A Look at Correlation Between Youth Sports Athletes and Leadership Concepts in the Workforce By Robert Graves For a majority of my life, I’ve been involved in sports. I can even remember when I played on my first team, the time my father first enrolled me on my first T-ball league. There are pictures in our family photo album of me holding a basketball at an age even younger than when I played in the T-ball league, shooting it into a Mattel© basketball hoop. Throughout the years, I’ve played on various sports teams from little league baseball, YMCA basketball, high school football, and even a high-status volleyball team during my time in the Marine Corps. I love sports and the team concept; in fact, a majority of my friends played in some type of league, or were former teammates of my own. I’ve noticed throughout the years, as I look back on my life, that I had always been some sort of captain or role model, and even in the jobs I held I had always been promoted faster than my peers, and have always been given great recognition and appraisal. I have always been told I was a good leader, and people came to me willingly to seek assistance and advice. Still to this day, as a chief in my shop, and as a family friend, people turn to me for life coaching. I see this trend as well with some of my former teammates, and even some former High School and College athletes that enlisted in the services. Seeing this trend I began to wonder if there is a correlation between
I knew early in life that my passion to play sports was undeniable. I was determined to be the best at every sport I played. That determination led me throughout my high school career to be a three-sport athlete since I was a freshman. I have received a varsity letter awards for baseball, basketball, and football. Senior year of my high school football season I was awarded captain of my team. My junior football season I was awarded honorable mention all league as well as honorable mention all area. Being a talented athlete, I continued to push myself to improve. I believe the drive to succeed came from deep within myself as dedicated team player to never let my teammates down without a fight. Besides sports I am active member of the key club for my school and frequently helped out with the miracle league foundation in Schnecksville, PA for kids with disabilities. Throughout my summers I have been helping out at a youth football camp having fun and teaching the youth about the sport of football. Throughout my high school years I’ve kept myself quite busy whether it be through athletics or just helping out where ever I can. Keeping up with
Sports has always been a huge part of my life. I would be the one team player who took the sports season a little bit too seriously. I was the number 1 doubles player on my school's JV tennis team. Unfortunately, I fractured my ankle during my junior year and wasn't able to play with my team. I was devastated, but I didn’t allow myself to become disconnected from my team. I became the team manager to allow myself to still play a role in my team, despite my injury. I would record scores to my division leaders and take pictures to post on the website I created for my team. After the season was over, my doctor told me my ankles required surgery to become fully healed. I knew that meant I couldn’t continue to play tennis, but I didn’t want to give
I began to play organized basketball in 5th grade and have continued all the way through my senior year. Throughout my career I have grown tremendously each year, earning several improvement awards along the way. I had always struggled to assume my role on the team, but throughout my senior high career I learned how I best contributed to my team, earning several hustle awards and assist awards. I have learned through athletics how to be team player, and understand that not every player has the same role, which is also related to everyday life and life in the
Sports have been a huge part of my life ever since I was about five years old. It has impacted my life so much. The biggest challenge that I faced was with my injuries during basketball and soccer season. I recently had to quit soccer and basketball, which was difficult for me.
