The real importance of sports | Sean Adams | TEDxACU
Summary
TLDRThe speaker passionately discusses the pivotal role of sports in shaping young men's character, especially in a time when traditional institutions like family, church, and military are less influential. With one-third of American children growing up without a father figure and declining church attendance, sports emerge as a crucial platform for teaching virtues like teamwork, community, and personal responsibility. The narrative is punctuated by the speaker's personal experience of failure in a relay race, which paradoxically underscores the importance of learning from setbacks and the enduring values imparted by sports.
Takeaways
- 🏋️♂️ The speaker's love for sports stems from its perceived honesty and meritocracy, where performance determines participation.
- 🤔 The importance of sports is highlighted as a potential solution to the lack of traditional role models for young men, given changes in family structures and societal norms.
- 👨👦👦 Currently, many American children grow up without a father figure, which sports can help弥补 by providing male role models and values.
- ⛪️ Church attendance is declining, which traditionally was a place where men were raised with certain virtues; sports can fill this gap.
- 🏡 The military, another institution that has historically helped raise men, is seeing a decrease in recruitment, further emphasizing the role of sports.
- 🤝 Sports teach valuable lessons in teamwork, community, and loyalty, which are crucial for personal development and societal cohesion.
- 🏆 The concept of playing for each other rather than for individual glory or external validation is a key lesson from sports that can be applied to other areas of life.
- 💪 Pride, when defined as personal responsibility and daily excellence, is a virtue that can drive success and is an important lesson from sports.
- 🏃♂️ Failure in sports is a valuable teacher, instilling resilience and the understanding that setbacks are temporary and can lead to growth.
- 👨🏫 The speaker's personal experience of failure in a relay race taught him the importance of heeding advice, the impermanence of failure, and the value of learning from setbacks.
- 👊 Sports are positioned as a critical institution for the development of young men's character in a time when traditional structures are weakening.
Q & A
Why does the speaker love sports?
-The speaker loves sports because he sees them as honest, where if you can produce, you get to play, and it's that simple.
What importance does the speaker suggest sports might have that we haven't recognized before?
-The speaker suggests that sports could be the last bastion for raising men, providing characteristics and virtues in a time when other traditional institutions like the home, church, and military are less effective.
How does the speaker describe the current situation of fatherless homes in America?
-The speaker states that about one third of American children, around 15 million, grow up in a home with no father, leading to many young boys growing up without a daily example of manhood.
What trend does the speaker mention regarding church attendance in America?
-The speaker mentions that less than 20 percent of American citizens attend church services regularly, and this number is expected to decrease further by 2025.
Why does the speaker believe sports are significant in today's society?
-The speaker believes sports are significant because they teach virtues like teamwork, community, fidelity, personal responsibility, and daily excellence, which are crucial for character development.
What does the speaker mean by 'the virtue of the huddle'?
-The 'virtue of the huddle' refers to the unity and teamwork learned in sports where players from diverse backgrounds come together with a common goal and work hard as a team.
What lesson does the speaker learn from his failure to win a national championship?
-The speaker learns that failure is not permanent, that one should follow the advice of coaches and mentors, and that failure can be a part of life that leads to growth and improvement.
How does the speaker describe the role of pride in sports?
-The speaker describes pride as personal responsibility and daily excellence, which he believes is necessary for success in sports and life.
What is the speaker's view on the importance of sports in character building for young people?
-The speaker views sports as a crucial institution for character building, teaching important life lessons and virtues that are essential for young people's development.
What historical figure does the speaker quote to emphasize the importance of sports?
-The speaker quotes former Supreme Court Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes to emphasize the importance of sports as a place for personal growth and development.
Outlines
🏆 The Role of Sports in Shaping Character
The speaker expresses a deep love for sports, which they believe provides an honest meritocracy where performance dictates participation. They argue that sports, along with the home, church, and military, have historically been key institutions for raising men. However, with changes in society—such as the absence of fathers in many homes, declining church attendance, and reduced military service—sports may now be the last significant arena for instilling virtues like teamwork, community, and personal responsibility. The speaker highlights the importance of the 'huddle' as a metaphor for unity and shared purpose, and discusses the value of pride and handling failure as critical life lessons that sports can teach.
🏃♂️ Learning from Failure in Sports
In this paragraph, the speaker recounts a personal experience of failure in a 4x400 relay race during their senior year at North Carolina State. Despite being in a position to win, they hesitated and ended up securing second place for their team. This experience taught them the importance of heeding the advice of coaches and mentors, as well as the temporary nature of failure. The speaker emphasizes that failure is not permanent and can be a learning opportunity, leading to personal growth and development. They conclude by reflecting on the broader significance of sports in developing young people's character and the honor they feel in contributing to this process amidst societal changes.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Sports
💡Huddle
💡Manhood
💡All-American
💡Teamwork
💡Pride
💡Failure
💡Accountability
💡Diversity
💡Preparation
💡Character Building
Highlights
The speaker's lifelong passion for sports, despite not growing up in a sports family.
Sports as an honest meritocracy where performance determines participation.
The potential unrecognized importance of sports in today's society.
The speaker's personal achievements in sports and how they pale in comparison to the broader impact of sports.
Historical ways of raising men in society: home, church, military, and sports.
The changing dynamics of family structures and the impact on raising children.
Declining church attendance and its implications for societal values.
The reduction in military service as a means of character development.
Sports as a remaining institution for imparting virtues and character.
The importance of the 'huddle' as a metaphor for unity and teamwork.
The concept that teams play for each other, not just for fans or coaches, to achieve success.
