Life Lessons through Sports

The other day, I had the chance to talk to an old schoolmate of mine who is into marathons.  He was walking with a limp, as he had just come from an ultra marathon over the weekend.  As he was encouraging me to join marathons as well, he highlighted the tremendous satisfaction he felt in finishing the long distance runs.  In turn, I told him how I could not imagine myself training for an event, running for an entire day, and only have blisters and sore, aching muscles to show for it in the end. 

He then shared with me his own experiences in joining these marathon and triathlons.  He recounted how when his leg muscles started to get sore in a race and he would look at his pedometer and feel discouraged that he had not yet run a third of the distance he was supposed to cover within the day.  In fact, this feeling that he might not make it to the finish can sometimes linger on for a few hours of the day.  He also admitted to me as we spoke that he was afraid of water, and that he was not a good swimmer.  And yet, he joined triathlons that required him to swim absurd distances.  He even recounted a time when he started to take in water as he swam, which caused him to panic.  He then went to the nearest buoy and calmed himself down. 

As he told me his story, my admiration for the man grew.  All along, I thought that ultra marathons and triathlons were about physical strength and endurance.  I was wrong.  I realized then that joining these long-distance races was about something less tangible and immensely important (not to say that physical strength and endurance were not immensely important too).  It honed life skills that built upon self-mastery.  Ultimately, it was something within that was honed. 

Over the past few years, I know that this friend of mine had gone through many challenges in his life.  I often wondered what got him going and where he found his strength.  I realized from our conversation the other day that joining races played a major part in helping him weather the storms that came along his path.  Conquering his own feelings of discouragement and pessimism enabled him to take the next step.  He can still do it, even if his feet are already getting blisters and his legs are already sore.  Just one more step, he probably told himself.  And then, he took one more step, and another after that. 

This story helped me make sense of what another friend and colleague, a sport psychologist and athlete herself, always told me about how sports teaches life skills.  This was the very reason why she insisted on putting all her children into competitive sports from the time they were about 5 years old.  The training taught the discipline that there was no easy way in getting anything done, and one needed to work on building skills day after day.  Among other things, competitions also taught the value of striving towards one’s best and never being self-satisfied about one’s accomplishments.  In effect, sports are a rehearsal to important life skills. 

Sports or long distance marathons, anyone?