I remember when kids who participated in events never got participation awards just for showing up, they had to earn it. Slowly we are moving away from that precedence and walking towards a everybody is a winner situation. As a parent, business owner, and coach, we know this isn’t true.
"Today wasn't your day, but let's work towards a better tomorrow"
There will always be winners and those that come up short. That is how life works. But the fire that is lit in our young athletes truly comes alive from friendly competition. The back and forth between two equally dedicated, motivated and hard-working players, to see which one will best the other that day is something I believe is essential to growing up.
We should always encourage our kids to bring their best selves to everything that they do, we need to encourage our children to be competitive so they can continue to be motivated.
I am often asked “But Coach Ben, what if my kid wants to quit because they can’t win, what do we do then?”. Firstly, we need to teach them that competition is fun and can be healthy but it is not everything. We need to teach our children that losing is okay and that we learn from our mistakes. We also need to teach our children that winning isn’t everything. We want to make sure we are teaching our young aspiring minds to be humble in victory, but gracious in defeat. But if that does not work, let them quit.
I know What! Just let them quit? Get them to finish off the season, always finish what you started. Now remember we are only talking about sports here, not family, relationships, promises, etc. When it comes to sports there is a thin line between keeping and losing motivation, if you notice through competition your child begins to lose that passion, maybe it is time to step back. Forcing a sport is never the way we want
to encourage sports.
The ones dedicated, know how to lose, and are motivated to get better than the last time will go incredibly far in whatever they set their mind to.
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