The first time I played a sport competitively was in my local recreational soccer league at the age of 5. I instantly fell in love with not only the game, but everything that was remotely related to athletics or competition. Undoubtedly, my participation in competitive soccer and lacrosse teams shaped my character and indirectly influenced the way I did everything, from my academic decisions to everyday life choices. Competing in athletics reaped me many benefits, not only in a physical sense, but in personal ways that will help me professionally and mentally through life. I strongly encourage participation in sports, even if you think you’re too old to start, because you’re not; the benefits of playing on a team impact all aspects of life positively. The following traits and nonathletic impacts of sports how they could help you in adulthood, or even a medical career.
1. Ability to think on your feet: Nothing is as simple as black and white, and you won’t always get an easy and direct answer to problems. A career in medicine is as true of that statement as it gets. Doctors and other healthcare professionals are given complex puzzles everyday that cannot always be approached from one specific angle. Similarly, a game of basketball, soccer, or any other sport is always changing, forcing the athlete to adapt to new circumstances in order to improve and succeed. Medical professionals must always adapt to new developments regarding patients and perform proper treatment based on the new scenario.
2. Teamwork: Yes, this sounds really cliche, but it doesn’t make it of any less importance. The most important thing I learned in all my years of playing sports was the ability to work with and trust my peers; if you needed help they had your back and vice versa. Any healthcare profession has a sort of team as well. These people will have to work together to solve cases, bouncing ideas off of one another and taking advantage of any individual skill sets that one may have, just like you’d have Stephen Curry take a three instead of Draymond Green: they just have different roles. Working together is critical in any setting with multiple people, which is why it was so beneficial to hone this skill in an athletic setting, preparing me for further education and the workforce.
3. Perseverance: Another cliche one, that’s my bad. Life has its ups and downs, it's inevitable. Being able to recover and persevere through challenges is a critical trait to develop, which is why I feel blessed to have experienced them during my soccer and lacrosse tenure. During my freshman year, our freshmen soccer team lost one game in the regular season against our rivals. Disheartening to say the least, we all felt discouraged. After a run in our county tournament, it was revealed we would be playing them in the finals. We had to persevere through our own history and discouraging thoughts in order to come away with a narrow win. In a medical profession, there will be obstacles, maybe you make a costly misdiagnosis, or miss something on a scan, but it's important to understand what you did wrong and not put your head down, so you can do better the next time.
4. Cherish the little wins: Our lacrosse team had a record of 3-16 my freshmen year. Abysmal doesn’t even begin to cover it. Almost every game was a blowout, a couple one goal losses, and a whopping three wins. As a generally young squad, it was imperative that we cherished every little win we got, whether it be an actual win, a really good showing against a good team, or - in my case - a first high school goal. Translating this into the real world, everything will not go your way. In fact, most things probably won’t go your way unless you have some major luck. Maybe you were rejected from 7 out of 8 schools you applied to. You still got accepted into one. Maybe your first interview didn’t go the way you had hoped. At least now you have experience and can excel in your next one. It’s not always going to go your way, but if you don’t stop and look at the little things that really do count, you’re going to drive yourself crazy.
Maybe you weren’t as fortunate as I was to get involved with sports at a young age, but that doesn’t mean it’s too late. Even if you’re a senior in college, go participate in an intramural or club sport, you don’t need to be good to reap the benefits of competition. I didn’t even realize how much I learned from playing sports until it came time to write my thoughts down. Nonetheless, my life has been immensely impacted and improved because of athletics, allowing me a different outlook to problems in life than some of my peers. Start playing sports, and see how they change you for the better.
- By Adyan Khondker
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