Good Athletes Have More Than Talent, They Have Character

By Peter Schwartz | Posted 3/26/2019

There’s no question that being a good athlete requires talent and natural-born ability, but I believe it takes more than that to be first-class complete athlete. Regardless of talent level, a good player needs to be coachable, be a good teammate and be a positive influence.

My sons have played football for years and my wife and I have always stressed to them that it takes more than talent to be successful on the field. You have to step onto the field, whether it’s practice or a game, and show character. A great athlete should be respectful of their coaches, teammates and the game itself. When a team is involved in a community project, players should show up because they want to, not because they have to.

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In my years as a youth sports parent, I’ve seen kids say and do things to other kids, even their own teammates, that make onlookers cringe. I’ve seen players be disrespectful to coaches, officials and parents. Once at a post-season awards dinner, a highlight film of the season was shown and one of the players even said, “this should be all about me!”

That’s not showing much character as that’s completely disrespecting the rest of the team.

Another time I was once coaching baseball when I asked a young man on the team during a practice to go to the outfield and his response was “I don’t need to listen to you.” This was coming from a kid with an unbelievable amount of talent, but a horrible attitude. 

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It’s all about respect and character in my book and I’m glad my sons have learned the importance of these qualities in athletics, and in life. I can’t say where their sports careers will go, but I will always be proud of them as long as they have fun while they play, remain good teammates and display respect and character every time they step on a field.

That’s all a parent can ask for. 

Peter is a sports anchor for the CBS Sports Radio Network, FOX News Headlines 24/7 and WCBS 880 Radio in New York.  His son Bradley is playing middle school football and flag football on Long Island while his younger son Jared plays flag football.   Peter, his wife Sheryl and the boys are busy cheering on the New York Jets when they’re not at a youth football field. 

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