What purpose does sports serve?

[firedup]

Do morals exist in sports?

[PURPLE 4EVER]

When done properly, yes.

Competition brings out the best in all people.

The lessons learned not only in football, but in all sports can transcend into just about any career.

The joy earned from the thrill of victory and the pain suffered from the agony of defeat will be lessons learned that will last a lifetime.

Champions adapt to the situation and overcome adversity, losers make excuses.

A good coach will instill this into the kids.  Don't make excuses for failing, but learn to adapt and overcome.  This will help any individual succeed later in life.

[baddog]

Sports, created for the Olympic Games, was invented for combatants (enemies) to settle their differences with games, with the winner being proclaimed the victor. They thought it better than to kill each other. Although these game today are supposed to be played for the "sport" of it, you have to wonder when one team loses, the victors somehow feel they are "better in every aspect of life" than the loser.......NOT!!

[Mike George]

Sports is many things.

It's a Character Builder:  Many students who never do anything outside the classroom live in a mundane world just getting by. This transcends many times into adulthood where individuals who have grown up "just getting by" feel that's all they have to do. The problem with "just, or barely getting by" is that if you ever come up short, you're not "getting by." Involvement in sports means you have to do more. As an athlete, you're challenged, first by your coaches and then by your competition to always do your best and more importantly, when your best is not good enough, to try and reach down for something more. Those who attain this level usually become leaders. At worst, anyone else in athletic competition is at least, doing more than "just getting by."

It's a Discipline Model: One cannot play sports without discipline. One not only has to discipline one's mind to handle the time constraints, additional training and conditioning requirements, but must balance all that and more into their "non-mundane" school, family, and in some cases, work life.

It's a Psychological Advantage: An athlete learns team work, team spirit and unity. In football, basketball, baseball, softball, and volleyball players must learn to work together in order to accomplish team goals. Individuality won't work in a team sport. It's devisive and erosive. The team that learns to play together learns to win together. When the team takes total responsibility for the outcome of poor or less that 100 percent effort and as a team work to correct those deficiencies, they've come a long way in developing Character. See item one.

[firedup]

what about when kids do wrong and you ignore just for your own gain or your teams gain.  i'm not talking about being tardy for class.

[Guest Penny]

Some would say that sports don't build character, they reveal character.  Character is built in the home by your parents.

[Mike George]

Sometimes - a kid with parents, especially two parents has a broader Character base, but over the past few years , I've seen kids without the homelife develop the kind of character I'm talking about. Then again, I've seen instances, very few, where character had the foundation but didn't develop, either.

[Guest WeedBegone]

Man I am impressed with the deep opinions you guys have.  All are good points.  Penny, you really made me think differently.  I have to agree that sports alone does not build good character--see OJ and Vick.

Yet Vince Young was brought up in a home that was split between a good raising by his mom and sisters, while his father decided that felonies was a good living.  He somehow overcame that.

Conclusion:  Sports, band, student council, cheerleading, etc are good avenues one can travel in order to apply what the books have been teaching them.  Abrreviated: To learn it--is to live it.

Respectfully submitted

Weedbegone.

[Guest Penny]

I probably shouldn't have said PARENTS, it's truly your GUARDIANS, whoever is with you day in and day out to make you who you are.  Whether is a mom and dad, or only a mom, or a grandmother, or aunt... whoever raises you to be who you are, that's what builds your character in my opinion.  What you are is revealed on the football fied, court, arena... etc.  Sports does help to build on what you are and what you've been taught, but it starts at the home and can't be fixed in a gym or on a field

[DP#1FAN]

When done properly, yes.

Competition brings out the best in all people.

The lessons learned not only in football, but in all sports can transcend into just about any career.

The joy earned from the thrill of victory and the pain suffered from the agony of defeat will be lessons learned that will last a lifetime.

Champions adapt to the situation and overcome adversity, losers make excuses.

A good coach will instill this into the kids.  Don't make excuses for failing, but learn to adapt and overcome.  This will help any individual succeed later in life.

This sums it all up!  GREAT post!!!!!!!

[24 over par]

what about kids stuck in a program here favortism is shown the teams lose way more than they win just in general a poor program

[firedup]

Good posts.

What about kids that continually screw up and the coach and others over look it, when football is over the kid goes back to the crap pile. Isn't that just using a kid for your own gain, the kid hasn't learned anything.

[Mike George]

It happens. There are teachers who shouldn't be teachers, coaches who shouldn't be coaches, cops who shouldn't be cops, doctors . . . and so on. It's just the way life is.

