Most people can agree that character development is important for youth. Parents and coaches want to see their children develop a strong character with a sense of values and responsibility. All sports are beneficial for character development in youth. However, it is argued that football builds character more effectively than other sports.

Football has many benefits. But this article will address how football builds character to help children dominate life. The following topics will be discussed:

What is Character Development?

Dependent versus Independent Adolescent

Sports Guide Adolescents in Their Development to Independence

Strong Character is Important for an Independent and Successful Life

Football Builds Character in Children and Adolescents

Football Addresses Values

Football is Hard

Football Focuses on Competition

What is Character Development?

According to Oxford Languages, character is a noun that represents the mental and moral qualities of an individual. This is different than one’s personality, which is often easily observed after a couple interactions. We may describe someone as funny, shy, lazy, or pessimistic after one meeting. But these personality traits are different than character traits.

Dr. Alex Lickerman says that “character…takes far longer to puzzle out. It includes traits that reveal themselves only in specific—and often uncommon—circumstances, traits like honesty, virtue, and kindliness.”¹ Rather than being personal attributes, character traits represent one’s beliefs and values. An individual’s values lead to specific decisions and behaviors that unveil one’s character. To read more about how football addresses values, read this blog.

While personality is generally thought of as inborn and unchanging, character is relatively malleable. Because character is shaped by beliefs and values, enough effort and motivation to change one’s perspective of the world can lead to a shift in one’s character.²

For this reason, character development represents the evolution of one’s character traits based on beliefs and values. Experiences and people in the world can mold and alter a person’s view. The more positive experiences and role models in one’s life, the better the person’s values become and the greater the pressure is to develop good character traits.

Hence, it is important to have strong influencers in one’s life to properly shape one’s character development. As Paul says in his First Letter to the Corinthians (15:33): “Do not be misled: ‘Bad company corrupts good character.’” Children should be surrounded by others who encourage good character, not those who defame it. This is where sports like football can help build character.

Dependent versus Independent Adolescent

A major goal for parents is preparing their child for an independent life. Childhood is about growth and development, the progression from dependence to independence. In the first couple years of life, there is complete dependence on other humans for the baby’s basic needs like food, water, shelter, clothes, and wiping one’s butt. Although they will still be dependent on parents and caregivers for many things, toddlers soon begin to break down barriers.

They start feeding themselves, getting dressed, and using the restroom on their own. They will go to school and learn how to make new friends and follow directions among peers. Children eventually learn how to set an alarm, wake up on their own, make breakfast, and start their day. They may have chores around the house like making their bed, feeding a pet, cleaning their room, and taking out the trash.

As teenagers, they may start using a cell phone, learn how to cook and do laundry, and begin driving. They may even start working part-time jobs like babysitting, restaurant or retail work, and cutting lawns or shoveling snow. As much as they may not want to admit it, many of these teenagers are still dependent on their parents for necessities like food and shelter, but they are hopefully moving in the right direction.

For this growth progression to occur, the relationship dynamics between parents and their children need to adapt. First, children need to push boundaries and ask questions to learn right from wrong in the world. One of John Medina’s rules in his book, Brain Rules, is “we are powerful and natural explorers.”³ Babies will stick everything in their mouths to determine if it’s edible. When toddlers start crawling, they will explore new rooms and cabinets; they will ask questions and require reasons for answers by incessantly demanding ‘why.’

Children will play in the mud and with bugs; they will take more risks like climbing trees and jumping off rocks. They will start exploring the area by going to neighbors’ houses or riding their bikes around town. Teenagers will go to movies with friends, start dating people, and begin driving a car.

While children will exercise their innate need for exploration, parents must then ease up on the reigns over their children. Parents need to release some control to allow their children the opportunity to gain independence. Teaching children right from wrong is one thing but allowing them to discover the difference is most important. Children will make mistakes, go where they’re not supposed to, possibly get hurt, but all of these will be learning experiences that they need for understanding the world.

Sports Guide Adolescents in Their Development to Independence

Each child will have different life experiences, traumatic events, parents, and role models that alter the speed of this process. Ideally, this progression from dependence to independence occurs throughout childhood and teenage years in a relatively controlled environment where children feel safe and comfortable with exploring and pushing boundaries.

On the other hand, some children may not have great family environments forcing them to learn how to be independent from an early age. They may need to help support their family financially or care for younger siblings. In some instances, they may have lost a parent, or a parent gets lost in drug and alcohol abuse. These children learn very quickly how harsh the world can be, and although it forces them to be independent, the adverse childhood experiences can leave scars, lead them down wrong paths, or cause mental health disorders.

On the flip side, some parents can be too controlling over their children in which they never get the stimulus to grow towards independence. These adolescents may do as little as possible to get by, go to college and play video games all day, possibly drop out and end up living with parents without the ability to support themselves.

In all these scenarios, sports can be a level playing field to enhance character development. For the child with a tough home situation, the team culture can provide a family environment to help through struggles. Those that are highly controlled at home will be allowed some freedom and asked to earn responsibility within the team. Some children may think that they can do no wrong at home. These children will be challenged to work hard and push through failures that occur in sports.

Even when parents do everything right to increase independence in their children, sports are still beneficial. The team culture, peer interactions, and coach-player relationships are invaluable to one’s character development and independence.

Strong Character is Important for an Independent and Successful Life

People can become independent without strong character traits. But this can lead them down a path with many struggles in life. Having a strong character is important for success because life is hard. Without character, one struggle can spiral into another and another until the climb back is unforeseeable.

Taking a board exam, confronting one’s boss, and dealing with an unhappy customer are difficult. Strong character is required to study attentively for long hours, confidently address one’s concerns with a manager, and take responsibility to respectfully help an angry customer.

