Up until the age of 18, most things that kids do, are short term and lack strong emotional feeling. The one place that kids can get the emotional thrill of a goal set and accomplished over a long period of hard work is sports.
There are no other places where I can imagine the exhilaration of a win. One doesn’t feel it in class when they get a good grade, or even when getting the keys to a car. Even first date doesn’t compare to that feeling of a win on the field.
Winning is often hidden in mystique of genetics, brilliant plays or ungodly sacrifice. But winning is simple. It is small acts of control over schedule and diet. It is a desire to accomplish a goal and brutal honesty of what it will take to get there and the daily honesty of asking what needs to be done to be better.
High School sports is where kids learn to compete at low stakes and the ones who learn to show up every day without an excuse, commit to becoming better every day, who work hard every minute instead of slacking, those will become good at the sport, but also, they are the ones who take those work habits and translate them into life.
Winning isn’t magic, it is showing up to practice, eating right when no one is watching, being responsible with your work and your time. It is ability to set a goal and work towards it day by day.
This is why it isn’t rare for an Olympian or collegiate athlete to find success in life. Every lesson into becoming a success on the mat and the field will translate into success at life. The actions are different, goals are different, but habits are the same and so are the results.
Henry-Wrestling 