Coping with Organized Sports

Recommendations for Young Athletes

1. Technically, the object of sports is to win, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding. The real object of sports is to enjoy playing well. Wins are a by-product of playing well.

2. Never forget that sports are games. They’re supposed to be fun. Enjoy them through the gifts God has given you, whether speed, quickness, power, coordination, or understanding of strategies. Eric Liddell, Olympian featured in the movie, Chariots of Fire, famously stated: “I believe God made me for a purpose, but he also made me fast! And when I run I feel his pleasure.” Enjoy the teamwork and the camaraderie. Enjoy experiencing your own development. Enjoy the challenges and how competition motivates effort and learning.

3. Appreciate the exercise. Your body was made to move and be active. Much of what we do in today’s world involves sitting. As such, sports provide needed relief. Exercise, if done with moderation, is good for your health, and promotes better function in all other areas of your life.

4. Stay focused while you are playing.

1. Play with intensity as long as you are on the field. Play through to the end of the game, even if your team is well behind. Surprising things can happen in short timespans. Besides, this is part of remembering that winning is secondary to playing. However, if your team is well ahead and certain to win, it is good sportsmanship to ease up.

2. Play within yourself. Don’t try to do things you haven’t mastered, unless the situation is desperate. Pace yourself so you won’t be exhausted before the game ends.

3. Be tenacious. Have the mindset that you are going to win every one-on-one battle, even after having lost several in a row. This is not mean you should be delusional; this is about determination. Determination improves performance. Ignore fears and apprehensions, which only impede performance.

4. Do not be discouraged by players with greater skills than you. Watch and learn. You don’t have to possess all the greatest skills. Make use of your own advantages.

5. When on offense, let the defender over-commit, which is your guide to your next move.

6. When on defense, look for tells and try to anticipate what the offensive player is trying to do.

7. All sports are as much mental as physical. Stay focused.

8. Understand the game situation.

9. Always know where the ball is. When I was in high school we learned that the coaches at the University of Iowa instructed the guards on the basketball team to hit their teammates in the head with the ball in practice if they were not watching for the ball. You can’t understand what’s happening on the field unless you know where the ball is. You want to be ahead of the play, not behind, watching other players control the game. 

10. To the extent possible, know where all the players are. Great players have a sense of what is about to happen on the field. This comes from knowing the situation and knowing which players are where. 

5. Encourage your teammates. Compliment them on good plays. Help them to shake off bad plays and mentally reset. John Wooden coached UCLA basketball teams to 10 national championships, including 4 undefeated seasons. He coached his players: “Don’t make a second mistake because you’re thinking about the first.”

6. Make small talk in practice and when you encounter teammates in other settings. Don’t forget that playing sports is not a departure but, rather, is fully a part of what it means to be a good human.

7. When the sport is in play, talk to your teammates. Help keep them focused. Find ways to work together. A team that plays as a team has a much better experience.

8. Do not get involved in trash talk with opponents. Pay no attention to mean or insulting remarks from your teammates. Let all mouthiness motivate you to play harder and better. Let your actions do the talking.

9. Fans and parents can be obnoxious and inappropriate sometimes. I read this comment recently: “As a former Little League umpire, I would consider returning to the job only if I were assured that both teams came from an orphanage.” Obviously this man experienced many parents who were poor sports. Don’t waste your time and energy responding to foolish fan behavior. 

10. Recognize that competitive sports not only pit opposing players against each other, they pit teammates against each other. Teammates compete against each other for playing time and for “glory”. The only person you are really competing against is yourself. Focus on making the you of today a better player than the you of yesterday. Tiger Woods, famous pro golfer said, “I always work hard. I handle one shot at a time. I don’t punish myself with regret over a bad decision or poor execution. No matter what happens, I never panic. I work as hard and as smart as I can. Even when I’m aggressive, I’m patient.” 

11. If you decide to confront a teammate about selfish play, do it privately and respectfully. This is a hard thing to do but sometimes it pays dividends.

12. Don’t allow yourself to be pigeon-holed. Bob Pettit, one of the greatest forwards in NBA history, was cut from his high school basketball team as a freshman and then as a sophomore. Everyone has physical limitations, but hard work reduces those limitations. Sometimes those limited in some ways are exceptional in others. Some kids will drop out due to boredom, some due to injury, some due to changing interests, some due to general foolishness. Steady wins the race. Never forget the tortoise and the hare (Aesop’s Fables). Be sane in your self-estimates. You already have a sense of how you stack up skill-wise against your peers. On the other hand, no one, including you, knows how you will develop. Don’t limit your possibilities before you’ve put in long and serious effort. 

13. Discipline is the key to improvement.

1. Physical training is important. You can improve your speed and quickness. You can improve your ball handling skills, your shooting, your passing, etc. This doesn’t happen from occasional work. It happens from regular repetition. 

2. Listen to your coaches.

1. Follow all strategical directions. Your coach is trying to get the team to play together.

2. Listen to technique instructions.

3. Ignore berating comments. These come from the mouths of coaches sometimes, but it’s bad coaching. Don’t let bad coaching distract you or make you feel badly about yourself. You need to be respectful of your coaches but have the strength of mind to know when what they are saying is inappropriate. 

3. Stay focused and active during practices. Even if you’re on the sidelines, make use of the time. It’s your time; don’t waste it. Do ball handling or play catch with a teammate. Some say, “Practice makes perfect.” Others have said, “Perfect practice makes perfect.” Try to make your practice time perfect.

4. Make time to practice on your own; Play pick-up games with friends. 

5. Watch film of high level players.

6. Watch training film, especially film that teaches skill technique.

13. Make sure to rest from sports.

1. Take a day off each week.

2. Take a month off two different times each year. Your body and mind both need rest. Whatever the game, if you’re always pushing, pushing, pushing, it can begin to feel like drudgery. Take the breaks. It may feel like others are improving while you’re falling behind, but that is wrong. They are wearing down while you are rejuvenating. You will play with greater joy and strength when you are physically and mentally rested. 

14. Twice a year review and consider how much of your life you want to dedicate to sports or a given sport. You may decide you need to take a break from a sport, or from all organized sports. That’s fine. There are many activities in the world besides sports. At the same time, stepping away is not necessarily a life-time decision. Taking some time off will set you back but until you are 25 or so, you can make up for lost time fairly quickly.

15. It’s important to keep perspective when it comes to sports. It’s possible to be a great person who has little athletic ability. It’s possible to be a great athlete who is, otherwise, a royal pain. God made you in a unique way. You are valuable and important in this world, no matter how much of an impression you make in the world of sports. It’s important to take some measure of your priorities. There will certainly be more important activities in your life than sports. God and family, for instance. Your vocation, for instance. Sports are, generally, good for you. Don’t hesitate to make room for them. But don’t obsess over them. Sports are one of God’s gifts to you. Don’t let them become a burden.