Playing college sports is about life lessons more than championships

Most American sports fans are watching the National Collegiate Athletic Association basketball tournaments to see which teams will win the men’s and women’s championships. The March Madness games, along with college football, are the biggest and most popular college sports events.

But college sports are more than these TV spectaculars. Here are some of the numbers:

More than 2,000 colleges, from huge universities such as Ohio State to small schools such as Saint Peter’s, sponsor varsity sports. Nearly 500,000 athletes play on these teams.

The NCAA sponsors 24 sports, from baseball to water polo. There are even teams in bowling, rodeo and rugby. But most college athletes are not like Paolo Banchero of Duke or Paige Bueckers of Connecticut, who will probably play professionally.

The vast majority of college athletes go on to regular jobs. According to the NCAA, college athletes graduate at a higher rate over six years than students who are not athletes.

So, college athletes take what they learned on the field (and in the classroom) into their regular lives. When you think about it, these athletes have learned a lot that will help them.

First, college athletes learn to work hard. Studying subjects such as business, history and psychology is challenging enough, but try doing that studying along with hours of practices and games.

College athletes become experts in time management. There is little time for hanging out and doing nothing when you have to keep up with your studies and play a demanding sport.

College athletes also know how to set goals and achieve them. No athlete, no matter how talented, becomes great all at once. Getting better at a sport, or anything else, is a long process of making small improvements over time. Working on a crossover dribble, backstroke or backhand takes patience and determination.

If they play on a team, college athletes learn to work well with others. Any team, just like any business, is a group of different personalities. For the team (or business) to succeed, everyone has to learn to get along with their teammates.

Finally, college athletes learn to bounce back from defeat and disappointment. No one wins every game. Every team in the NCAA basketball championships, except two, then one, goes home disappointed. The ability to come back and try again (called “resilience”) is important in all parts of life.

These lessons are important for kids to remember. Lots of kids dream of being an NCAA sports star. Most never are. But every kid who plays sports can learn to work hard, be a good teammate and bounce back from disappointment.

Important lessons for everyone.

Fred Bowen is the author of 27 sports books for kids. His latest book is “Hardcourt: Stories From 75 Years of the National Basketball Association.”