Sacrifice

Sports, like life, is about sacrifice.  As a parent we know this all too well as we learn to sacrifice the trivial things of our youth for the things our kids cherish and need.  But in sports, sacrifice can be about team, about survival, about winning and about something bigger than ourselves.  So when youth athletes learn this lesson through their sports endeavors, they are learning a life lesson.  They are learning that sometimes we have to sacrifice for something greater than ourselves to succeed. In doing that you must have the love of the game.

Wow – the love of the game.  The love of others, the love of something.  If we love our spouse, children, family we sacrifice. If we love our jobs we sacrifice hours away from our families for important business meetings or on the other side, if we love our employees we may just sacrifice driving around in that Lexus to give them a small significant raise for their hard work.  Or as parents we may sacrifice watching a favorite TV show or paying bills to listen to our children’s day.

As an athlete we often times have to sacrifice our time at bat, our position on the field or even as professionals sacrifice comes into play.  Professional athletes have sacrificed their bodies and played injured for success. However, I am not suggesting youth athletes do this – that would be wrong.  But professional athletes have taken sacrifice to its greatest degree for a long time.  Take for example, Pat Tillman, the former Arizona Cardinal and more importantly United States Army Soldier.  He sacrificed his love for football for the United States. In fact Tillman gave the ultimate sacrifice of his life to his country.  Jerry Rice, NFL football Hall of Fame inductee, is known for his sacrifice to team.  Rice, had and probably still has a relentless work ethic.  He sacrifice is chronicled pretty heavily on the internet.  Not the strongest or the fastest but his work ethic and sacrifice of time to pursue being the best makes him one of the most respected former NFL football players to ever play in the league.   Sacrifice is hard — most of us had probably had to sacrifice over and over.  Some of us, well we don’t – we all have run into people like that.  But as a parent, as a coach and as a professional I am willing to sacrifice for “my game” the game of life.

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