138 | 3 Pillars of Youth Sports

Only 3 things matter in youth sportsLove of the gameCharacter developmentSkill progression... in that order ..Sport is an undeniably great medium to inject life lessons into our kidsThe lessons I learned playing sports as a kid laid a foundation for the character I carry today as a 32 year old man. I am beyond grateful to have had parents who “got it” and optimized my experience for character development above all else.I’m striving to give the same to my kid - and I want to help you do the same.Unfortunately, 80% of kids who play sports quit by age 12..robbing them of the opportunity to continue playing a game they once lovedand to further build their character through it.My goal is for us to fix this issue moving forward.In youth sports, only 3 things matter (in this order!): Love of the GameCharacter DevelopmentSkill ProgressionFollow me on this….If we make sports fun..they maintain and grow their love of the gamethey want to playthey want to practicethey practice on their own in the back yardthey're engagedmeaning they actually care when coach talksbecause they care about the game and want to get betterso they listen to the character development stuffwe teach them about how to work hardhow to practice hardhow to be a great team matehow to respond to adversity and failurehow to compete and winwhich makes it more fun, by the way,and because they're having funand they want to come backand they understand how to work hardand how to practice hardand how to work as a teamand how to competeAad how to learn from mistakesthen the output of all of thatIs them getting better at the game!and then…THIS IS THE MAGIC PART RIGHT HEREas they get better at the gamethe game becomes more funbecause everything is more fun when you get better at itand because they’re having more funthey play longerproviding more opportunity to build characterwhich ultimately makes them better at the gameand the cycle continues….… it’s a beautifully vicious cycleand it’s my mini manifesto on sports.In today’s episode I go deep on this!!