How My Children Taught Me About Adversity and How Sports Prepare You For Life
Last weekend I traveled to Indianapolis for a basketball tournament for my 10-year-old son and gymnastics meet for my 17 year old son. We are veterans in the sports world and have pretty realistic expectations when it comes to the bigger city meets and tournaments but what we walked into was a surprise to say the least.
For some reason we grow them small in our small town but the “5th graders” that we encountered were nothing like I’ve seen. My son was tossed, hacked and thrown all over the court. He came up to their waist. There were tears for sure, I would have cried as a grown adult but he hung in there. He kept fighting and although they lost 86-4 (yes that is a thing in basketball) they wanted to go back the next day. I’m not sure of the lesson you are teaching other opposing team by “playing down” and crushing your opponents but I do know that it taught my son a lot. You have to keep your head in the game and keep fighting no matter what. Kids are going to be bigger than you, this is a metaphor for many things in life.
Fast forward a few hours and there we were at the Indianapolis Convention Center where my 17 year old decided he wanted to compete with the senior division in gymnastics. This was huge for him. Do you compete in what’s comfortable and what you know with teammates that you have know for 5 years or do you throw your hat in the ring with the older kids? This is where the adversity comes in and the reason for my post. He threw his hat in the ring and he outdid himself to say the least. He didn’t come in last and he fought through the nerves and in my eyes had one of the best meets of his career (which started when he was 5).
The results weren’t amazing and I don’t have a Cinderalla story of them both winning. There is no teary-eyed Disney movie ending, no Rudy story or Cool Runnings but I couldn’t have been prouder.
Not sure where this is all going to take us college, post college gymnastics or just life lessons but what I do know is these are the moments that they won’t forget. When you come up to a kids armpit and have no chance of getting a rebound and you don’t come in last amongst kids 3-7 years older than you, these moments make you stronger.
Sports teach your kids crazy lessons and having never competed, especially at an elite level it is hard for me to relate sometimes. What I do know is that being a mom of 3 boys, I have sat through some nail bitters, some old fashioned blow outs and some amazing moments of greatness by both my children individually and their teams. When we walk off of the field or out of the gym we always try to look for the moments and what we learned from them. It is cliché to say that next time we have to try harder but what does that mean? Do you practice making 100 free throws, do 7 pommel routines without falling (any gymnastics parents know that when it comes pommel and beam the struggle is real) or do you do nothing and hope for better results. I teach my boys that you get out what you put in and you can’t play Fortnite for the entire weekend and expect your performance to magically improve.
Adversity means resilience. Sports teach many lessons and I truly believe will make you a better co-worker, husband/wife and person by the wins and loses of life. My 10 year old and 17 year old boys taught me a lesson on how to keep your head high, work hard and taking the easy road isn’t always the best. Sometimes being the youngest and the shortest teaches you how to play harder, hang on to the bar a little tighter and fight for that stuck landing. When you find yourself in a situation where you need some adversity, think of what the tiny humans in our life go through and how they come out so unshaken.
-Mollie Blixt, Owner and Area Manager of The Learning Experience Gurnee, The Learning Experience Independence, The Learning Experience South Lyon and The Learning Experience South Lyon West
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