When playing a sport, usually your main goal is to win. You step on the field or step up to the plate in hopes of winning and getting one step closer to the next level - the championship. When you’re in season, you go to practice, work out and play your heart out to make your team and loved ones proud. Especially when you’re a star player, you know that your team depends on you. You know that your loved ones or your school or your town will either high five you or shake their head after the game depending on how you play. You know that literally, the ball is in your hand.

When in school, usually your main goal is to get good grades - and by good grades, I mean great grades because people who get great grades will get great opportunities. You study for hours in high school because you know college is coming up and colleges don’t accept people with average grades - they accept students that exceed every expectation. And then when you get to college, you push yourself even harder because realistically, no one wants to hire someone who just made it by.

My question is, what about love for the game? What about learning how to work as a team? What about having fun? What about learning new subjects to broaden your knowledge? Why do we force our youth to try for straight A’s rather than actually learning something? Why do we tell our kids “you better score that goal,” instead of “have fun?"

Of course there is nothing wrong with helping and pushing someone to be the best they can be. And yes, successful people don’t become successful without working hard. However, helping is the key word. Young people today feel so much pressure to be the smartest, the strongest, the prettiest and the flat out best. There is no room for error which means there is no learning from our mistakes. The pressure people feel from things like school or sports is just the beginning - the list only gets longer when you throw in family life, personal life, work life, etc. Any kind of pressure can be helpful, but it can also be harmful. It can break a person. When people don’t meet the set expectations is why so many people feel they are not good enough.

It’s important to remember putting too much pressure on a person can actually suffocate him or her. Do not be the reason why your loved one feels nervous, anxious, angry and inadequate. Do not make it seem like if a person isn’t first in their class or doesn’t throw 10 touchdowns a game, that he or she is less than excellent. Let go of the pressure and give more of the support that should have been given in the first place.