It’s that time of year again when parents dig out the gummies and jackets and head along to Kensington Park (or any of the other great parks in the district) every Saturday morning to support the kids on the winter sports field or court.

What a fantastic institution Saturday morning team sport is in NZ – you could travel anywhere in the country and pretty much see the same thing – kids running around in all types of weather, learning the art of (mainly) rugby, football, league, netball or hockey, and being cheered on by coaches, managers, mothers, fathers, sisters, brothers, grandparents and other family and friends.

Having said that, I do believe that Kensington Park is a little bit unique in NZ - in that the main winter sports are all played at the same venue at the same time, with literally thousands of people converging on this very special place to watch their kids learn the valuable skills taught by competing in a team sport.

So much of the life skills we are taught in sport are learned in the team environment – individual sports have their place, but my personal belief is that even if kids play and excel at an individual sport, they can still benefit immensely from what a team sport can teach you.

Consider some of the basic learning blocks taught in a team environment:

• it doesn’t matter how well you play yourself, the team’s performance still relies hugely on how the rest of the team plays (“you’re only as strong as your weakest link”)
• it doesn’t matter if you are the best player in the team, you (should!) still get time on the side line (especially in  the younger grades where winning should not matter as much)
• you just simply cannot win every game (and losing sucks so enjoy the feeling of winning!)
• that feeling of the complete (or near complete) team performance is hugely satisfying when you put it all together as a team unit
• winning graciously as a team is as important as losing graciously
• the referee/umpire is human and makes mistakes, just like the team (something spectators also need to learn!)

There are many more, but I think the great thing about the majority of these is that they apply to so many other areas of our lives – the family, the workplace and other community groups you might belong to. Even though as kids we don’t realise it at the time, team sport teaches us those valuable lessons that we take through into other facets of our lives.

Not that these life lessons are remembered by everyone – especially when some of these people go on to become parents or supporters on the side line, but that’s maybe a topic for another article!

See you on the side line.