Lessons for life from football

I played football for many years. It is a grueling sport.
It’s very competitive and teaches you that preparation is very important, both mentally and physically because It drains your strength, both physical and mental. It’s tough physically and mentally to play sports due to the physical wear and tear, but the mental wear and tear from the emotional high of winning and the corresponding low of losing that is also draining.

But I learned as I am sure others did, both from my victories and my losses.
Perhaps I learned more from my losses, then my wins.
From my wins, I learned how to celebrate and be nice to the team which lost and this is an important skill.

But from my losses, I learned that even when you try hard you can lose. But losses are not permanent because tomorrow we can win.
From, my losses I learned that it’s not how many times you fall down, it’s how many times you get back up and try again.
From my losses, I learned it’s not just getting back up, instead it’s how you get back up.
I learned not to be proud of losing, but that I could be proud of how I handled the loss.
I learned to congratulate the winner politelyand behave like a gentlemen. We use to call that “class”.
I learned get back up with class and to be positive about how I would do better next time.
You learn to encourage your team mates, support them emotionally and you learn to reassure them, that you have learned from this losing experience and you will do better next time. You learn from the losses and turn them into wins, because what you learn from losing helps you win.

Sports is good preparation for life, if you have good coaches, who understand the important things sports can teach us to be successful in life.

Sports teaches us to work hard, because preparation is important. This is needed in sports and in life.
Sports teaches physical toughness, but also mental toughness. Both are needed in sports and in life.
Sports teaches us to be happy in victory, but also courteous to those we beat, so we learn class and grace.
Sports teaches us that to lose doesn’t make us losers, because tomorrow we can win.
Sports teaches us grace in the form of good sportsmanship as we congratulate the winner when we lose.
Sports reminds us that today’s loss is soon replaced by tomorrow’s victories if we learn from our mistakes.
Sports teaches us that both victories and losses are team victories and team losses, so we learn the importance of teamwork, cooperation and the power of supporting and encouraging our team mates.

These attributes transcend sports and are invaluable in life.

To me, these things are the true value of sports. The records you set can be quickly broken and even the championships soon forgotten. But the lessons learned and the good character forged in the hot stove of competitive sports lives on in the lives of the men and women who play sports. This benefits not just them, but society as a whole.

@shortsegments