The older I get, the more I understand the importance of lessons learned while playing high school sports.
Being on a high school team means belonging to something bigger than one’s self and coming together for a common cause. If one is lucky, those two, three or four years playing high school sports will leave memories that last a lifetime and friendships to treasure for years to come.
Sports also can give us coaches who become mentors and role models.
I recently spent the afternoon with my best friend, a former Auburn football player. As we talked, he mentioned how our coaches pushed us and helped us get more out of our bodies than we ever imagined. He said nobody liked two-a-day practices or, when he got to Auburn, three-a-days, but that was part of conditioning for the season ahead.
In the Bible, Hebrews 12:11 addresses how being disciplined isn’t fun, and can be painful, but those trained in it will have a harvest of righteousness and peace.
Good coaches train and discipline their players, both for games that will be played in high school arenas and for life's bigger games. If we are lucky, we learn to handle victory and defeat with grace. That’s not to say we become good losers or enjoy losing; rather, we learn lessons in defeat and adversity that prepare us for the next challenge.
And, in victory, we remember that sometimes one play or lucky bounce can turn things our way, and that the difference in any game's outcome is often a matter of inches.
On tough days, I still hear the voice of Mike Walker, my old defensive line coach, say, “Big Randle, you’ve got to have the want to.”
Most kids “want to” play a game, but those games will prepare them for life, and they will be richer for their experience as a high school athlete.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: DICKSON: Sports' life lessons