No question, just like with anything in life, competitive and “pay to play” children’s sports can be a haven for entitled parents to live vicariously through their kids, stripping all the fun away from athletics, and used to breed a new generation of bratty adults who expect things to be handed to them because they decided they deserve it… or at least because momma told them they did.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Participating in sports growing up gave me a platform to learn so much about what it means to be a dependable, responsible person, who expects the best from herself, and leads others around her to become their best selves too.  In that atmosphere I learned to be color blind, to love others because they have intrinsic valuable… That the amount of melanin in a person’s skin doesn’t measure the goodness of their heart or the worth of their soul.

I learned that doing what I don’t want to do now can get me to where I want to be in the future.  And that the rewards for my sacrifice won’t come immediately, but that with patience, they will be worth it.

The connections I made with my teammates and coaches are unbreakable.  There is something binding in going through an experience with another, knowing that they loved and sacrificed a long side you, and that process refined you all.

I learned that I flipping LOVE to win, but that failure helps a person become stronger.  Failure exposes where we need to improve, and losing doesn’t necessarily equal failure.  Sometimes, there is even joy in losing.  Always, there is a lesson.  I learned that sometimes not reaching my goal means that there is another, better plan for me.  And I learned that the journey is sometimes the best gift of all.

Plus, games are fun.

When we had children, we made the decision to enroll them into a variety of sports, until each of our kids made their choices about which they wanted to pursue.  And those years, with those families, on those teams, gifted us with the best adventures and memories.

I wouldn’t trade those times for the world… and I would pay to do them all again in a second.  Since I can’t do that, I will settle for going back to them in my mind, through the photographs I treasure, with the people I love most.  Won’t you join me?

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