Soft Skills Lost Skills?
Standards are slipping with a major impact on next generation. Youth sport can help only if we are aware of the problem.
We don’t have to look far unfortunately to see standards slipping.
The level of customer service in any industry is not what it once was. If you hit a drive through for a coffee now and then, you will see a level of impatience that is startling. If you are not gunning the gas pedal on your car coming out of a red light, the person behind will lean on that horn like no one’s business. At the highest levels of influence, public leaders are jumping on board with the trend of lying, and misrepresenting factual information for their own benefit. Trust, courtesy, empathy and respect are at all time lows.
Are you seeing what I am seeing?
Examples are everywhere if we are paying attention.
The impact on the younger generation
This is hitting our younger generation. The new norm seems to have little consideration for others around us. The line between right and wrong has gotten blurry. How to treat people is a function of how we are treated, and when we are not treated well things deteriorate.
We, as humans, sure are in an interesting place in 2023. The level of “me focus” is at an all time high, often at the expense of those around us. That is not going to a good place.
With all this around us, it is no surprise that the youth sports world is influenced accordingly.
On the surface it plays out in how we speak to each other, but quickly runs deeper when we dig in a little further.
Again, the examples are all around us:
The young hockey athletes who thought it would be funny to toss a wheelchair down the stairs.
The NBA star with thousands of followers thinking it is a good idea to video himself wheeling a firearm in a public place.
The high school athletes who thought it was a good idea to prepare a list of harassing and offensive comments for an upcoming opponent.
A previous edition of TPM, we have explored a few angles on how we treat each other.
This is not a new topic. The standards have been slipping for a while. Like fast food becoming the norm and smartphones the standard, unless we take a moment and look around at what’s going on, this will continue to deteriorate.
Re-focus on the main thing is required. The main thing is teaching soft skills as the most important skills …so they don’t continue to cl become the lost skills.
Let’s face it: not developing the soft skills has catastrophic consequences.
Courtesy, empathy, trust, communication, responsibility, accountability, discipline, respect, initiative are all seemingly on the decline.
While sports culture always talks about work ethic, these other soft skills are marginalized or not addressed at all.
It is not to say nothing has been done to address the issue. Many organizations have established a code of conduct, only to have coaches, parents and athletes whiz right through it without consequence. If there were consequences and conduct unbecoming a decent human were held accountable regularly, then we would not have this crisis.
We all have a role to play.
Understanding and agreeing where the standard should be and where it is now…is a good place to start.
Ego. the blatant disregard for how our actions affect others is staggering. While Mom always told us (if we were lucky) how special we were, it did not mean others weren’t special either ?
I was also fortunate to have been taught to strive to leave the world a better place than we found it.
That does not seem to be the standard does it?
How do we make the change?
Other than awareness, we need to highlight and identify what the standard should be.
We have to look harder but those examples are also around us.
Sportsmanship. This is worth sharing. The opposing team hoisting an injured player around the bases
A strong culture of respect. This coach is setting the standard on respect for others, specifically women. Very nice to see is the male dominated misogynistic world of sport….but very difficult to hold that accountable.
Dan Dakich is an American basketball sportscaster. He is a former player, assistant coach, interim head coach for the Indiana University Hoosiers and former head coach at Bowling Green State University.
Take a listen to this, especially the first 4 minutes:
The hard part is the accountability to a high standard.
That is where much is slipping, and it is only those who understand how important this is who can execute.
We have a great opportunity through youth sport to stem the tide to slipping standards. The building blocks of character and confidence come from the development of skills. We have an obligation as parents, coaches, and volunteers to strive for that standard and not shy away form taken the easy route.
The easy route of letting poor behavior off the hook is killing us.
We can do better.
Have a great Sunday!