Three Sports Related Lessons We All Can Learn From
Kent Jacobson, a.k.a. "Mr. Success"

Everyone in some form or fashion is exposed to sports on a very regular basis either through participation, watching an event on television, reading an article about a team or athlete. Even if you are not an avid sports fan, you will inevitably come across a sports related situation on a daily basis. Due to the popularity of sports and increased media exposure, I think sports are a great teaching tool for all of us; young and old, if put in proper perspective.   Proper perspective from my standpoint is categorized in three general groups.

* Win humbly and lose graciously:   Easy to put into words, very difficult to implement especially when you are on the losing end of a sporting event.  Look at the NBA Finals and how Dallas reacted after game 5; these are professional people that let losing take each of them in some way out of character for a moment. Ok so what is the lesson here? Look introspectively at yourself and children, talk about the reaction of the team, owner, management, fans and with how you might have felt in a similar situation. Point out the power of emotion, both positive and negative; discuss the need to let emotions out but, in a controllable manner.  Review the way almost every person stood up and was accountable for their reaction *PERSONAL RESPONSIBILITY*, understand what drove them to that level and frustration and yet got past it.  The great thing about most sporting events is at the end of the game, there are only two possible outcomes; a winner and loser. How you mange the outcome and perspective can go a long way in building personal character and teaching our children correct values.

*Teamwork: For a team to be successful, all of the members must work together and accept different roles and responsibilities.  Not everyone can be a quarterback, someone has to block. When you participate in a team sport, you recognize the different talents and personalities very quickly. Pretty soon the dynamics of a team focuses people to different roles, sometimes reluctantly.  When a person is exposed to the team environment for the first, their behavior is interesting to observe.  This is simply due to the fact they have a predetermined role defined in their mind prior to going into the team situation.  What tells a lot about the team dynamics is how people adjust to the personalities, values, leader and attempt to focus on what the collective efforts are trying to achieve.  There are books on the dynamics if teams and their effectiveness, if you want more team information the resources are endless. I just wanted to briefly point out, participation on a team is an important  part of personal development, learning to cooperate, and teaching the favorite cliché; there is no *I* in the word team. 

*Can a sports person be a Role Model?  Not as a stand alone Role Model. Why, the reason is simply because on a daily basis we do not observe all of the aspects of that persons daily life, we see only the person in one aspect, a sporting event. The Role Model you choose, in my opinion needs to be someone that can be observed frequently, approachable to the point of engaging in conversations, observed in different social and professional situations and consistent in the application of their values. This may sound a little strange, but I developed a morphed Role Model with multiple traits of people close to me. I took from my parent's patience and teaching skill, my grandparent's unconditional expressive love, the power of family and faith from all my relatives.
Can a sports person be the example for a specific achievement or trait that forms part of a person's character, you bet. Pick a sport, choose your Role Model and try to play the game that way. An example of this would be John Elway, why because he a great example of perseverance and a never give up attitude.  Have open conversations about Role Models with your family and friends, the conversations can get very entertaining. 

In many ways, sports participation and involvement opens up learning experiences for the body as well as the mind at a young age. As we get older, a sport gives us opportunity to relive moments of successes and failures that we can share with our friends and family.
 
**Go out and enjoy a sporting event soon, be careful you are not as young as you were last time you played football with your children and the grandchildren**