As I watched my 11-year-old daughter play in the Connecticut 11U softball state championship tournament, I couldn’t help but reflect on how critical playing sports, especially team sports, has contributed to my success in business and life.
As my daughter and her team went through this tournament, I realized something. They ended up making it to the semi-finals and lost just one game shy of playing for the championship. It was heartbreaking that they didn’t advance, but the girls learned such critical life lessons that will stick with them for the rest of their lives.
Through their involvement with the team and competing in this tournament, they learned how to work with different personalities, experience failures (small and large) individually and collectively, recover and overcome failure, compete and be competitive, deal with fear, learn to make sacrifices, be a part of something that is greater than them, and work together to accomplish a goal. I know these girls might not know it now, but all of this will make them better people, better contributors, and great leaders in whatever they decide to do in life.
When I am speaking about financial education at events around the country, I get many people who come up to me asking how to educate their kids on business and finance and make sure that they’ll be successful in such endeavors. I always tell them to get them playing sports, especially team sports.