The Heart of a Winner
By: Tricia Severino
As a sales professional and the mother of a Little Leaguer, I often ask myself, I know I’m supposed to teach my son to have character, empathy and compassion but at the same time, how do I teach him how to have passion about the things he cares about? We want our sons to be sweet, loving and caring individuals; but I must admit, I also want him to be the best, at everything he does. I want him to be a gracious winner but also mad as a hornet if he loses. In my selfishness, I want my son to be proud of his accomplishments, confident in his skills and yes, to be the best player he can be and play on the best team in the league. Not too politically correct, am I?
Find out what's happening in Mount Vernonfor free with the latest updates from Patch.
Consider this, my husband, 11 year old son and I moved to Mount Vernon over a year ago from Pittsburgh. Trust me when I say, Pittsburgh is a hard core sports town. During our Little League games, it would not be out of character for a parent to scream to their son, the Catcher, “Take him out!” as a player from the opposing team approached home plate or when another child yelled at my son “easy out” when he was up to bat, I will admit, it took every ounce of strength I had to keep my composure. This grizzly mama bear was about to pounce! And these kids were only 7 years old!
It is this mother’s opinion that giving a medal to every team player was a great concept when our kids were learning the game (during T-Ball season); however, now that they are older, we have to teach our children the meaning of true competition. Good sportsmanship is very important, we all get that; however, I also want my son to have the experience of what it takes to be a winner. I want him to realize that just like in real life; you lose your spot when you don’t perform; there is always someone right behind you, ready and willing. I want him to understand that no matter how bad you may want something, you just may not get your way. Not everyone is equal, not everything is fair and working very hard to win something you are passionate about is absolutely one of life’s greatest experiences!
