[June 26, 2018] I’m a big advocate for learning through sports. Team sports activities are one of the few times any of us get to learn leadership by play.1 It’s when players learn how to better cooperate and communicate with their teammates, coaches, and fans. The games we play, at any age, are valuable to us physically, emotionally, and for our skills at leading others.
Games have been around since the beginnings of humankind. We play them from before we can speak and throughout our lifetime. They fulfill a serious function and, of course, most are entertaining, help us pass the time, build confidence, and teach us lessons and skills we can use anywhere.
Those games that develop us add value and are to be practiced as often as reasonable. Yet who determines whether a game “develops” us or distracts us from learning more serious social skills is significant. Leaders should use specific games that most effectively help others to develop leadership qualities.
In the experience of many in the U.S. Armed Forces, games are played specifically to help get the body into better physical shape and to push us to cooperate with our peers. These games also help level the competitive spirit and often include those of all ranks and positions.
Combat football, Australian rugby, dodgeball, battle volleyball, etc., these were all games we played and while we had fun, we also were serious about winning. They bring out our competitiveness and that is a good thing that helps motivate.
Leaders must be aware of these games and encourage them. Those games that fail to make us better humans should be discouraged; some of those are electronic games we play alone, those involving gambling, and those that overemphasize risky behavior … should be discouraged.
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Sports help reshape our inherent childish behaviors into something mature and more intelligent.
He He. I enjoy reading the comments on Gen. Satterfield’s blog. Max, Army Captain, and others like them are truly great. Much appreciate your comments.
Thanks Wilson.
Just a note that you are having some really good guest blogger posts lately, so thanks for that. Today’s leadership post is one that is not discussed often enough. I don’t think it’s overlooked or ignored but I do think there is a conscious downplay of the benefits gained. Leaders should be playing it up because of the short and long-term benefits.
I agree also.
Thanks Gen Satterfield for making my day. Games have always been a part of my life and always will be. I slowly came to the realization that it was those times that helped make me a better person. Otherwise, I would have been a 25-year-old in the basement of my parents house.
Like many of my peers in the U.S. Marine Corps, I too was a product of team sports. I was never great at sports but it taught me a lot about growing up and being mature. Too many kids these days don’t have that experience and we are beginning to get them into military service where they struggle.
Team sports are something that is beginning to go by the wayside in public schools. Frequently I see pre-High School outdoor activities generally reduced because administrators see the time as “unsafe” for the kids. This is tragic because those bad habits continue with those kids into HS where they are less likely to join a sports team and learn those valuable lessons it teaches.
Good observation, Len.
🙂 I also agree. Thanks.
Good to see readers here making such astute comments.
Good article on an overlooked topic. Thanks.
I was always a game player as a kid. Outside games mostly like baseball and football. These were a critical part of my maturity and helped me enormously in leader positions I held.
The UN Charter was also signed on this date (in 1945) and the organization has bastardized itself since then by attacking democratic nations and cozying up to dictatorship.
The UN has gone downhill and has been for a long time.
I would like to recognize that 80 years ago today, the Berlin Airlift began to overcome a communist block of the city. This was freedom in action. Thanks all for your comments today.
Great connection between games and leadership. For those who don’t recognize it, just read this blog post. Another good article. Thank you.
Another good article. Thank you Gen Satterfield.
Yes! Cheers!
You are correct that the US military uses various games to keep us in good shape mentally and physically. Thanks for the connections to show others the importance of it.
Interesting post today, Gen. Satterfield. I see that you have drawn for us a picture that draws us back to the beginnings of when humans first walked the Earth. Yes, we have depended upon games and will always depend upon them because they help build us up and teach us important lessons.
Well said. Thanks Max !!
Appreciate the comment Joe.