Additionally, failures are inevitable in life. These failures can be losing a dream job, getting laid off, or separating from a significant other. More adversity occurs with the death of a loved one, a chronic disease or acute injury, or even the inability to bear children. Strong character is necessary to overcome adversity and make the most out of tough situations.

Being independent involves accepting responsibility to take care of oneself. If an individual does not have strong character traits, he may shy away from adversity. He may have poor coping mechanisms that lead to drug and alcohol abuse. He may even resort to crime and theft to get what he wants.

Building character in children is essential to improving their success in life.

Football Builds Character in Children and Adolescents

Many people support the idea that football is effective at building character in youth. The physical nature of the game separates it from other sports.⁴ Kids are forced to have multiple physical confrontations per practice or game. Some will be against larger and stronger players, which can be intimidating. Courage is necessary to face these battles directly.

Some of these battles will be won and others will be lost. Players must celebrate the wins but be ready for the next play. The win increases confidence yet requires focused presence shortly after. At the same time, football is hard and will bring some failed moments. Players need to tackle adversity with a calm and directed response to overcome failures. The highs and the lows brought on by physicality are how football builds character.

Furthermore, football builds character in children and adolescents by addressing values, offering difficult moments, and involving competition in every aspect. Let’s look at each.

Football Addresses Values

Values are what people consider important in their lives. A football team has values that help the players create habits and systems to achieve team goals. The team values lead to standards for weight room, practice, film room, and games. These standards may include responsibility, accountability, conscientiousness, and integrity—all traits important for strong character. When standards are practiced repeatedly within the football program, they translate into everyday habits.

Football can also help children discover and prioritize their own values. The time commitment teaches children time management skills and how to prioritize their activities. They are forced to determine their values and manage time for them. These values are influenced by the amount of time they spend with the people during those activities. Because football requires so much time, players spend lots of time with teammates and coaches. Trusting and meaningful relationships are established from the time spent in football, which can greatly influence player values.

Football teams address values and also force children to discover their own values. This is an important step in transitioning from a dependent child to an independent adolescent. Football builds character by forcing children to discover values that guide future decisions and behaviors.

Football is Hard

Football is a difficult sport both physically and mentally. As alluded above, time commitment alone is difficult. Players are expected to be on time for the weight room during the offseason and film/practice during the season. Then, top physical effort is the standard for not only the short one-hour lifting sessions but also the long 6-7-hour days at the beginning of the season. Mental focus needs to be maintained during these long days whether on the field or in the film room.

At the same time, the physical nature of football makes it hard. Like all sports, football involves pushing one’s body to become stronger, faster, and more coordinated. But football is highly physical against an opponent. Whether this opponent is bigger or smaller, faster or slower, there is an enemy trying to prevent one from doing his job. A player may need to try to block, evade, cover, or tackle another who is trying to do the opposite. This requires physical effort and mental confidence and determination to overcome the opponent.

Because football is hard, it teaches children how to push through perceived limits. Football builds character traits like perseverance, ambition, and confidence. These traits are necessary for a successful life.

Football Focuses on Competition

In a similar fashion, football is hard because competition is always present. Competition is present in the weight room by attempting to lift more than the next individual. Competition is in off-season workouts as players try to beat each other in team activities. There is competition in individual and group sessions during practice, trying to make each other better. And of course, competition is present during every play of every game.

As much as we want young children to have success, life is not all sunshine and roses. Life is a competition. Whether it’s raising one’s school rank, applying for a college or graduate program, or earning a new job or promotion, life involves competing against others. This requires work. Adolescents need to be prepared for competition. They need to know how to compete against others. They need to know how to fight through failures to come back stronger. They need resilience and grit to succeed in the competitions of life.

While many sports involve competition, football teams compete daily. Competing physically and mentally instills strong character traits in children. These include courage, self-awareness, humility among resilience and grit.

Summary

Character development is the evolution of one’s character traits based on beliefs and values. Experiences and people will mold a person’s view, positively or negatively. The more positive experiences and role models in one’s life, the better the person’s values, which leads to strong character traits. Good character is important for success in life.

Children undergo character development as they transition from a dependent child to an independent adult. This transition is a learning experience that is influenced by the people and moments in the child’s life. While parents are important role models, sports like football offer a level playing field for all children to gain independence. Working with teammates and coaches enhances character development.

Football builds character in children and adolescents by addressing values, being hard physically and mentally, and focusing on competition daily.

Team values and standards force children to discover and prioritize their own values. This increases responsibility, accountability, conscientiousness, and integrity. Next, physical and mental hard work force children to push through limits. Football’s difficulty builds perseverance, ambition, and confidence. Lastly, both football and life are about competition. Competing daily enhances one’s resilience, grit, courage, self-awareness, and humility.

While football has risks, the benefits of football greatly outweigh the risks. Football builds character in children, which helps them dominate the competition of life!

References

1. Lickerman A. Personality vs. Character. Psychology Today. Published April 3, 2011. Accessed June 1, 2023. https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/happiness-in-world/201104/personality-vs-character
2. Karimova H. Personality & Character Traits: The Good, the Bad, the Ugly. Positive Psychology. Published May 18, 2018. Updated February 25, 2023. Accessed June 1, 2023. Retrieved from https://positivepsychology.com/character-traits/
3. Medina, John. Brain Rules. 2^nd ed. Pear Press; 2014.
4. How Playing Youth Football Builds Character. Youth Football Online. Published Date Unknown. Accessed June 6, 2023. https://youthfootballonline.com/how-playing-youth-football-builds-character/