Sports are a fascinating invention. No two sports are alike, but they all teach us valuable life lessons. While a football player and a softball player have two completely different training regimens, schedules, and diets, the personal growth the two athletes experience while playing their respective sports is seemingly identical.
Here’s what eight different North Central athletes had to say in response when asked what playing a sport throughout early adulthood and into college:
“Growing up, sports taught me how to work with others from different backgrounds. Not everyone has the same story, and I had to learn how to work with others who weren’t similar to me at all,” said men’s basketball guard, John Blumeyer, ‘25.
“Sports helped me a ton with understanding conflict resolution. I learned a lot about myself and how I needed to grow as an individual and as a leader so I can carry out and use these lessons in my career and the rest of my life,” said softball infielder, Talia Torosian, ‘24.
“I learned how to overcome adversity at a young age through sports. I figured out how to react to failure and to have a quick memory. If I had a bad performance, then I just had to move on and learn from it. If it was a good performance, then I could try to replicate it again but I couldn’t be caught up in the past,” said women’s basketball forward, Megan McClure, ‘24.
“It obviously tests you physically but it also tests you mentally and emotionally. I’ve gone from being on top of the world to contemplating if it’s time to hang up my cleats. I learned that facing adversity and tackling your problems head-on will lead to the success that you’re looking for in the end; you just have to have the strength to fight through any obstacles you may come across,” said baseball infielder, Trey Roach, ‘24.
“Sports made me step out of my comfort zone and forced me to become a leader. They changed how I viewed problems and they also taught me how to accept responsibility for my actions,” said football defensive lineman, Myron Lewis, ‘24.
“It allowed me to learn how to overcome tough losses. I’ve used sports to teach me lessons about hard work, dedication, and consistency that will be useful for the rest of my life,” said men’s wrestler, Cole Cervantes, ‘23.
“Sports taught me how to accept failure and use it as a stepping stone towards success. Learning how to use my failures to my advantage and to not shy away from them has made me a much more confident and mature person for whatever challenge awaits me later in life,” said baseball outfielder, Dom Listi, ‘23.
“They taught me accountability. If you want to do better, you can’t just wait for something to happen. You need to put the time and effort in each and every day to be able to see positive results,” said men’s soccer goalkeeper, Sid Marquardt, ‘24.
Despite different upbringings, different gender identification, different ethnicities, and different sports, there are still common trends that all athletes have experienced during their careers in sports. Bouncing back from failure, becoming a leader, working with others, and battling through any obstacle are all solid traits for athletes that will allow them to grow as individuals long after each athlete retires from their sport.
