Thank you for always being there for me. The good times, the not-so-great times. Always.

Thank you for great memories, life-lasting relationships and especially for the life skills you’ve taught me.

Thank you for showing me how to be a better person. For teaching me responsibility, discipline, sacrifice, passion, compassion, leadership, teamwork, humility, friendship, loyalty…

I was fortunate enough while growing up to have parents that would allow me to have a crack at nearly anything- football, tennis, basketball and cricket.

This meant a lot of taxiing for them (and the sacrifice of many weekends). It also meant that I accumulated a cluster of non-physical skills that I could carry into the rest of my life.

Some sporting achievements helped with early and current resumés.

Relationships forged in different teams also helped put me in touch with the right people at the right time.

Sport is great for so many things that we rarely give thought to.

When my partner and I moved across Bass Strait we didn’t know anyone here. We had a large social gap to fill.

One grass roots sporting club later and we had both met some of the greatest people you can find. Void filled. Happy Tassie life.

Organised sport can be beneficial to people at all stages of their life.

Get them out there early! And more importantly get involved yourself (coaching, managing, score keeping, goal umpiring).

Kids really get a chance to develop their social skills when playing in a team. Organised sports build self-esteem and simultaneously teach a child it’s not all about them! They learn how to play an important role in a bigger picture.

They learn how to win and more importantly how to lose. Losing graciously is a dying religion nowadays (*cough* Kyrgios, Tomic *cough*).

The best thing about losing is that it stokes the fire for improvement. Losing can help us reflect, identify weaknesses and then improve to work towards the win next time.

Not getting what we want teaches resilience! It shows us that the world won’t come crashing down if we don’t achieve our goal straight away.

It can demonstrate that if we keep our head up high and work hard everything will be just fine.

I believe that this is the most important lesson as newer generations (myself included) can struggle in the face of adversity.

We have a tendency to drop our bundle if we hit a speed bump in life. It feels like we have lost the hardiness of generations past.

In their day it was take whatever job was available, and now if we don’t end up in the exact career we wanted it can lead to a total shut down.

Maybe sport is one way that we can help get some of that toughness back.

I don’t think many would argue that Alex Johnson, a 26-year-old ex-AFL player, lacked much grit as he persevered through six knee surgeries and nearly six years between AFL games for the Sydney Swans.

We all need an outlet for the stresses that come with working a nine to five. Not only do we get the physical health benefits that go with being active, playing a team sport acts as the pressure relief valve that stops it all from becoming too much.

Our friends in the West of Australia’s Department of Sport and Recreation found that organised sport can even:

It’s never too late to join a team! With gentler sports such as tennis, lawn bowls, swim clubs and dancing there are plenty of reasons to get excited.

Taking part in team sports can provide both physical and mental benefits.

Physical

Mental

One of the best things about teams sport is that you don’t even have to pull on a pair of boots to become involved. Sporting clubs are always screaming out for volunteers, for people who want to become a part of something just a little larger than themselves.

So please, if you don’t enjoy competing don’t write off the community sporting organisations straight away. You can still enjoy the highs of a win, endure the lows of a loss and all while surrounded by team mates and people that care about you.

All it takes is a wander down to your nearest community sporting club.

And if you do want to take the more physical challenge of participating on the pitch, all the better for you.