Learning about character through sports
Congratulations to the Penn State men’s wrestling team and the Canon-McMillan High School girls wrestling team and each team’s coaching staff for making national history and for helping to develop players with more character.
Now, for my story: I have been writing letters to editors and doing three-minute citizen speeches on health, environment, learning and play for the past few years and getting nowhere fast. Then, in the last few weeks, a few wrestling programs would demonstrate all these things in a matter of a few tournaments and make history at the same time.
Yes, the Penn State University wrestling program “had fun” according to head coach Cael Sanderson and “we learn a lot of really valuable things out of our sport, but first and foremost is character.”
Also, the Canon-McMillan girls wrestling program made history in Pennsylvania with the help of the Canonsburg-based program Wrestling With Virtue” which, according to their head coach Brian Krenzelak, “was borne of out of a perceived need for character education in the lives of our young athletes so that as they develop their athletic abilities, they also develop their character as individuals.”
So, I guess the secret to success is speaking to those with character and about character, in all sports and games, in order to win in life.
Dennis Smiddle
Canonsburg