Having Fun, Building Friendships

By Steve Wize | October 1, 2026

As parents and players, we get nervous when others outshine us. When someone hits puberty first and grows six inches in a year. When someone masters a new skill before anyone else on the team. When someone else makes the team, but we don’t.

It’s easy to say the goal is simply to be better than you were yesterday. It’s harder to live it.

And yet, jealousy does us no good. There is no word in English for the combination of jealously + admiration, but I wish there was. Jealously is natural, and can even be motivating, but if it comes at the expense of friendships or fairness, then we’ve lost the bigger goal of all this. We can admire our friends and teammates too, even when we play against them…

Having great Mental Fitness is recognizing the importance of sportsmanship, having fun, and the value of friendships.

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