Why Do You Participate in Travel Sports...Really?

I am not just a professional; I am a person. So are you, don’t you forget it. Carefully and wonderfully made, without error. On purpose and for a purpose. 

Part of me being a person means I am a husband and a father of five.  I have a lot of lessons learned through 17 years of marriage and 16 years of parenting. Plus I have many lessons from the road I took to get there and the interactions I have had with the various communities I belong to now and have belonged to along the way.

Since I firmly believe that the best you is the authentic you, and you achieve greater authenticity by behaving at work in the same way you behave at home/in the community.  I wanted to break from sharing my guiding principles of professional leadership to share a perspective on Travel Sports (or competitive dance/cheer). Why?

Another part of my identity as a person is a coach, leader, and mentor. I have had the pleasure of coaching a group of young men, most since they were eight years old in soccer (now 15/16) and another group of young men on the baseball diamond (some for as long as seven years) at the highest level of competition available (regionally not nationally- a bridge too far).  I also serve on the board of a local travel baseball organization as the baseball director, helping shape the experience of over 130 young men and their families in our organization. This means on the topic of travel sports; I am not just the president; I am a customer (throwback to the old Hair Club for Men Commercial - do you remember it?)

This means that spring is one of the times of year for my family that we spend full weekends chasing the American Parent’s Dream (or nightmare) while trying to avoid the horrors associated with the fear of missing out.

The time of year where we leave work exhausted on Friday to spend an exhausting weekend driving around the region pursuing excellence in sport, just to arrive back at work on Monday exhausted and needing a weekend to recover from our weekend.

I am not complaining, we choose it and enjoy a majority of the experiences we have as a family doing it, but along the way, as a parent, coach, and baseball director, I have encountered families and players who I wanted to just ask the big question.

Why are you doing this…really (shout out to Andy Stanley for creating clarity around the question)

I encourage you to consider this question about your family’s decisions on how they spend their time, talent, and treasure. To help you on your decision-making journey, below are links to a podcast where I had the pleasure of spending time with my friends Craig Fullen from Joyfulmindset (a mindset coach for athletes) and Mark Stanifer (executive coach from Dare to Lead) talking about our shared experiences in travel sports. Part 1 and Part 2 or this episode of the Doing Life Together podcast where my kids and I reflect on our time spent.

I hope these conversations are encouraging and challenging, but mostly I hope they are helpful in pushing you towards having the conversation as a family about how you spend your time, talent and treasures…really.  

This conversation is for you if you currently participate in travel sports, are considering it. And if you find yourself spending long hours on the field or in the car contemplating why are we doing this, definitely check this out.