More Than a Game: How Soccer Can Develop Tomorrow’s Leaders
For millions of young athletes, soccer begins as a game. They play because they enjoy competing, being with their friends and experiencing the excitement that comes from stepping onto the field.
But over time, soccer can become something much more important.
Having spent much of my life around soccer—as a player, coach, referee, parent, grandparent and soccer administrator—I have seen firsthand that some of the most valuable lessons young people learn through the sport have very little to do with scoring goals or winning games.
Soccer can help develop leaders.
And the leadership skills learned on a soccer field can stay with a young person long after the final whistle.
Leadership Starts with Being Part of Something Bigger
One of the first lessons soccer teaches is that individual talent alone isn’t enough.
A great player can influence a game, but successful teams depend on players understanding their roles, trusting one another and working toward a common goal.
The player who scores the winning goal may receive the attention, but that goal might have started with a defender winning the ball, a midfielder making the right pass or a teammate making a run that created space.
Young players begin to understand that success is rarely achieved alone.
That’s an important lesson in leadership.
The best leaders aren’t simply focused on their own accomplishments. They understand how to bring people together and help everyone around them succeed.
Learning to Communicate
Soccer requires constant communication.
Players communicate with teammates, listen to coaches, organize themselves defensively and make decisions together throughout a game.
Over time, young athletes learn when to speak, when to listen and how to communicate effectively under pressure.
Those skills extend far beyond sports.
Whether someone eventually leads a business, manages employees, serves in the community or simply works as part of a team, the ability to communicate clearly and listen to others is fundamental to leadership.
Learning How to Get Along with Others
One of the most important lessons young people can learn through soccer is also one of the simplest: how to get along with other people.
When you’re part of a team, you don’t get to choose every teammate. You won’t always agree with everyone. Personalities will be different. There will be disagreements, frustrations and occasional conflicts.
But when it’s time to play, everyone has to find a way to work together.
Players learn to compromise. They learn to listen. They learn that someone can have a different opinion without being an enemy. They learn how to resolve disagreements and move forward.
They also learn that being a good teammate sometimes means putting aside personal differences for the good of the group.
That’s an incredibly valuable life lesson.
Throughout adulthood, we work with people who have different personalities, backgrounds, opinions and ways of doing things. Successful leaders don’t expect everyone around them to think exactly like they do. They learn how to build relationships, find common ground and bring different people together.
Soccer gives young people an opportunity to begin developing those skills at an early age.
Making Decisions Under Pressure
One of the things I appreciate most about soccer is that players have to think for themselves.
Once the game starts, a coach can’t make every decision.
Players constantly have to evaluate what’s happening around them and decide what to do next. Pass or shoot? Attack or defend? Take a risk or maintain possession?
Often, they have only seconds to decide.
Sometimes they’ll make the right decision. Sometimes they won’t.
That’s part of learning.
Leadership doesn’t mean always having the perfect answer. It means being willing to make decisions, accept responsibility for them and learn from the results.
Learning How to Respond to Adversity
Every soccer player will experience adversity.
They will lose games. They will make mistakes. They will miss shots. They will disagree with a referee’s decision. They may find themselves sitting on the bench when they want to be on the field.
Those moments can become some of the most valuable experiences in sports.
You can’t change the last play.
You can only decide how you’re going to respond to the next one.
Do you blame someone else, or do you accept responsibility?
Do you become frustrated, or do you refocus?
Do you quit, or do you continue competing?
Learning to respond constructively when things don’t go your way is one of the most important characteristics a young person can develop.
It’s also one of the defining characteristics of leadership.
You Don’t Need a Captain’s Armband to Lead
Leadership isn’t a title.
Some of the best leaders I’ve encountered in soccer weren’t necessarily the loudest players or the team captains.
Sometimes leadership is encouraging a teammate who just made a mistake.
Sometimes it’s being the first player ready for practice.
It’s giving maximum effort when your team is losing.
It’s treating teammates, opponents, coaches and referees with respect.
It’s doing what you’re supposed to do when nobody is watching.
Young athletes should understand that they don’t have to wait for someone to call them a leader.
They can choose to lead every day through their actions.
Accountability Matters
Soccer also teaches young people that other people are depending on them.
Your teammates expect you to show up.
They expect you to prepare.
They expect you to compete.
They expect you to do your job.
That creates accountability.
As young athletes mature, they begin to understand that their decisions affect the people around them.
That lesson translates directly into adulthood. Businesses, families, organizations and communities all depend on people who understand that being part of a team means accepting responsibility for your contribution to it.
Learning to Work with Different People
Soccer has an incredible ability to bring people together.
Young players compete alongside teammates from different schools, neighborhoods, communities, cultures and backgrounds. They encounter different personalities, experiences and perspectives.
Yet when the game starts, those differences become secondary. They wear the same uniform and work toward the same objective.
Players learn that you don’t have to be exactly like someone to respect them, trust them or work successfully alongside them.
That’s an important distinction.
Leadership isn’t about surrounding yourself only with people who agree with you. It’s about learning how to understand people, respect differences and bring individuals together around a common purpose.
The Lessons That Remain
Eventually, every player plays his or her final game.
Very few young athletes will become professional soccer players, and that’s okay.
Because the true value of youth sports shouldn’t be measured only by how far someone advances as an athlete.
It should also be measured by the person they become.
Did they learn discipline?
Did they learn how to communicate?
Did they learn how to get along with others?
Did they learn to respect people who are different from them?
Did they learn to be accountable?
Did they learn how to handle success with humility and disappointment with resilience?
Did they learn how to be a good teammate?
And did they learn how to lead?
After many years around the game, I believe those are among soccer’s greatest gifts.
Trophies eventually collect dust. Scores are forgotten. Seasons come and go.
But the friendships, confidence, character, resilience and leadership skills developed through soccer can last a lifetime.
We may be developing soccer players today, but more importantly, we may also be developing the leaders of tomorrow.
Shane Hackett is the Executive Director of Heartland Soccer Association, the largest soccer league and tournament host in the United States.
