Sports For Life

Sports have likely been an integral part of your life; it is just whether you have been conscious - or not - about it. From seeing a toddler throwing a ball further or higher than the other, an element of competition is naturally built into one’s mindset. Sports become more formally integrated in school, but may not feature prominently once a person joins the workforce.

The physical and mental benefits from someone being active in sports cannot be overemphasised. Benefits include improved cardiovascular health, reduced blood pressure, improved sleep, and the list goes on.

However, there are good values in sports that may not often be deliberated as much as we would like to.  Respect, commitment, teamwork, leadership and resilience are just some of the values that one can gain from being active in sports.

By definition, sport includes a component of “competing against one another”. In every competition, there will be winners and losers. Losers do not want to lose all the time; they want to bounce back. Sport teaches values that will help them to do so.

In life, there may be moments that you think you have lost something. In school, you may have failed a subject. At work, you may have missed a job promotion. In a personal setting, you may have a failed relationship. These things happen as part of life, but what is important is how you bounce back!

Recovering from difficulties is the value of resilience that sport espouses. This topic will be discussed in an online session titled “Learning Life Resilience Through Sports”, as part of non-profit body Yayasan Mendaki’s Raikan Ilmu (Celebrate Knowledge) learning festival. 

The session will take place on Sunday 18 October 1am via the Zoom platform. It will be hosted by Iskandar Shahril, a sports marketing consultant who has taken part in many road and trail run events. His guest will be Enrico Varella, a leadership coach by profession, and also a 23-time IRONMAN finisher including a few Kona World Championships appearances, a 3-time Boston Marathon finisher and a 5-time Triathlon World Championships finisher.

Please register at https://cutt.ly/sportsresilience by Saturday 17 October 23:59 hours.

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