Dating back to Ancient Greece and China, sports have always played a role in civilization. It seems that sports are as big today as ever before. It is hard to comprehend how much money is made, or even how much a single team profits each year. A vast amount of money is also invested into sports as well. In professional sports, players are making megabucks playing the game that they love and providing entertainment to the audience at the game and the fans watching at home. Along with these megabucks comes the stress to achieve perfection, to go undefeated and have monster stats that no team in the league can compare to. So much emphasis is made about being in first and in some cases players have went to extreme lengths to get the upper hand like the use of steroids, cheating, ect. Sometimes players are released and coaches are fired if the team plays below what is expected from them in a season.

It’s easy for that stress to carry over to organized athletics that are below the professional level. Winning the game can be the objective whenever an athlete partakes in any sport, but be careful that winning does not control every aspect of how you play the game. Sports may be best enjoyed if a few simple guidelines were practiced. Ultimately, one should try their best and enjoy playing the sport, regardless of the outcome of the game. Focus on playing the game and flee from the concept of winning every game as the number one priority. A few characteristics to consider of a winner both on and off the field are: humility, dedication and thankfulness.

If you watch much NFL football I’m sure you have seen some of the wild touchdown celebrations some athletes have came up with over the course of the season. Chad Ochocinco is one of the more prominent athletes that comes to mind whenever I think of end zone celebrations, and although they are entertaining and humorous to watch I believe a simple trot back to the sideline would do just fine. The flashy celebrations can be interpreted by some as being arrogant or offensive, and while most celebrations are penalized by the commissioner of football, it can send the wrong message to younger athletes that it is acceptable to behave in such a manner. One of my favorite players to watch as a child was Emmitt Smith. He would dash up-field and break off a fifty-yard touchdown, and when he did, he would hand the ball to the referee and hustle back to the sideline and prepare for the next offensive series. This displayed a prime example of humility on the football field. Accompanying humility is honesty. I’ve heard a story about a high school football player who had a chance to become a hero. It was the closing seconds of an important game, and the quarterback threw the ball to the player. Everyone knew that if the player caught it, they had won the game. As the boy goes to catch the ball, he is positioned in a way that the referee cannot see if he cleanly caught the ball. Not having the capability of an instant replay, the referee approaches the boy and asks him, “Did you catch the ball, son?” The boy truthfully answered him saying “ No sir, I did not catch it.” and they lost the game. That says a lot about humility and honesty.

Dedication is another aspect of the game that should be practiced. Dedication includes hard work, striving to improve your abilities and going that extra mile to make yourself the best you can possibly be. I touched on dedication last week when I told the story of Rick Ankiel, the baseball player who fought his way back to the Major Leagues after much adversity. Michael Jordan is another good example of dedication. Michael did not make the varsity team his sophomore year in high school, and after much determination and hard work, he made the team the next year and went on to become one of the greatest athletes to ever play the game.

One of the most important traits to consider is thankfulness. Consider this, you may have just lost in the championship game and you may feel like things can not get any worse. But you have so much to be thankful for. Be thankful for the talent that you have been given to play the sport. Be thankful for the equipment that you have, the facilities that you have and all the supporters that have helped you. Be thankful for the coaches you have who care so much to offer their time and energy to make you a better player. And most importantly, be thankful for the health you have to play the game. I’m reminded of the great Lou Gehrig, who had to walk away from baseball, the game he loved, because of a rare illness. Lou suffered from Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, or more commonly know as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Lou had a passion for the game, he enjoyed it and gave it his all. This is evident when you look at his 2,130 career consecutive games he played in, a record that stood for fifty-six years. Yet on July 4th, 1939 Gehrig stood before 61,000+ fans to address them about his sudden illness and retirement. In his speech he proclaimed these words that will forever be etched in sports history. “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got. Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.” Gehrig was the perfect example of what it takes to be a standout athlete, both on and off the field. Not only was he a superstar and a winner, he was humble, he was dedicated and he was thankful.

Athletes, you do not have to go undefeated and hold multiple records to be considered winners. Just simply go out there and do the best you can and be a good teammate. Remember, winning games and compiling stats are a great thing, but records can be broken. Playing your absolute best and always practicing good sportsmanship and being a good example to those around you is something that can never be taken away.