There are a lot of life lessons players will learn on their journey through participation in sports. It's best if they start young so it can be embedded in them for the rest of there lives.
1. How to deal with pressure, stress, and mistakes.
There will undoubtedly be times where players are overwhelmed by the occasion and the pressure will get to them resulting in tears or simply not wanting to play anymore.For instance when the game is on the line are you going to be afraid of the big moment and pass the ball or your going to take the shot to win the game. If you make a mistake its cool as long as you learn from them because mistake are bound to happen. This is all a learning experience and will help them get comfortable with pressure situations they’ll encounter later on in life like public speaking or sitting their first exam.
2. How to be a leader/Respect everyone.
All players should have the opportunity to be a leader on the team.
If given these opportunities to lead, players will become much more confident leading others and develop leadership skills that most kids rarely have the opportunity to learn. As leader you also have to respect everyone, you can't down your teammate because you think your better than them.
3. Body language speaks volumes.
Body language speaks a lot about how a person is thinking and feeling. A lot of players display poor body language at times without even realizing it and most recruiters look at that criteria when evaluating players. Its best to get it under control while their players are young. When your going for a interview you better believe that the interviewer is evaluating your body language.
4. How to control emotions/You must discipline yourself.
Playing youth sports can be frustrating at times and especially when the refs are calling or not calling fouls and other players can get in your head. When these things happen, players will learn that getting angry or frustrated about it doesn’t help the situation and inevitably impacts performance.
There will be times when players get so worked up that they receive a technical foul which can be a great learning experience for a player if handled correctly by the coach. Experiencing feelings of frustration and anger and learning how to control them will help players in all aspects of their lives.( You must discipline your self)
5. Setting and achieving goals.
I’m a big believer in goal-setting in all aspects of life. Everyone should do it.
Youth sports is a great place to learn how to set goals and determine how to achieve them with no repercussions if they fall short or fail.Players will learn that setting goals gives you a target to reach for and adds motivation while on the journey to achieving them.
Players will learn that the best players are usually the players that have worked the hardest on improving their game. While talent definitely plays its role early on, sooner or later it’s the hardest workers that rise to the top.This will show them that if they want to become great at anything, then it’s going to take hard work. And a lot of it. There’s only a certain amount of time in each day and players will soon realize that they can’t do everything. They’ll have to sacrifice certain things to spend more time on what they consider more important.This requires players to determine their priorities which is a great skill for later in life. So by the time they get to college and everybody partying your kid will be the one who is studying for their exam coming up.
In youth sports there is definitely a right and a wrong way to win. I’ve seen some disgusting acts of sportsmanship from players and coaches on winning teams. Mocking their opponents, refusing to shake hands, and other forms of horrible behavior. Good coaches will teach their players how to be proud of their achievements without putting down their opponents.
8. How to handle tough times/fail with dignity.
There will be setbacks. They will fail. There will be obstacles they must overcome. Players will experience the emotions that come with these obstacles and failures and will learn how to push through them and not quit when it gets tough. Success doesn't happen over night.
9. Life isn’t always fair/Focus on what you can control.
Things will happen and players have to learn to accept them and move on because most of the time, sulking about it isn’t going to change anything. For those unfortunate enough to experience the full power of this lesson, we’ve all heard of at least one player that has worked their butt off for months to get ready for a season and then within the first week of pre-season end up blowing out their knee which leaves them sidelined for the season.
10. How to manage time efficiently.Depending on age, most youth sports players have a lot of commitments that they must juggle. Attending school, homework, sports, family, friends, employment, and possibly other activities. They’ll be forced to prioritize what’s most important in their life and sacrifice what they consider less important.
