Life is hard. It will knock us down, shatter our spirit, and then when we finally stand back up, it will do it again. We talk about how life teaches us to be strong. It challenges us, makes us resilient. We are faced with obstacles and we overcome them, waving our proud flags of triumph.

Then another hindrance arises and we are back where we started. How do we as human beings survive this roller coaster? How do we survive this repetitive motion of ups and downs, highs and lows, successes and failures? Some people don’t.

They are shoved to the bottom and that is where they will remain until death comes to knock on their door and sweep them away.

Yet, those who are able to scrape what is left of themselves from their lowest of lows, do so because they know how to fail and they know how to succeed. They have learned how to fight through hard work and perseverance and discovered how to compete for what they want and need. They believe in the impossible. They believe that the darkest moments will eventually cease just as the sun rises after a moonless night.

These warriors rely on their friendships and family, and they know what it is to sacrifice for a greater reward, a greater good, a greater love. Yet, in order to learn how to deal with all of these situations, a human being needs practice. The only way they can learn how to get back up is by experiencing a setback in which they overcame. And what better way to literally practice life than through the grind, the rise and the falls of competitive sports?

Our society has a tendency to bash athletics. They complain about the students on scholarships at universities. They groan about the glorification of the Olympics. Physical education and varsity and middle school sports seem to be one of the first budget cuts of high schools and universities.

The importance of competition, the importance of physical well-being does not seem to matter to those making the decisions. The most upsetting part is administrators think that making these cuts is for the betterment of the education. In reality, these programs, these teams, will teach us more about life than anything we could ever learn in a classroom. The reasons are endless, but here are a few.

1. Sports teach failure

We know that in life we are going to fail. However, if we are not used to failure, we will never know how to respond to it. Sports produce mass amounts of failure that athletes are forced to rebound from quickly. If a basketball player misses a basket, they quick hustle back and play defense. There is no time to dwell on the mishap. By participating in athletics, we are able to learn that failure is evident and we can either ruminate and become worse, or learn, move on, and get better.

2. Sports teach success

With failure comes success; but, if we do not know how to deal with success, this can be almost as detrimental as not being able to tackle failure. When you work hard towards a goal and then you reach that goal, there is no greater feeling.

However, if we let success consume us to a point where all we care about is our success and ourselves, we damage our psyche and our relationship with others. Sports teaches us balance. You have a great game, and you are excited.

But, you have another game tomorrow in which you cannot carry the points you scored or the hits you had. You have to appreciate the success but refocus and perform again. In life, we must learn to appreciate all of our successes, but also remember what drove us to them.

3. Sports teach hard work and sacrifice

Eric Thomas said, “you must be able to sacrifice who you are for who you can become.” Nothing great was ever accomplished without hard work. From the time a young athlete first steps onto a court, field, or ice, they learn that in order to compete, in order to win, they have to practice. They need to perfect their skills to a level that is better than their opponents.

They may have to sacrifice some of their sleep to put up a couple of shots before school. They may have to miss a social event for a game. Whatever the sacrifice may be, they are learning that it is necessary if they want to win, if they want to fulfill their dreams.

When young adults head to college they have big plans for the future, but they quickly learn that life is not as easy as they may have thought. If they want to be that doctor, that lawyer, that television personality, they have to dedicate time and diligent work efforts to get there. But, for the athletes they are prepared, they already knew this, and they are able to tackle this life that is so similar to their grind.

4. Sports teach faith

Although there are countless forms of beauty on this earth, sometimes the world is a cruel, dark place. We reach certain points in our life when it seems as if there will never be a rising sun, never a break in the bad, never a chance to be happy again. It sometimes seems that what we hope to happen, what we hope to achieve is absolutely impossible.

But then there is the faith of sports.

We see the underdog submit their entire being to the game. We see them defeat the number one ranked team in the nation and rise up. We see the slumping baseball player hit a walk-off home run and the struggling basketball player make the game-winning shot. Sports shows promise of a better future.

It becomes a metaphor in life in which we can believe that the bad times will end, and when they do, anything we hope and dream of will be possible.

5. Sports teach friendship

When you are put in a situation in which you must work with others to reach a common goal, the relationships that you form are unlike any other.

You know that the person next to you is giving everything they have for you and the rest of your team, so you must do the same. Sports force you to get along with others. In the real world, we cannot decide who are coworkers, classmates, or even family are going to be.

But, we can decide how we are going to treat others. In sports we learn how to deal with the people we really love and deal with the people who we really do not care for. We are able to be sincere and understanding in all circumstances. Sports teache us the importance of communication and comradery that is necessary to survive.

We can continue to say that sports are not as important as other subjects in school. We can laugh at the grown men becoming upset when their team loses, and continue to complain about the scholarships collegiate athletes receive.

Or, as a society, we can take a step back and realize that sports are essential. If we want to learn how to deal with life in a way that is somewhat manageable, then we can see the striking similarities between athletics and the real world. We can start encouraging our children, friends, and family to become involved in something competitive.

Rocky said, “The world ain't all sunshine and rainbows. It's a very mean and nasty place, and I don't care how tough you are, it will beat you to your knees and keep you there permanently if you let it. You, me, or nobody is gonna hit as hard as life.” But I say that if we can prepare for the hits through competition and sports, we will be able to find and appreciate more sunshine, rainbows, and hopefully a life of prosperity.