Youth Sports
We haven’t played a game yet.
That means something. Right now, anything is possible. This team hasn’t had a bad game, or a bad moment, or a time when we didn’t get along. Everything is still ahead of us.
So before any of that happens, I want us to decide something together: what kind of team do we want to be?
Read this passage slowly.
Do to others as you would have them do to you.
Luke 6:31 — NIVLet that sit for a second before you move.
Jesus gave us one of the simplest rules ever: treat other people the way you want to be treated. On a sports team, that means treat your teammates the way you want your teammates to treat you. Cheer for them the way you want them to cheer for you. Help them up when they fall. Don’t make fun of them when they make a mistake, because you’re going to make mistakes too.
The cool thing about that rule is it works for your opponents too. Respect them the way you’d want them to respect you. Play hard, play fair, and when the game is over — whether you won or lost — act like someone who is proud of how they played.
That’s the kind of team we have a chance to build this season. It doesn’t happen by accident. It happens because we decide right now that’s who we want to be.
Treat your teammates the way you want to be treated. That’s it. That’s the whole rule.
What is one thing you want everyone on this team to do when someone makes a mistake?
Write the answers down if you can. Coming back to what the team said here later in the season is powerful.
We decide right now what kind of team we are. Let’s be the kind we’d want to play on.
Consider turning the discussion answers into a simple team agreement. Even 4–6 words per kid written on a whiteboard or poster creates ownership of the culture they’re building.