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 practice-based.

Aristotle writes that virtues can develop by way of practice, or repeated intentional action. In the same way that builders become better at building through building, we can become more patient through patient actions, honest through honesty, and courageous through acting courageously.

Sports are likewise practice-based. In sports, we perform intentional actions repeatedly, on a regular basis. Moreover, athletic practice is not just physical. It involves habits of thinking and feeling, and certain virtues and vices are implicated. For example, to initiate contact on the football field requires a threshold of courage to evaluate risks and manage fear. Improvements in distance running require not just physical development but also the habits of mind compatible with persisting long toward good ends, while overcoming distractions, diversions, and irresolution.[3]

If used well, sports offer ample practice to grow in certain virtues.

2. Sports provide repeated opportunities to encounter strain.

I started this post by writing that running can be uncomfortable. In many cases, this is a welcome discomfort. It happens freely in the context of an activity we enjoy and can be productive. In running, we challenge physical limits in limited, intentional ways in order to improve.

Interestingly, virtue development also often occurs in the context of strain. We develop resilience upon encountering adversities or setbacks of various kinds. We grow in patience when we have to repeatedly wait. We develop equanimity when people disagree with us, and we have to be the bigger person. We grow in courage when we face risks that merit fear.

Of course, we can develop the wrong things when we encounter strain. If we recklessly or imprudently confront risks, crumble when we have setbacks, or panic instead of waiting patiently when we encounter slower than desired progress toward a goal, we practice actions and habits of mind that move us further from virtue. Thus, an important disclaimer is that, when confronting hardships, strains, and other infelicities in the context of sport, we should be sure we are practicing virtue, not vice.

3. Sports are low-consequence spaces to practice virtues.

Sally needs to practice patience. In trying to acquire this virtue, she sometimes waits too long. Other times, she does not wait long enough. If Sally practices this virtue while driving, there is a high cost for error. She might crash and endanger herself and others. However, if Sally practices patience in the context of soccer or volleyball, there is minimal damage if she gets this virtue wrong.

A second example is Sonny—a man practicing courage. While practicing courage, he sends his boss a brash email, telling her what he really thinks about a new company policy. Practicing this virtue at work may be costly for his long-term career prospects. If, instead, he practices courage at sports practice, errors of brashness and cowardice have lower consequences.

These cases illustrate a third reason why sports can be valuable for virtue development. Practicing virtues can be awkward, and sports offer low-consequence laboratories for getting them wrong.

4. You are probably playing sports anyway. You might as well form the right things.

As of 2023, 55.4 percent of youth ages 6 to 17 played at least one sport, and this number is only growing.[4] Thus, a final reason why sports are valuable for virtue development is that you are probably playing a sport anyway.

I have already said that sports are a formative space, where you practice not only physical actions but also habits of thinking and feeling. On these grounds, there is no "opting out" of the character development work of sports. Our only options are (a) to examine the ways we participate in sports and intentionally form ourselves well, or (b) to let character development occur unintentionally and hope things work out OK. Option (b) seems risky. Your character is who you are. It matters too much to leave up to chance.

A promising way to improve our character is through sports. Sports are practice-based, involve managing ourselves amidst strain, and offer low-consequence spaces for getting virtues wrong. However, it is not a foregone conclusion that we are training our attention, actions, and affections in the right ways in sports. It is important to examine how sports are forming us.

1. Little, S. 2024. The Examined Run. Oxford University Press.

2. Swallow Prior, K. 2018. On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Books. Brazos Press.

3. Sabrina B. Little. 2026. Training civic virtues in sports: resilience and hope. Journal of Philosophy of Education, 60(1-2): 331–349.

4. State of Play 2025: Our Annual Report on Trends in Youth Sports. Aspen Institute. Web

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