What's Important?

I watched my nephew play baseball this past weekend and struck up a conversation with another dad. He talked about parents who put a lot of pressure on their sons, punishing them for errors committed, and putting their game under the microscope each time they stepped onto the field. We agreed these players would probably not be playing much longer because the fun was being sucked out.

Sometimes we get caught up thinking that performing at the higher levels means applying more pressure. It turns out high performance goes along with the absence of pressure. Making it fun removes the pressure.

I had coached youth soccer and faced the problem of parent pressure. Over the years, I built up a list of stories that help illustrate the importance of fun. One of my favorites is Bruce Brownlee's Six Things Parents Should Say to their Player. It's a list of things to be memorized until you can say them automatically.

Paul Dorn had recently completed a poll of cyclists asking why they rode their bike to work. Fun and Health topped the list of reasons.

Whether it's baseball, soccer or cycling, we get better when we spend time doing it, and we spend time doing it when it's fun.