Grateful #14 - Team Sports

This is the girls tennis team at tryouts today.  One of my senior captains is leading them in circuit training conditioning and as I was watching this, I thought about the difference between how people succeed in school versus how people succeed in team sports.  What I love about coaching is that I get to see this difference every day.  In the classroom, the smartest kid has it rough.  They are the object of intense eye rolling (perhaps envy), and often times, the smartest kid is not very popular among their peers.  The kid who doesn't do well in class is also not picked first; his or her peers find them to be lazy or stupid.  I see this happen all the time. 

On the court, it's very much the opposite.  The kid who does well is loved; he or she is helping the team.  His efforts are not mocked, her skill is not the the butt of jokes.  Peers flock to the him.  They celebrate their teammate's successes and talk about how amazing he or she is to their friends. 

The most fascinating difference between the classroom and the court is that instead of that label of lazy or stupid, the kid who is not very good at a sport is encouraged and helped by his or her peers. 
The other senior captain ran with the girl who was in last place to make sure she didn't come in all by herself.  No one would erase correct answers and put the wrongs ones on a test out of comradery for his or her peers in the classroom.  That just doesn't happen.

Team sports bring out the supportive, empathetic, kindness in kids at times, and I am grateful that I get to witness it.