Sports teach young ones discipline. Naturally, you need to have a regular practice schedule, structured lifestyle, rules to follow and be consistent in your performance. Athletes are learning that using time, focussing and having self control does in fact help you succeed on and off the field.
Sports forms of reinforcement that include coaching and competition forms of discipline in sports. Young athletes are expected by coaches to live up to that expectation and have generally high standards of accountability set and enforced by coaches. Mistakes don’t make progress, the consequences of mistakes are drummed into young people that effort, repetition and resilience are things you can’t negotiate, however despite what you work at you’re always going to fail.
As good as the team sports are, teamwork is the best. In short, playing well requires cooperation, communication and support from its players. It’s not about individual performance, it’s about team success, everyone is in this team together. They learn to trust one another and to share in leadership and to contribute completely selflessly to a common goal.
It also sharpens emotional intelligence. Victories and defeats with one another inside of a team dynamic is complete with different personalities of players facing the results, with these experiences learning empathy, patience, constructive communication. Young people work out challenges together and learn how to work with each other and how to have each other's back.
Sports have structure which helps enforce respect; respect of the rules, respect of the opposition, respect of the coaches and respect of the teammates. Because this respect is one formed from the foundation, we in turn begin to practise responsible behaviour in other parts of our life too. When athletes seek to achieve shared goals they determine life values such as unity and collaboration and later these values remain with them for the rest of life even after the playing field.
Conclusion
Sports make a valuable setting for teaching discipline and teamwork among young ones. Youth learns essential life skills through structured routines, clear expectations and through working together on collaborative challenges. They are not lessons that are temporary in any way, but that they lay a solid foundation on which to continue a successful path into the future.
