Last week I shared a few of the lessons I learned over the years from participating in athletics. Here are some of my final thoughts on what sports taught me and how they prepared me to be successful in life for years to come:

I learned the concept of time management. There is no doubt that sports take up a lot of your time. Like, A LOT of time. Countless hours of my life were spent at practices, games, hotels, bus rides, workouts, game film, and my personal favorite, team dinners. High school was a little tough managing sports with school and social life, but college put that into overdrive. I played two years of college basketball and managing all aspects of my life with basketball was a bumpy road to navigate. I definitely made it happen though simply because I had to. You learn how to prioritize because it is the only way that you are able to continue doing all the things you love to do without having to give something up. College athletes always are asking the question “What do people who don’t play a sport do with all their free time?,” because we couldn’t imagine having all of those extra hours to work with and do what we want. My time in sports has strengthened my time management skills more than I ever could have on my own and I know it will be an advantage for the rest of my life.

I learned how to be a leader. Being a leader in this society is one of the hardest things to do. It requires confidence in yourself and your ability to motivate and coordinate a group of people. It requires the bravery to overcome the fear that no one will follow you. I have held a few leadership roles on some of my sports teams and I can confidently say that sports were the main factor in developing my skills as a leader. I was put into situations where if I didn’t step up and be a leader, no one would, and I was not going to let that happen. Leadership skills are so important to have in your life, especially with how many people in our society are prone to being followers. We need those people who are not afraid to step up and lead this world to be a better place.

I learned that sports are not everything. As someone who has played sports ever since they can remember, it was always pretty hard to imagine my life without them. Being an athlete was what I had known my whole life, so you can imagine how hard it was to give them up for good. After two years of playing basketball in college, I decided to move on to other things in my life that would make me happier than basketball was making me anymore. I know that there are athletes out there that struggle everyday with why they do what they do and why they sacrifice so many things in their life to play their sport. For the longest time, all of those sacrifices were worth it for me, and they are still worth it for so many athletes out there. I respect the athletes that have so much love for the game that they are able to continue playing until the point where their body simply won’t allow them. For me, I chose to take a different path and although it was one of the hardest decisions of my life, over time I came to accept my decision and realized that I was much more than an athlete.

I have become the strong, hardworking, dedicated person I am today largely in part because of my participation in sports, and I think that most athletes will definitely agree.