Football is blue-collar America. It’s working class, working together.

In this game – America’s favorite game – there are no isolation plays that cast a team aside. Nor are there intentional walks to avoid an obstacle.

In life, like in football, the easy route is rarely an option.

By playing this sport, young athletes learn football’s timeless qualities of leadership, responsibility, perseverance and teamwork.

The passion evoked by football is as timeless as its values of sacrifice and discipline, standing forever firm regardless of society’s swings.

Every year, nearly 3 million children age 6 to 14 take to football fields across America to play the game they love. They may not realize it, but these young athletes are enjoying the benefits of physical exercise while learning life lessons through the sport.

Studies show that being physically active through football lowers body fat, strengthens muscles and increases the likelihood of continuing good health habits later in life.

Football introduces young players to new social groups and to a set of coaches who serve as role models.

Research shows athletes tend to have higher levels of self-esteem and lower levels of depression.

To the kids, though, the game is about fun, friendships and camaraderie. It’s about achieving success or learning from failure then lining right back up to try again.

There’s no better time to be a part of the game than right now!

Children who play youth sports spend hours and hours practicing and playing the game. Stepping back and look at life as a whole, do you see sports for kids as a waste of time?
One man who came into my husband’s workplace does. His comments to my husband included: Sports is a waste of time and don’t help young people learn to work.

Many older folks from the depression generation feel that way, including my own father-in-law.

I disagree with them. I believe sports do teach kids to work.

It may not be the hammer and nail kind of work. Or the digging ditches kind of work. But it is the this-is-not-easy-but-I’m-not-going-to-give-up kind of work.

I’ve seen it in my own kids, and I know that the years they spent playing youth sports – from preschool through college – taught them huge lessons about working hard and gave them a work ethic that says, “I will not give up.”

How about it? Do you think youth sports teaches kids to work or is it a waste of time, time that should be spent learning “real” work?

Janis B. Meredith, sports mom and coach’s wife, writes a sports parenting blog called JBM Thinks. She authored the Sports Parenting Survival Guide Series and has recently launched a podcasting series for sports parents. You can also find her on Facebook and Twitter.