I’ve learned that when people say they don’t like sports, it’s usually due to the game itself. Either they find it boring, too slow, pointless, too physical, etc. But what many people don’t realize is that sports teach life lessons. Each sport can teach a different lesson based on how the sport is played. These lessons are brought into the everyday lives of the athletes that learned them. Since I have been around sports my entire life, I wanted to know what lessons my teammates and friends have learned from playing their respective sports. I asked some for a lesson and story of when they learned it and how it relates to their everyday life.

One of the first lessons any sport will teach you is to work hard in all that you do and never give up on yourself. A former teammate of mine told me, “Throughout my career I have learned that no matter how bad things may get on the field, either personally or as a team, anything could be overcome with hard work. You have to be mentally strong enough to think past the bad and see the good in the future.” He went on to tell me about when he went into slumps, and the mindset he had to get out of them, “I struggled so much that there would be points where I would just want to stop even trying to hit but I knew that wouldn’t fix my problem. So instead, I would spend countless amounts of time hitting in the cage trying to fix my swing.” The countless hours he spent in the cage fixing his swing paid off as he was a huge part of getting our team to the county finals. He had to keep a strong mentality to not get too down on himself. He knew through hard work and dedication he would be able to get through the slump. This mentality can be carried into everyday life and applied in many situations. Say you struggle with math, for example. Not doing the work won’t help you get better at it, putting in the work and studying will be what helps you pass the test. Tom Pallatto, a former teammate of mine who now plays college baseball agrees that it takes hard work to do what you want, “Don’t take anything for granted. I got cut in 8th grade and worked my ass off after that and now I’m playing college ball. I never worked or tried to get better before that.” You should never give up on yourself, even when you feel all hope is lost. When you get that feeling, bear down and tough it out, you never know what can happen.

Another lesson sports teach you is to be open-minded. My friend Nick who plays lacrosse told me, “Every time you step into film (watching game film of your opponent), you need to clear your mind to learn something new about yourself, your team or your opponent. That open-mindedness can be translated into how to enter any new environment looking to learn something.” He went on to explain to me, “By playing lacrosse I noticed that every game, practice, and situation required a different way of thinking,” All of these different ways of thinking can be carried into daily life and daily situations as Nick later explained to me, “That has greatly influenced my way of thinking in the classroom, at work and just being around people in general.” Being open to learning new things and using different ways of thinking is another of the many life lessons that sports and in particular lacrosse teaches.

Many sports are team oriented, including the great sport of baseball. My former teammate and good friend Jake Spielberg told me what baseball has taught him, “Baseball taught me to believe in others and not just yourself.” That advice holds true for anyone, whether they play a sport or not. Believing in your teammates is key for any team, an idea Jake agreed with, “Honestly, it’s about the bonds one individual makes with their teammates. I’ve had past experiences with becoming friends with many people through different baseball teams and I’ve developed relationships and many stories to tell.” Baseball is more than just a game and nothing says that more than friendships and memories, “Baseball and sports aren’t just about the competition, it’s about the friendships. It taught me to be outgoing,” Nothing says more than a game than making lifetime friends.

In addition to making friends, sports teach people how to work together and what it’s like being on a team. Cassie Cesario, a D1 lacrosse commit, explains how her high school lacrosse experience has helped teach her teamwork, “This year in lacrosse, my team made it farther than ever before and it taught all of us a lot. We have this concept of a ‘ring’ and anyone on our team is part of the ring. Teamwork is a common concept when it comes to team sports but not many teams understand that teamwork is also used in everyday life. My team this past year has taught me that when I’m going to be a part of some kind of team in the future, I need to fully respect the people in that ‘ring.’” We all have our own “ring” and we all must respect those in it.

One of the more useful life lessons sports can teach is that they teach you how to handle failure in different ways. Parents tell their kids, “It’s OK, you tried your best,” but it’s not OK. Trying your best only gets you so far in life according to my former teammate Patrick Broder. Broder goes on to explain, “You can try your best and not get a job, but you don’t get paid for trying.” Of course, when it comes to employment, doing your best may not be enough, “You have to do your job day in and day out or you lose it,” Broder continued. That lesson goes for sports as well as life. In sports, if you don’t do your job, you will end up riding the pine (bench), and in life in general, if you don’t do your job you run the risk of letting people down, even if you try your best. Cesario’s teammate, Courtney Capobianco views failure a bit differently saying, “When we are little, we don’t realize that these are just temporary setbacks that just push us to make us better.” She continued by saying, even at 17, she still “makes a great deal of mistakes,” and uses those mistakes as lessons instead of saying that she tried her best and time to move on. While seeing two different views on it, it’s clear that sports can teach you how to deal with failure in different ways, which is good because sometimes there needs to be a new perspective shown to truly understand what is being taught.

I’m sure most people reading this have learned many of these lessons in various ways. Sports are vital to the maturation of youth, as shown by the quotes from various athletes. If you still think that sports are just the games themselves, talk to an athlete about what they learned from their sport, you will be amazed at how much a game can teach you. As Cesario said to me, “Lacrosse and any other sport is more than just a sport, it’s a classroom and it teaches us all of the lessons of life.” Well said Cassie, well said.