Why I Love Sports

This is my counter-post to my previous one, Why I Hate Sports. Ever since I can remember I've been on sports teams, it started as flag football in the fall, then I moved onto basketball during the winter, then to baseball in the spring. Over time I dropped football for soccer, and baseball for track (and then soccer). I've been part of teams coming together and accomplishing things as a team, and being better than anyone ever thought. Anytime you're competing as a team you have to learn how to work with your team-mates, and what you can do to get the best out of them. These characteristics can be taken from the athletic field into pretty much any other part of our lives. No matter how hard we try, we're always going to have to rely on other people, so the better we can interact with them, the better off everyone is.

I was blessed with the chance to go and play basketball on a missions trip to Honduras a few summers ago. We would play against some Honduran team, and then afterwards one of us would share our testimony and we'd share the Gospel with them. It was a great opportunity for sharing about God, especially considering none of us knew Spanish (and none of them knew English). Anytime you compete with or against somebody, there's instantly that bond that you can't form any other way. Without the gift of basketball we may never have gotten the chance to share about Christ's love with those Hondurans.

For me, anytime I need to go think or just blow off steam one of the best ways is just by going and shooting hoops by myself. There's just something special and calming about that time-I'm able to get in my own little world and take a break from my problems for a while.

Like I wrote about in the first post, losing can have a dramatic effect on my overall mood; however winning can have just as good of an affect. I may be having a really tough day, but if my team wins (specifically Illinois), my day will instantly into a good day. It's a lot of fun rooting for a team, especially when they win. Following them in the off-season, and then during practices, and then finally during the season is just an experience that I can't put into words it's so good.

There are numerous bright spots when it comes to athletics, without evening mentioning how healthy it is. It's healthy to be in shape and physically active. And I also believe that it's healthy to be passionate about something, and a lot of people (myself included), are passionate about my teams. Just like liking the 'wrong' team might cause me to judge somebody, liking the 'right' team has the same exact benefit. Once somebody's a teammate, they're a teammate for life, somebody you can always count on, no matter what happens, which is a fantastic feeling. Sports are an amazing part of life, and add more joy and harm to it.