This I Believe

Jonathon - Reading, Massachusetts
Entered on December 14, 2006
Age Group: 18 - 30
Themes: sports

I Believe Everyone Should Play on a Sports Team

I believe everyone should participate on a sports team. Playing on a sports team is more than just improving in a sport. By participating on a sports team, a person learns lessons and discipline that he/she would not learn elsewhere.

By being part of a team, you are part of a whole. You learn how to share responsibility when participating. On good example is football. A team needs the quarterback to throw the ball, the quarterback needs defense to protect him from the other team, and the quarter back also need multiple outlets for which to throw the ball to. If any of these factors are missing, there is no way for the team to put points up on the board. By learning shared responsibility, people learn how to work well with each other’s strengths to accomplish goals.

The best way someone can learn discipline is by participating on a team. One lesson learned early on, is not to use profanity on the bench or in the locker room. Some coaches give entire team punishments for one person using profanity. This rule is quickly learned when the whole team has to do push ups for one persons mistake, that person learns to discipline him/herself to only use appropriate language.

Another discipline lesson that comes from sports is not being a head case. A great sport to explain this example is ice hockey. Just like my current hockey coach says, “never put anyone down for a mistake out on the ice, we need to support each other, when your contract comes in from the NHL you can brag about how good you really are.” No matter how good a player is, they should never be a puck hog. A puck hog is someone who never lets go of the puck, they will skate it from one end of the ice all the way to the other without passing. This player needs to involve the team in the game. And any coach who knows what they are doing will sit down a head case on the bench until they learn that they are no better than anyone else on the team.

Playing on a team is also a great way to get out, get some exercise and make some friends. Just about every one of my friends I have now, either played on a sports team with me, or enjoys watching the same sports I enjoy watching. People who play sports together generally grow up with the same values.

I believe that everyone should play on a sports team. Through participation, people learn important life lesions. They learn how team work works, what language is appropriate, not to be a head case, and how to make friends. By participating on sports teams, someone is more likely to learn these lessons at an early age, and not run into problems in the future caused by not understanding these life skills. Being on a team is what made me who I am today.