Although sports help us stay active and in shape, there’s more to sports than just physical fitness and competing.  Believe it or not, sports can go as far as teaching us valuable life lessons that we can use in our everyday lives. Here are 10 examples and quotes describing how sports can impact people beyond staying in shape.

1. Learning How to fail

“I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed.” -Michael Jordan (#1 NBA Basketball Player Of All Time)

In every athlete’s life, there will come a time where they will experience failure. They will lose a game, or fail to complete the goal they set up for themselves. Sports will teach us how to do so, as experiencing failure is only one step closer to success. Sports will teach us that when we are a sore loser, we will lose respect from others. In our everyday lives, we can take this lesson from sports and continue to stay respectful when things may not go our way.

2. Learning how to succeed

“I don’t celebrate because I’m only doing my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?” -Mario Balotelli (Champion Italian Footballer)

Sports teach us to remain humble. More respect will come to us when we are able to succeed, yet not be boastful about it.  In everyday life it is important to stay humble, no matter the size of the achievement we may accomplish.

3. How to work with others

“If you play your heart out for what your jersey says on the front, everyone will remember what the jersey says on the back.” – Miracle (US Men’s Hockey Team Film)  Anyone who plays a team sports can learn that the success of an individual is not as important as the success of the team. Sports teach us that in order to achieve a common goal, we must know that working well with others is a necessity and not an option.

4. Discipline

“Procrastination is one of the most common and deadliest of diseases and its toll on success and happiness is heavy.” – Wayne Gretzky (Former NHL Champion Player & Head Coach)

Any athlete knows that when you put off practice, nothing good comes out of it. Practicing in order to get better and improve yourself as an athlete requires a lot of discipline. Whether you are getting a project done, studying for school work, or getting work done ahead of time at your job, discipline will always help you. Sports teach us that when you discipline yourself you can be a lot more successful.  

5. How to stay positive

“Champions keep playing until they get it right.” — Billie Jean King ( International Hall of Fame tennis star)

Sports will teach us that when you keep your head up, remain positive and not give up, you will eventually be able to get it right.

6.How to learn from our own mistakes

“It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” –Vince Lombardi (NFL Champion Head Coach)

When we get knocked down in sports, we don’t stay down, we are taught to get right back up and finish the job. Making mistakes in sports is very common, but what is important is that we take these mistakes and learn from them. Athletes who are successful acknowledge their mistakes, learn from them, but then put them in the past. This lesson is used in everyday life. No matter the hardship that is thrown our way, we must know that it will only make us stronger.

7.How to work hard

“There may be people that have more talent than you, but there’s no excuse for anyone to work harder than you do.”  – Derek Jeter (5 x World Series MLB Champion)

If someone wants to become good at a certain sport, then practicing and putting in work is very important. The athletes who practice harder, have more chances of beating  their opponent. The same is applied in life- the more work we put into something, the more amazing our rewards will end up being.

8.Sacrifice

“You can’t get much done in life if you only work on the days when you feel good.” – Jerry West (Retired LA Lakers NBA Champion)

By playing sports, you realize that sacrifices are needed if you want to increase the quality of your performance. This could be as simple as going to bed earlier, eating better or not staying out as late. Doing these things will help us learn that making certain sacrifices through life will help you achieve more, improving your everyday life.

9.Goal setting

“Set your goals high, and don’t stop till you get there.” – Bo Jackson (American former baseball and football player)

Participating in sports requires us to set individual goals for ourselves. We learn that when making a goal, it pushes us to do better in the sport. Just like in life, goals motivate us to work harder and become more persistent,  so we are able to view a very rewarding outcome.

10.Practice makes better

“If you train hard, you’ll not only be hard, you’ll be hard to beat.” – Herschel Walker (2 x All Pro NFL Champion & MMA Champion)

Sports teach us that when we practice, we are able to become more difficult to beat, but nothing will make us perfect. We will continue to make mistakes through life, but if we continue to practice, we will have less of them and will be rewarded.