Sports was a part of my life growing up - whether it was attending games with my family to support the Huskies at Rentschler Field or Wolfpack hockey games at the Hartford Civic Center or even being part of a basketball team since before middle school, I have grown to love the atmosphere that sport brings. Whether it was assisting my Mom coach in our town’s T-Ball league or working with the disabled or even with the students at Wish Elementary School, through sports, I have been able to build a solid sense of a wider community. It is not just about the game itself but it is about what happens in-between and after. It is the indescribable bonds that form between
I have always enjoyed being involved in school activities. By the end of my high school career, I will have played volleyball and golf all four years. Although I was never the superstar or the best on the team for either sport, I always enjoyed playing and being supportive of my teammates. Getting involved with a team and making new friends has been half the fun. Not only do I play sports, but I also enjoy attending other sporting events. My favorite two sports to watch are football and basketball. While in third grade, I cheered on the 2004 Indian football team to a victory during the State game at Camp Randall. In 2012, I supported both the girls’ and boys’ basketball
Over the course of this semester my view on leadership has changed many times. In the beginning of this class I thought the only real definition of leadership came from the dictionary. Then we wrote our leadership lens part 1 and my view changed. I changed my definition of leadership to a person that has the ability to bring people together to make a change or to make a situation better for everyone. Now while writing this leadership lens part 2 and having finished this class my definition of leadership has changed once again. Now my definition of leadership is that leadership is in everyone it just shows at different times. Throughout this class my view on leadership has changed so much because we’ve done so many different activities and
I have always loved sports ever since I was a little kid. Some of my earliest memories are of playing soccer with my friends on a wet, cold spring day or hitting a ball off of a tee and feeling like it went a mile, when in reality it only went about fifty feet. Even to this day I still can never get enough of sports. I get about four weeks off out of the entire year where I’m not technically in a sport, but I’m still always practicing and trying to get better because that’s the only way I know. I love everything about sports: the friendships, the competition, the passion, the atmosphere, the unity. Sports are one of my true loves and they consume my life. It is this strong desire that I have for sports that has driven me to want to pursue a
I have been helping coach high school athletics for a few years. These leadership positions have enabled me to develop communication skills, gain responsibility, improve on my management skills and build relationships with other leaders in the field of sports. My future career goals include obtaining a job as a head coach or athletic director in some field of sports. I know I will need good communication and negotiating skills and I need to understand that gender sometimes plays a role in leadership positions. Leadership is defined as a person who guides or directs a group. Successful leaders are confident and responsible. They are able to problem-solve and discover new talents in those they lead.
Do you know the feeling you get when you’re doing the thing you love most in the world, for me that is baseball. My participation in sports influenced my skills in multitasking and handling multiple stressful situations at once. I play sports every season possible, teaching me about myself and all my friends on one team growing up into adults. I have maintained sports, grades, and jobs for four straight years without being ineligible one time. The people I am surrounded by around sports, young or old mold my future of being a successful adult. I thank every single coach, and teammate for helping me with all of my accomplishments, the biggest one being the Champion of a Varsity Baseball District Title.
Being a leader comes easily to myself, I have held various leadership positions throughout high school and middle school. I was honored to lead and be captain for every team I was a part of. I was captain of my middle school soccer team when I was younger, and captain of my premier soccer team as well. I was also the first lone captain ever named to my high school soccer team, which I held with great pride and honor. I find myself very comfortable leading groups because of the amount of experience I have with being a leader.
From my first T-Ball team to my senior year track club, the comradery and confidence I have gained from competing on numerous sports teams has made an enormous impact on my life. Growing up, I went to a very small Catholic school. With less than 100 students in the entire school district. In third grade, our family moved to Manteno. Where each grade level had at least 120 students. Baseball and Basketball were crucial for me in my early years. It was how I became acquainted with most of my friends growing up in Manteno. If it wasn’t for competing on a team, I would have stayed timid for the rest of my life. With the confidence sports have gave me, I have been able to challenge myself to experience the world and all
Since a very young age, I have been involved in community service and extracurricular activities. I started playing sports at the age of three, beginning with gymnastics. Soon after, I joined many other sports teams, including, dance, soccer, and softball. In middle school and throughout high school, I ran track and cross country and continued playing soccer. Senior year of high school,
In my younger years, I have played a couple sports like soccer and baseball. As I grew up, baseball has always stood out the most to me. Something about running the bases and hitting RBI’s brings a thrill that no other sport can give me. So I play, and I play with everything I have because that’s what baseball makes me want to do. Sure in basketball and soccer I play hard and do what I can, but I know when I’m playing baseball that’s where I excel and exceed my own expectations. I started when I was five and have loved it ever since. Some things have kept me from it in the past but I can’t help but play.
Borland, J. F., Kane, G. M., & Burton, L. J. (n.d.). Sport leadership in the 21st century.