Well, I just signed my three boys up for baseball. All three are excellent baseball players for their ages. Eric pitches and can play anywhere on the field when he's not pitching. Brody, since he started playing at the age of 3, has almost always been the best overall player on his team. William also started at three. I coached his team last year and we went undefeated, winning the tournament and a huge trophy. The trophy is in Wills room and he will tell you that it's his. Not that he cares much about winning right now, but he hasn't yet experienced losing so we'll see.
I've always said that, mainly, I want my kids to have fun playing. Ella doesn't like playing baseball or softball so she just watches. So far, William and Eric love baseball. Brody likes to play, but if he didn't play he'd be OK with that too. Brody just lives in the moment, he doesn't really think about the past or worry about the future. Probably normal for a seven year old.
Win or lose, they love baseball. We play at a park where winning comes second to teaching baseball, and I wouldn't have it any other way. Parents screaming and cussing at kids bothers me and that's what you see at a lot of parks. I would take my kid off of a team that put winning ahead of teaching. Later on, of course, winning becomes more important. Eric is 14 now and although he still has more to learn about finer details of baseball, winning has become important to him.
Now, I've taken my share of cussings from coaches, don't get me wrong. I believe that has a place in sports. A good coach does what it takes to get his point into the athletes head and sometimes that's what it takes. Kids today are both more defiant and lazier that kids were when I was young. Things have definitely changed.
Competition is an every day part of life. We compete at more than just sports as we grow older. Sports are the best way to teach our children about competition. I personally want my kids to learn how to handle both winning and losing. I want them to learn that when they win, that usually means someone else had to lose. They must learn to respect their opponent and hopefully understand that you can't always be the winner. I hope they learn that sometimes you DO lose and that makes you stronger too. Hopefully, my children will always be humble when they win and able to learn from losing.
I personally HATE losing. When Eric and I play basketball outside, I never let him win. So far Eric has never beaten me at basketball. Someday he will, if he practices enough and get's good enough. And when he finally does he will hopefully learn the payoff of hard work and dedication. The lessons we learn from sports, we apply to life. In life, not everyone wins all the time, and the losses can be overcome. That's what I hope my kids learn from sports. Of course a big MLB contract wouldn't hurt my feelings either. I get the signing bonus!!
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