Your young athlete has completed another softball season. The competition has come to an end – for now, at least.
And regardless of the level of offseason activity when it comes to training and practicing, everyone can take at least a few moments to sit back, relax, and take a deep breath. Or several deep breaths.
Yes, the season is over. But it’s important to remember that there is no offseason when it comes to learning and growing – both as an athlete and as an individual.
What do sports teach us? The universal response – from coaches, parents and athletes alike – is always “life lessons”. We oftentimes champion sports for our children in the hopes that they will learn these valuable life lessons through their experience. But what lessons exactly do we hope they’ll learn? What life lessons do you think your daughter learned this past softball season?
This month the team at Liberty Mutual Insurance Responsible Sports together with the experts from Positive Coaching Alliance (PCA) take a closer look at the many life lessons that each season imparts to our young athletes – as well as us.
Life Lessons Checklist.
Here’s a checklist for life lessons we hope your athlete have learned or will learn through their youth sports experience.
1. Practice Makes…Better: It’s not about being perfect. It’s about getting better and improving. One of the life lessons we hope our children learn through sports is that their effort will be rewarded.
2. Focus on what you can control: Youth sports should help kids learn that all they can do is focus on their effort, and not the outcome. Focus on what they can control, not what is out of their control.
3. Let go of mistakes: Successful athletes brush off mistakes. They acknowledge them, they learn from them and they then move past them. They put them in the past.
4. Keep learning: We’re constantly learning – from our successes but also from our mistakes.