Sports involve practice.

Sports provide repeated opportunities to encounter strain.

Sports offer low-consequence spaces to practice virtues.

You are probably playing sports anyway. You might as well use the time to form positive traits.

Every time I take a break from running and then resume the activity, I remember why people say that running is hard. It is because running is hard.

It is difficult to persist through strain long-term, both physically and in terms of our habits of attention. It is challenging to stay patient when progress is slower than desired. It is hard to be consistent when other activities and commitments demand our attention.

Moreover, the difficulty of running never ends. This is because, as we improve fitness through consistent training, we run faster to accommodate new levels of ability. Stated differently, fitness feels like dying at a much faster pace than we used to feel like we were dying at.[1]

Sports for Character Development

We can improve our moral character through many methods. We can admire and emulate the excellent people in our lives. We can read good stories, which can teach us about ourselves and offer perspective on what matters.[2] We can also morally mature through reflection, through the praise and blame of caretakers, and through the camaraderie and accountability of good friends who hold us to high moral standards.

Another promising way to improve our character is through sports. Why are sports valuable as a method for character formation? Here are four reasons.

1. Sports are........

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