What Success Looks Like To Me -- Iron Raiders

I am going to be presenting this June at the GAIN Conference. This will be my 7th time attending GAIN (The Gambetta Athletic Improvement Network). The GAIN line-up of presenters is like the "Murderers Row" of coaching presenters. I am excited to have the chance, but I have to get training to bring my A game. As I said to one of my friends, I know its not a competition, but who likes getting lapped.

It is a 15 minute talk on the topic of Youth Sports Issues and Solutions. So in preparation I will be writing a series of posts on my point of view. Please understand that these posts will be part of my training process. So if you want to take issue with anything I say, please do. It will get me in better shape.

When I reflect back on my career in youth sports, I have to admit things today are not looking good.

Nationally, we have more kids with overuse injuries than ever before. Where athletics used to be looked at as a release from the stresses of life, more and more young athletes struggle with anxiety and depression and sports may be a contributing factor.

Recently, I had dinner with one of my college teammates who now as a sports medicine physician oversees medical practices for one of the most renowned university athletic departments in the country. He shared with me that one of their most successful coaches says that every athlete that gets to their team is damaged in some way when they show up. The gauntlet that these young athletes have to go through before college to have the opportunity to compete at the major university level just creates too much stress on the body and mind.

At the same time, youth sports loses lots of talent. The stat that is often sited is 70% of kids leave organized sports by the age of 13.

The kids who are sticking it out and giving it their all are getting damaged. But lots of kids are sick and tired of sports by13 and leaving -- and based on the stats probably going on to a much more sedentary life. Sounds pretty discouraging to me.

And I am not even getting to the issues created by a multi-billion dollar youth sport industry, the media hyperbole about the most recent prodigious performance by some young athlete -- who is clearly going to be the next great one -- the guru coaches looking to promote their business with that extra edge that only you can get from them, the performance enhancing substances and yes, parent interest and influence which can be easily manipulated by unscrupulous vendors.

15 minute talk? This should be a week long symposium!

Maybe the problem is first we are not defining what success looks like very well.

When I think of success in sports, I start with this John Wooden quote:

"Success is the peace of mind, which is the direct result of self-satisfaction in knowing you made the effort to do your best to become the best that you are capable of becoming." 

The words that jump out of that quote are peace of mind, self-satisfaction, doing your best, capable of becoming. None of these can be quantified by a metric.

Our Two Iron Raiders: Tonya Piergies '15 and James Lovett '15 with me

This week at our spring sports celebration we honored what we refer to as Iron Raiders. They are seniors at North Shore who have participated in 12 seasons of sports in high school. That means they are on a team every season they are in our high school. This years honorees are James Lovett and Tonya Piergies.

James participated in Football for three seasons, Winter and Spring Track for four seasons each and Cross Country his senior year.

Tonya participated in Field Hockey for three years, Spring Track for four years, Winter Track for three years, Basketball and Cross Country for one season each.

They both had top achievements in our conference their senior year. Through sports they have both transformed themselves physically and matured as people. Being competitors they may feel right now that they wished for one more win or one more championship. But when they look back on their high school career 20 years from now, I believe they are going to be quite satisfied with what they accomplished and even more satisfied with what their diverse sport experience taught them about life.

What did they do in high school? They showed up every day to participate in our school athletic program.

So what's my point. Am I saying that showing up trumps championships?

To a certain extent yes.

I hear all the time that participation and excellence don't equate. I disagree.

What are we trying to do in middle and high school sports? We are trying to develop human beings to their best ability. These are developmental programs at their heart. Yes, we want to win championships. But process always has to come before outcome. I think one of the first issues we face in youth sports today is that outcomes, wins, and championships confuse what our goals should be for our students.

John Wooden's statement on success focuses on learning to do your best and the peace of mind that gives a person. It has nothing to do with winning a championship or some arbitrary standard of excellence.

Every year I am proud of all our graduating seniors. I know they all in some way have had the opportunity to participate in school sports which would be a challenge to do at many schools across the country. But I am honored to acknowledge those who committed to 12 seasons of athletics. I am hoping that the number of Iron Raiders grow as we discuss as a community the true value and mission of youth sports.