Yesterday, I watched my 15 year old son play a passing league game with his high school teammates in preparation for their upcoming fall football campaign.

As a father, it was hard not to beam with pride as I watched my son take the field and shine. He took snaps under center on offense and roamed at safety on defense. I witnessed him lead, both vocally and with his body language. I saw him encourage and be encouraged. He was physically assertive, especially on defense, making powerfully calculated moves and fearlessly tossing his body around. For the first time I’ve seen, Chase stood out as the best player on the field.

There may be nothing more powerful for a teenager’s self-esteem than developing leadership skills. When Chase commands the huddle full of alpha males jockeying for position, he derives a great deal of confidence. He has captured the attention of his peers, but he has learned accountability to his teammates at the same time.

With all due respect to baseball, football may be a much better teacher of the skills needed to be a more confident, more powerful human being. Chase walked off the field last night brimming with energy and more open to talking than usual. We discussed the life lessons he’s learned from playing the game.

He eloquently laid out the absolute trust needed on the field. When someone else is responsible for your safety, protecting your physical well-being, you must trust them. He and his teammates have learned the vital importance of being in the right place at the right time. If I’m in right field and am playing out of place, but the ball is driven to the gap in left center field, no one has been affected. They probably won’t even notice. If an offensive lineman is a step out of place, the quarterback will feel the effects – bodily.

Knowing that someone can be hurt on every play of every game means that football players have the backs of their teammates and trust their team to have their own. Learning to rely on others and be reliable yourself is a vital skill. A single player may be able to lose the game, but without the entire team pulling on the same end of the rope, there is no chance of winning.

This success has been hard won for Chase. We simply cannot speed up physical development of our young men and women. When I was in my late teenage years, my muscle growth lagged behind my peers. I was able to square up a baseball nearly at will, but even when connecting it flush off the bat, the ball landed safely in outfielder’s gloves. Likewise, no matter how good Chase’s reads of the defense or routes to a wide receiver are, his body is the determining factor of whether the ball sails downfield or he physically reaches the other player. There were plenty of games where he spent a large portion of the game on his back, having been knocked down by players bigger and faster. Through all of it, he learned the mental resilience to get back up and run the next play. The adversity wasn’t going anywhere, but he never flinched in the face of the challenge.

Just like any sport, football has its risks. Watching my son develop into a strong, confident, powerful man through the sport is an undeniable benefit, however, and one I am proud to witness.

Strong Mind,

Kap