Sports parents, we've recently faced a huge challenge in our family regarding whether our son’s college team was going to be allowed to compete. After much stress, anguish, coaches, and advisors helping the young athletes stay calm amidst the fear and stress of the situation, and lots (I mean lots) of prayer, the school authorities and team reached a positive outcome and the athletes were allowed to compete as planned.

The stress and fear of not getting to compete drew out my Gratitude for Sports, and I’m sure the other parents, athletes, and coaches feel this way, too.

We complain too often about the negative aspects of competitive sports. How coaches aren’t impartial, how early we must get up for morning practice, how little time athletes have to “just be a kid” (what does that mean? There are different interpretations), how unfair it is that there are such few scholarships or no NCAA Division 3 athletic scholarships, how much you need to sacrifice, etc… Yes, I get it. I was there. I was a teen athlete training 33 hours a week, breaking my arms and having surgery, feeling pressure as the Worlds Olympics were getting close, struggling with an eating disorder… I know that reaching and maintaining that level does include painful moments indeed. But you know what? I GOT TO practice gymnastics. I GOT TO practice a beautiful sport.

Perhaps we don’t spend enough time focusing on all the good things and happy moments we get from sports. How parents leverage sports to teach their kids values such as discipline, patience, respect, and resiliency. How athletes can discover a lot about themselves and the kind of person they want to be. How they can learn to make healthy decisions and take care of themselves because they understand the importance of their physical and mental health. How to be a good teammate. And how AWESOME IT FEELS to reach a certain level of mastery!

• the thrill of doing a double back,
  
• the delight of dunking a basket,
  
• the rush of running incredibly fast,
  
• the delight of swimming almost as naturally as a dolphin…

My advice to you, if you are open to listening, is to stop every time you are upset, annoyed, or ready to complain about whatever tough moment you or your child are currently facing in sports, and ask yourself: what are we gaining from this? What are we learning from this? Because, when you are no longer a competitive athlete, you are going to miss it. Or for whatever reason (COVID, lack of facility space, disciplinary actions) you cannot train or compete, you are going to wish so badly that you could!

So, give today and every day your absolute best shot, and BE GRATEFUL FOR THE PRIVILEGE OF PRACTICING YOUR SPORT.