The impact of team sports has on my professional growth trajectory.

I have picked up a relatively new sport and have been actively participating (about a year now) with a sports community that plays flag football. Flag football is an adapted alternative to American football (NFL) in which, instead of tackling opponents, players finish a play by removing a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier. Many characteristics of classic football are retained, but physical contact is avoided. It is often confused with rugby, but this team sport is entirely different.

• The absence of physical contact makes flag football a safer alternative to traditional football, making it suitable for recreational play, amateur leagues, and organised competitions.

One of the pivotal reasons I decided to pick up this challenging sport was that I was losing interest and motivation in my physical training. After a decade of strength training, I felt stagnant and unenthusiastic about stepping into the weight room.

This is partly due to my background in bodybuilding, where a bodybuilder’s primary goal is to develop and sculpt their physique through muscle hypertrophy and definition. Most men who go to the gym want to strategically build muscle mass while simultaneously reduce body fat to achieve a symmetrical and aesthetically pleasing physique. I personally feel I am happy with my current physique and craved for a new challenge.

Getting good at this sport was a challenging task. For an offensive player in flag football, one of the most challenging aspects lies in the precision required to execute successful plays.

• The goal was to be fast (to create separation from the defenders) and be highly athletic to catch a speeding ball (bullet) hurled towards you. Failure to do so would have a speeding ball smacking you right in the face!

1. The biggest lesson I learned from this sport was to be humble.

In the beginning, I believed that since I was athletic and relatively fit, it should be easy to master the game. As a strength and conditioning coach with over a decade of experience in working out and body transformations, I should be “on paper” primed and destined to be a top gun in this sport.

In my first tournament, I found that reality was far from what I had imagined. I quickly realised how pressuring it can get in an actual tournament, and I swallowed the bitter truth that I actually am “terrible” at this sport. To make matters worse, since it is a team sport, I felt I had let my team down by not performing well.

So, one of the first lessons I learned from this sport was to be humble. It was definitely a slap back to reality, but I’m glad to say that this whole experience has taught me to embrace a growth mindset, acknowledging that there is always room for improvement.

This mindset enhances my personal skill progression and promotes resiliency in the face of adversities.

2. The second lesson I picked up from this sport was that hard work, dedication, and consistency goes a long way in developing an individual.

Playing the sport taught me integral life lessons like the importance of “showing up” even when you don’t feel like it, grinding it out, and giving your best in each session.

Truth be told, I have never been a hard worker because I feel like I am academically gifted and blessed with good genetics, so I don’t have to work extra hard to get what I want.

Lucky for me, this sport has taught me that genetics and talent can only bring you so far. There is no substitute for the good ol hard work, dedication, and consistency to get something you want. I must confess it was hard for me to accept that I sucked at this sport.

But I am glad things turned out this way because it fuelled my desire to improve. It’s been a long time since I actually worked hard for something. In this process of “putting in the hours”, I discovered I had grit, and I fell in love with the process of becoming better.

This is because, to get better, one has to go through many challenges and unprecedented hurdles, and this gave me a profound sense of accomplishment and faith in myself.

3. The third lesson that I learned from playing flag football is the importance of having good role models in your life.

In a way, I am blessed because I had a good team captain and a president who believed in my potential even when I failed to live up to mine. The constant encouragement and expectations of executing the drills with quality repetitions as opposed to just getting it done moulded me to be an individual who prioritises excellence.

This has a carry-over effect in everything I do moving forward- that I demand excellence from myself and my teammates in everything I do. For me, it was a worthwhile lesson because it showed me first-hand how important the role of a leader is.

To conclude, playing in a team sport gave me insights into the importance of failure at both individual and societal scales. Athletic endeavours, whether in practice or competition, consist of moments of victory and loss.

Regardless of the game, embracing triumph with humility and facing defeat with dignity is crucial. Recognising that not every risk will result in success, not every game will end in a win, and not every play will go as planned is crucial for growing as an individual.

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Best wishes,

YouhGain