More Than The Scoreনমুনা

Youth sports can set us on an incredible journey filled with abundant blessings and joy. It can create a strong foundation for growth in our children. Looking back, I can see how my family has benefited tremendously from athletics, which is comforting since we’ve given a considerable chunk of our lives to sports.

My wife Christina and I recently took a stroll down memory lane and compiled an alarming statistic. Over the course of our marriage, we’ve spent roughly 20 percent of our waking hours in some sports-related capacity. So, twenty percent of our marriage has been spent in fields or arenas for various reasons, driving to practices or games, watching the games, broadcasting games, or coaching.

I believe one of the most important questions we can answer is, “Why are we spending our treasured time playing these sports?” If we can answer this question well, it becomes our barometer and compass. Our “why” helps define our purpose, and it helps us identify the real wins and losses beyond the scoreboard.

We invested our time in this way because we realized that we had a unique opportunity as parents to model lives of virtue for our children. Youth sports allowed us a special time and place for doing that. Our shared perspective was that sports, when used correctly, are a tremendous tool to help shape our children into hardworking, dedicated young men and women. The opportunities to learn the values of teamwork, discipline, responsibility, competing hard, how to win, and how to be graceful in defeat are endless. Above all, we wanted them to learn how to be great people, respect authority, and approach the game with passion.

We came to understand that success isn’t about the scoreboard -- it’s about character growth. We grew in our resolve over time with a fervent desire to honor God as parents, coaches, and players of the game. If we want to be the best for our children, we have to follow God’s invitation to model our lives after Him.

We have a responsibility, as parents, to love our children well and to train them up. Proverbs 22:6 makes that truth clear. When it came to sports or anything our boys did, most importantly, we wanted our sons to honor God with their talents and have a relationship with Him. Everything else would be icing on the cake.