goal

Don't stress winning, stress preparing to win, stress hard work and hustle. Winning will likely follow. Your kids are going to win and they are going to lose. They are going to make saves and give up goals. They will get hits and strike out. They will make teams and they will to get cut from teams. They will start and they will sit the bench. Regardless, if they work hard then they are going to grow during the process and they will be prepared for life.