The speaker's personal pride in personal responsibility and daily excellence.
Learning from failure as a virtue that sports can teach.
The speaker's personal experience of failure in a relay race and the lessons learned.
The importance of heeding advice from coaches, teachers, and parents.
The temporary nature of failure and its role in personal growth.
The interconnected relationship between preparation and success in sports.
The potential decline of traditional institutions and the increasing importance of sports in character development.
The speaker's honor in fighting for the growth and development of young people through sports.
Transcripts
i love sports
i've loved them from the time i was a
young man
i loved him even though
i didn't grow up in a sports family i
think i fell in love with sports
because i saw it as honest
if you can produce you get to play
and it was that simple
i come to you today to talk to you about
maybe an importance
in sports that we haven't recognized
before
i've been able to do a ton of things
because of sports i was able to
represent my university i was able to
become an all-american i won watches i
was in magazines and all of that pales
when we talk about the importance of
what could be in sports
right now
historically there's been four ways
barbados by which we raise men in this
country
in the home
in the church
in the military
and in sports
cultural changes
have changed the mix on the importance
of how those things work
in the home
right now one third of american children
about 15 million children
grow up in a home with no father
that's a lot of young boys growing up
without a daily example of manhood
in their home
in church
census tells us
that less than 20 percent
of american citizens go to church attend
a church service
on a regular basis
and if social trends in america follow
europe like they usually do by 2025 the
number could be 12 or 13 percent
of american citizens attend a church
service on a regular basis
because of technology cyber advancement
the current administration's desire to
bring the number of active military
down to its lowest point since world war
ii
eighty percent of applicants to the
military get turned away
not raising a lot of men in the military
either
what we're left with is sports
could be the last bastion
by which we give the characteristics and
the virtues
with which we raise men
in sports
where we learn the virtue of the huddle
where you take north and south east and
west conservative and liberal black and
white you put them in the same huddle
you give them the same color jersey you
give them a common goal you let them
sweat tear up and work hard together and
special things start to take place
where we learn teamwork community
fidelity
we care about each other don't let each
other down
the yo coaches term that says
teams to play for a great fan base win a
lot of games
teams that play for a great coach win a
lot of games
teams that play for each other
win championships
it's a concept we could use in our
families right now
what about pride
where i'm constantly reminded
that pride is the worst of the seven
sins and i constantly have to remind
people unfortunately i got a lot of it
but i don't think you get anywhere in
this world without some pride without
some passion without some accountability
where pride for me means
personal responsibility and daily
excellence
that's my pride
we talk about failure
the virtue from failure sports based in
failure sometimes those under virtues
that allow us to succeed in life because
we've experienced some failure in other
places
i wanted to be a national champion i had
been blessed enough to be an
all-american i'd done a ton of stuff but
i've never been an individual national
champion
we get to
my senior year we're at north carolina
state
and i have a shot to be a national
champion in a number of events
i get second place i get third place so
i'm all american again
but i'm not a national champion
and that's what i want it to be
we get to the 4x4 relay i'm the anchor
and i want it on me i'm the kid i sat in
front of my house
with my walter mitty stories thinking
i'm putting myself in places where i can
be the hero
i counted down three two one and shot
the basket i wanted to anchor that four
by four relay
we get down to the anchor and i'm
waiting like this
and i'm waiting for my guy to bring me
to baton he gives me the baton i take
off running i'm in third place
by about 12 or 13 meters
within the first 50 meters i go past the
guy in second place
somewhere along the back straight
i pull up next to the guy in first place
and for the life of me i have no idea
why i don't go by him
my coach had always told me if you get
up next to him you have to go by him and
make him run your race if you sit next
to him you'll end up running his
i'll run tide with him for about 200
meters until we get to 50 meters to go
i'm closing in
about 40 meters to go he starts pulling
in front of me
and he's pulling a little further away
from me and finally i'm getting the
notion with about 10 or 15 meters to go
that i'm going to get my team second
place
again
i was miserable
i was crushed at that moment it was one
of the toughest things i ever had to
experience but you know what i learned
from it
one
do what your coaches
and your teachers and your parents tell
you to do because they usually know a
lot more than you do if i'd done what i
was coached to do that day
i win that race
two
failures not permanent
failure is like a rain cloud
and sometimes it rains on you and you
gotta ride it out
and three if you don't internalize it
and you don't personalize it you'll
realize it's just a part of life and you
will grow and become better for it
all those lessons i learned
in sports
to manage failure to be in community to
understand
the characteristics of diversity to
understand the interconnected
relationship between preparation and
success
all of these virtues that we have
learned in so many other places in life
that seemingly
we have to learn in sports now
where are we going to get them from how
important does sports become
former supreme court justice oliver
wendell holmes probably more popularized
for coining the phrase clear and present
danger
also said
the place for any man completing all of
his powers is in the fight
and i don't know if i'm completing all
of my powers
but having the opportunity through
sports to fight for the growth and
development of young people
when seemingly every historic fixture
around them is breaking
as a fight that i'm honored to be in
thank you very much
you
Посмотреть больше похожих видео
Sport’s Role in Our Society | Thomas Nabbs | TEDxRuakura
Patina Chapter 5
Praktik Festival Olahraga Pendidikan Tahun 2024 Tingkat Sekolah Dasar, SMP dan SMA
How to build resilient children | Teresse Lewis | TEDxTemecula
Donovan Edwards On Expectations For Season, Ohio State, EA Sports, More | Michigan At B1G Media Days
Why Conflict is a Good Thing | Dale Feinauer | TEDxOshkosh
5.0 / 5 (0 votes)