What Can We Learn From Sports That Stays With Us Off the Court?
BY ARIANA TAVAKKOLI
Commitment, sacrifice, and work ethic. These are three of the most important values of a sport, a game played physically but won or lost mentally. While pure skill can get you far, you need a strong mentality, good attitude, and passion to ultimately succeed.
Coach Tamika Dudley is the head girls basketball coach at Sidwell Friends School and the recipient of numerous accolades including the 2022 USA Today High School Sports Awards Girl Team Coach of the Year and the 2022 Jersey Mike’s Naismith High School Girls Coach of the Year. From being a high school and college athlete herself to leading and coaching players, she knows what it takes to become a successful athlete and what implications that has for success in life overall.
Coach Tamika Dudley. Naismith Trophy
Coach Dudley explains her core values in basketball and life: “I would say commitment, being committed to the team and the common goal. Sacrifice because we have to sacrifice a lot of time and I think that applies to your everyday life. When you get older as well, you have to sacrifice certain things to get what you want or to be successful. And I would say work ethic … I think that is such an important value and asset as you continue to move on because I think you can always outwork your opponent. You may not be as talented as them but you can certainly outwork them. Those are all three things that I think you can take with you for the rest of your life.”
Whether it’s losing a basketball game or not getting the promotion you wanted, losing is an opportunity for learning. Coach Dudley even says it’s a huge part of winning: “You have to lose to understand what it feels like and sometimes to use it as motivation … after we lose a tough game we’ll look at why we lost and it’s nice to know that there are things you can fix. It makes the winning part so much sweeter when you get to the other side of it … because you know how much adversity you’ve been through or how it felt to lose.”
Moreover, Coach Dudley shares how being part of and contributing to a team is an experience that stays with you always. “What you bring to the table is important to the entire group … when you get in the professional workplace you’re gonna work with other people. They’re gonna be different from you, different personalities you might not always agree with. But I think everyone working towards a common goal is a really important takeaway from sports.”
So when you’re grappling with a loss or sitting on the bench tired after a game, it’s important to maintain your values and be okay with failing. Because at the end of the day, you become not only a stronger athlete but also a stronger person.