Kids on the other hand, don't get to pick their parents and by law, must attend school, so it's just that kind of world.

[firedup]

So Mr. George- what your saying is USE the kid for however long you need him then when your done throw him back to where he came from.

Sounds crappy if that what you mean.

[akifan94]

So Mr. George- what your saying is USE the kid for however long you need him then when your done throw him back to where he came from.

Sounds crappy if that what you mean.

Sounds like you have a personal grudge going here.

[Hotrodg]

So Mr. George- what your saying is USE the kid for however long you need him then when your done throw him back to where he came from.

Sounds crappy if that what you mean.

I don't think that is even close to what he said.

[TradinUp BH]

How about being able to adapt to society in general. Playing sports gives a student a slight edge on life itself. Once the kids graduate college and is in the real world, they have a foundation that helps them understand what TEAM is all about. Just about every job you have to be a TEAM player. You can tell sometimes the adults that didn't play sports have a hard time being able to effectively communicate with other employees.  This sounds crazy, but one day at your job sit there and look at your co-workers and then think about what I said.  You'll see.  This isn't the case in everything, but the majority of the time it is. You also have to be able to juggle numerous responsabilities at one time, and the same thing goes for life itself.  This is just the tip of the iceberg of what sports can teach the kids, but you can go on and on.  So in closing, I think sports prepares kids for being productive citizens along with help from home, etc.

[Mike George]

"Not even close to what I said," is indeed, accurate.

Let me do this with just football. In the game of football a kid learns that he's going to get hit in the mouth. He's going to learn that he can't do it all by himself and that he's going to have to depend upon others to do their job so he can do his, THUS he learns that no matter how menial or insignificant another's job may be, it is no less important than his, in the scheme of things. He learns that although most of the limelight goes to the "playmakers" and the QB's, RB's, LB's and DB's that those interior, many times unmentioned positions play just as important a role in the outcome.

Now, using up a kid? Hey, what about a kid used up on drugs, or alcohol, or tobacco, or sex or anything that has the ability to control one's life and opportunties. Like I said, bad people wind up in positions of trust and betray that trust, but you sound like one who likes to throw the baby out with the bathwater.

[oldmanfb]

gr8 job Mike-- do u mind if i print this out and cary it in my wallett-- I have never seen thsi topic explained any better than this --

[firedup]

so pissing in your pants in class for $4 is ???????????????

[pseudo]

so pissing in your pants in class for $4 is ???????????????

Is what....    if you are trying to sound unintelligent you are doing a fabulous job!  I am a coach and I find my job very useful in teaching kids about life in the real world.  No, I am not going to reach every kid, but if I get through to at least one I have made a difference.  Sounds like you are just trying to pick a fight.  Too bad you never had a good teacher or coach to look up to!

[firedup]

pseudo - this is the kid you want representing your team?

[Guest strongend]

I played in a program that was 2 and 18 for my two years.  I learned more about life from my expereince than any other class.  I feel that at least some of my present success comes from the sports I played while in highschool.

[Mike George]

sure print it out, but put a question mark at the end of my question 

firedup (flamedout), as any coach will tell you, there is a weeding out process. Kid's without character or kids unable to develop any character will be weeded out. I don't have a clue to your $4 reference, nor does it look like anyone else does, so maybe instead of trying to pick a fight (when it comes to a war of words you're unarmed, so I doubt you'd fare much better the other way, either), you can explain what you're talking about. All I know is that the demands of time, energy, blood sweat and tears is too much to pay for some one with out an account - that's known as "no-account" so maybe that will explain it. They find themselves getting fired or find they would rather do something else. Bad fruit tends to fall out of the tree - as long as you keep it out of the barrell with the rest of the fruit, it will only rot itself.

[bigd92]

Sometimes that teacher or coach are the only positive adults in a kids life.I agree that parents are our first role models but without help from the village a kid can be deterred from the raising the parents intended for them. Sports have helped save lives including mine. I would like to say thank you to all the coaches and parents who gave up their time to teach me the game of football during my Pop Warner and Flag football days. I would like to say thank you  for all the rides you provided to kids like me who just diddnt have transportation.Your good deeds have had a huge carry over in that I look forward to giving back to my community. I credit my ability to take dissappoinment and turn it into opportunity from my HS coaches who witnessed my growth from a bench warmer into a starting contributor; Your constant encouragement and refussal to let me quit continues in my work today(Thank You). I appreciate the patience my Middle school coaches had with me and others when I just was too awkward to get it right. I too can be resiliant and use what I have and make it work.