Dreams of Success
We all see the success stories on TV and read about the huge contracts for professional athletes. Then we hear about the “hard work” and “dedication” they put into their craft without credit to the God given gifts they were bestowed. The message is clear. If YOU put in the hard work, or someone pushes you hard enough, you too can reach these levels of ‘success’.
While most of us realize those are the exceptional stories. Not everyone actually reaches those levels. However, it doesn’t keep us from dreaming about that as our ‘success’. Although dreams are important and necessary, they can also turn out to be more humble as we grow older and gain knowledge from life experiences. This was brought to my attention recently when I discovered this Chinese proverb, “Knowledge makes humble, ignorance makes proud”. This aligns perfectly with my Catholic faith. It allows me to accept everyone’s dream today with the knowledge that it will morph without becoming any less important.
Knowledge makes humble, ignorance makes proud
Chinese Proverb
Purpose
I had superstar dreams once upon a time. Dreams of playing basketball on television. I thought performing in front of a national audience while playing a game would show everyone else “I made it”. For many reasons, (we won’t get into now), that dream morphed into a more humble version. I’ve upgraded my dreams to help others.
My dream today is to help kids keep those dreams alive. I want to help morph those dreams into a powerful and humble life filled with happiness and success. Moreover, I want to help today’s parents see a better, more humble vision for youth sports. A vision full of ‘experiences for everyone’ to help kids win the ‘championship of life’. The championship which has the lifelong daily rewards of happiness and success.
Today’s Dream
My vision for youth sports is to get participation rates in youth sports up to 100% by teaching parents how to use sports to raise happy and successful adults. That may sound like an unrealistic goal, but I can’t think of any kid who would not benefit from the life lessons learned in youth sports. Plus, with the right perspective, even the worse experiences teach life lessons in relationships and mindset.
The key is getting parents to drive change in youth sports culture. We need to shift the focus of youth sports. Parents need to keep kids, and coaches, focused on the skills developed along the journey rather than focusing on the outcomes. Parents hold the keys.
Parents Have Control
There are tons of awesome resources for coaches to change the focus of youth sports. We have resources like Changing the Game Project, Winning Youth Coaching, the Positive Coaching Alliance and others listed on our resources page. Coaches have boundaries when influencing parents to change their thinking about the value in youth sports.
Ultimately, parents have the control. They impact the focus, direction and environment of youth sports by deciding where to place their kids and value those experiences. They need to evaluate the best solution for THEIR kids.
More and more, parents have to chose between two polar opposite ends of the spectrum. On one end of the spectrum, they can participate in recreational sports that have novice coaches and inexperienced players. At the other end of the spectrum, they are asked to commit to super competitive, and expensive, programs that require an unrealistic dedication to one sport at the expense of any other sports or activity.
Making a Changes for Success
Together, we can make a change. We can change the expectations of parents everywhere to make youth sports a positive force for ALL kids. Help us tweak the “dreams” of today’s kids to make sure the hard work and dedication is recognized as tools all kids need. Tools that will make them happy and successful adults.
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