One provides unending, compounding, lifetime value, the other is a short term expense.
“Most don’t want to hear it, but having quality leaders and mentors in your kids lives are far more important than pitching and footwork gurus.
The real world doesn’t care about how good you used to be at sports.
The world care about your character and the value you add to it.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I’m all about knowing how to coach football.
I’m all about knowing the ins and outs of softball.
And I’m obviously all about knowing how to write, adapt, and coach S&C programs, too.
But if I’ve learned anything during my time in the youth sports industry, it’s that “our thing” as coaches is not what it’s about.
What it’s about is using “our thing” as a vehicle. “Our thing” is merely the access point to impact and positively alter the trajectory of our youth’s lives.
It’s because anything we as coaches can help them with from the neck down, sport skill wise, will forever pale in comparison to what we give them from the neck up, character wise.
Sports come to an end very quickly, the need for quality character traits never ceases.
And I think this is a critical concept for parents to understand, though in a lot of ways it is abundantly clear they don’t.
Many will drive an hour to see a “hitting guru” or travel 7 counties over to play for an “elite” travel team despite being view and treated as a dollar sign, in a toxic environment all for the ability to (subjectively) say they see “the best” hitting instructor and play for the “best team”.
And while I’m obviously about searching for access to the best resources for our kids, are those resources the best for them globally?
Let’s say the (wildly expensive) best guru and best travel ball team earns them a scholarship (partial discount) to play <insert sport> in college? (I can promise you the gurus they see and the teams they play on have little to do with it.)
Does robbing Peter to pay Paul in the toxic shit mess we call youth sports provide recurring, unending value?
Or do the kids suffer through it only to be elated when it finally comes to an end?
After talking deeply with thousands of athletes over the years I can promise you it’s the ladder, even if you’re convinced “they love it”.
It is for this reason putting the RIGHT leaders and mentors in their lives who will provide compounding lifetime value for them will forever be more important than sports gurus.
And this is coming from a guy who loves sports more than anybody.
