"SHOULD I PLAY A SPORT?"

There is no yes or no answer to this question. There are many pros and cons to playing a sport, but it all depends on you.

The pros are great exercise, fellowship, learning the importance of a team, how to become a leader, etc. I could write a list that would go on and on. 

Now you're probably thinking, "What are the cons?" Well, there aren't really any negative things about playing a sport. Yeah you could get injured, but that could happen while you were playing outside. You can't avoid things like that. The negative thing about playing a sport is you.  How are you going to respond when you're out there playing on the court, field, etc. This goes for the parent and the player. Let me give you an example of what I mean. Let's go with playing time.

PLAYING TIME

THIS is probably the biggest argument every player and parent have with the coach. "I deserve to play! I've played longer than he has!" and "My kid needs just as much playing time as that kid does! It's not fare!" I've heard it all.

Now lets just say you play basketball. You play about 2 minutes every game and sometimes you don't even get that much. How are you going to respond to this? Are you going to complain about it or will you take it as a learning experience?

My youngest brother, Clay, has just started playing basketball for a middle school team. He the smallest player out there, gets about 2-5 minutes every game. Does he complain? No. He thinks of it has paying his dues. This is his year to sit the bench, but during the off season he's going to work hard and hopes that it will pay off next season.

Now again should you play a sport? The question is, how will you respond?