17 Nov Creating Great Student Athletes
Astro has many opportunities to transport student-athletes. It has been incredible spending time with the outstanding youth! Do you work with young men involved in sports? You might be the high school football coach or an athletic coordinator, or maybe you’re the parent of a son who loves sports. This post is for you if you are any of these people because you can influence tomorrow’s men.
In today’s world, our boys are bombarded with messages about what it means to be a man. Many young men feel like they have to “prove” they are masculine; to do otherwise is sometimes a bit like social suicide. When they’re playing on a court or on a field, it’s easy for them to feel like they “fit the mold”. But what about teaching them what it means to be a good man at the same time we’re having them run drills, lift weights, or practice their 3-point shot?
Here at [insert company name], we have the privilege of providing transportation for youth sports teams. This is something we love to do. We get to witness the energy, camaraderie, and excitement involved in games. But being masculine isn’t defined by playing sports, only talking about girls, and never crying, and it’s important that we teach these things to our boys.
It’s as though there’s an unwritten code for what it means to be male, and Connor Beaton describes the code this way: you can’t cry or show emotion unless it’s anger or aggression, you can’t empathize with others, fighting back is synonymous with strength, and you don’t ever want to exhibit any “feminine” behavior. Sound familiar?
If it does, maybe you’ll be persuaded by a question we heard Justin Baldoni say: “Instead of just teaching our children to be ‘brave boys’ or ‘pretty girls’, can we maybe just teach them how to be good humans?”
In the same vein, he issues this plea to men:
“I challenge you to see if you can use the same qualities that you feel make you a man to go deeper into yourself: your strength, your bravery, your toughness; can we redefine what those mean and use them to explore our hearts?
Are you brave enough to be vulnerable, to reach out to another man when you need help, to dive head first into your shame? Are you strong enough to be sensitive, to cry, whether you are hurting or you’re happy, even if it makes you look weak? Are you confident enough to listen to the women in your life, to hear their ideas and their solutions, to hold their anguish and actually believe them, even if what they’re saying is against you? And will you be man enough to stand up to other men when you hear locker room talk?”
As today’s adults, we are the models for our children. We live in a world where there are swirling debates about gender and identity, and these are important conversations to have with the young people we interact with. We can help them navigate life both on and off the court by embracing these ideas and talking to our kids about them too. When we focus on character, we give them something that will help them succeed in the game and in life. At Astro, we hope we can do this together. And when you’re looking for team transportation, we hope you’ll remember us! Learn more here: https://astrotravel.com/destinations/sports-teams/ We’ll show you why coach travel is team travel!
The information for this post came from the following two TED talks: