Commitment (381)

In sports, commitment is huge. Not only are you making a serious pledge to yourself, but you’re making a promise to the team. By joining a sports team, each player and their family commit to each of the other players and their families. Not only does commitment mean caring about your work, but as part of a team, it means caring about the team’s work, as well. As explained in any tryout, it’s the expectation that each player, and their parents, maintain their commitment to their sports program. By committing to the team, you as a player are setting the team up for success. We can only be successful and each player may only succeed if we can rely upon one another to keep the commitment everyone has made.
Commitment means you knowingly and willingly give up things you want in the short-term to potentially gain something of greater value in the long-term. Sometimes we’d rather take it easy all night, but we have practice. A weekend away with friends at a water park sounds like a great time, but we have a tournament. There are many times when athletes have to give up those times with their friends and family to stay committed to the sport they love. Ultimately, committing to a team involves sacrificing fun non-school activities for what is best for the team.
Success starts with commitment. We give ourselves an opportunity to succeed if each and every player devotes themselves to the greater good of the team. Traits like hustling and a good attitude are essential to achieving your goals on and off the court or field, but without a solid base of commitment, without being fully dedicated to the team, we will not succeed.
When the season is over, you’ll look back at all of your achievements and the sacrifices you’ve made. You’ll remember the good times and the bad and all of the times you could have been doing something else, and realize it was definitely worth it. At that point, you’ll experience a distinct feeling. That feeling is called pride, and you’ll feel that because you sacrificed, you cared and most of all, you committed.
In the long run, you commit to being part of a team and became a better person for it.