Was your NCAA tournament bracket “busted?” Did you abandon your own hopes for a favorite team and begin rooting for St. Peter’s University? It’s hard not to cheer for a Cinderella team, as they remind us of what can happen when we work hard and believe in ourselves.

Or did you watch the Women’s Final Four last night and see coaches Tara VanDerveer and Dawn Staley? Staley played for VanDerveer on the 1996 Olympic US Women’s Basketball team. By winning the gold medal about the same time the WNBA was being formed, they helped kick-start women’s basketball in our country. It’s hard not to think about the history and the players that these two women have influenced.  

These are the kinds of stories that come out of sports that are meaningful to us and we remember over time. Yes, teams win and lose, and the goal is to move on in the tournament and win the championship, but it is something bigger than a championship that makes sports worth playing. 

The purpose of sport

Last year I wrote about the probability of becoming a college player. It’s easy to forget as we watch so many tournament games just how unique those players on the floor are. Those who get to play in these tournaments, and especially those who make it to the Final Four, are a very small percentage of collegiate athletes.

This year as I’ve watched March Madness, I thought a lot about the Minnesota State High School League’s Why We Play initiative.

Recognizing that 97% of kids are not going to play in college, the MSHSL and Associate Director at the time, Jody Redman, developed the initiative to promote the educational purpose of sports. She clearly laid out the difference between the goal and purpose of youth sports:

“The goal is to win, and coaches should be playing and planning and preparing to win the game but that’s not the purpose,” Redman said. “The purpose is the human growth and development of kids through their sports experience and connecting them to caring adults in their learning communities so they can also have academic success.”

The Why We Play initiative and similar programs are aimed at building youth sports programs that provide positive experiences. They focus on the purpose of playing rather than the goal. 

I believe, that in the long run, focusing on the purpose of sport leads to winning teams, but more importantly, more rewarding learning experiences for kids. I would also guess that young players who have coaches who focus on the purpose of playing first are more likely to learn how to set and reach their personal goals. And it’s more likely they will enjoy their sports experience and carry some of the lessons learned into adulthood.

Every sports experience ends eventually 

It’s hard to watch the emotional end to a team’s season or a senior’s playing career. I imagine the first tears are prompted by losing the game, but what quickly follows is the realization that something wonderful is over. It is the teamwork and friendships, and the personal challenge of playing the game, that the players will miss. They may not have reached the goal, but the benefits of playing will last a lifetime.

photo by Jeffrey Lin on Unsplash