Patience is a virtue

If there is one quality or character trait that would change the climate in sports it would have to be patience. Patience described by one well-respected author as "that calm and unruffled temper with which the good man bears the evils of life, whether they proceed from persons or things."

Granted, we live in a microwave, point and click society. We want things immediately in many areas of our lives. News, information, products and services. We live our lives looking for instant gratification and when things don't go our way we become angry and frustrated.

If people truly were more patient in the sports arena it would lead immediately to the following positive climate changes:

Improved decorum and sportsmanship at games and increased level of respect amongst players, coaches, fans and officials. Think about it; most of the issues arise from an increased emphasis on winning and achievement pushed down from the professional level to the youth sports level. Parents feel that either they or their children are doing something wrong if they have not produced the next Tiger Woods by two years old or if they have not attained some "McDonald's All-American" type status before puberty.

Some of these national publications that rank athletes prowess on a national basis before they've graduated middle school are ludicrous, as is anybody who puts any stock in them.

Specialization, burnout and overuse injuries would be less problematic as parents and young athletes realize they don't have to peak by the time they are twelve years old. There is a virtual lifetime of participation in most sports after twelve.

Team morale and inter-squad political issues would be reduced making life easier on coaches if kids realize they don't have to be a starter as a freshman in high school or their future in the sports is crushed.

Patience is a major building block in building faith and confidence in an athlete. If the basic ingredient is lacking or has not been developed fully, the athlete may not have deep, total confidence in their abilities. They do not truly trust their skills and abilities. The patient athlete ends up being a more valuable teammate in the long run.

What we see happen many time is the development of a feeling of entitlement among parents and players that prevents them from seeing the process they have embarked on from a long-term standpoint. This short-term thinking results in a tunnel-vision view of the environment around them and they take team situations far too personally.

We see a lot of athletes who are very talented who do not harness their abilities until the "slow the game down" and "allow the game to come to them". In effect, what we are describing to them is to develop PATIENCE.

In baseball, we like to see hitters demonstrate patience and allow the pitcher to come to them. It takes young hitters some experience to learn what that means. The same is true with the development of QB's and RB's as they progress from one level of competition to the next. Point guards in basketball are often better when they grow in patience and don't force the action.

Many athletes have the requisite talent. They have the tools in the tool box in terms of athletic gifts. They players who take care in the formative years to learn the discipline of patience tend to take learn how to use their tools to the fullest extent.

PATIENCE - But endurance must do its complete work, so that we may be mature and complete, lacking nothing - James 1:4