Sport

I had a little health hiccup the other day and found myself in a place I'd rather not have been. Life goes on though I guess, I did what I had to and moved on, even though I was feeling annoyed, very tired and depressed about the situation. Tired, annoyed and frustrated...not the sort of G-dog I like to be - I needed a pick-me-up - so sent a message to my sister in law saying, hey, is @mrbonkers available for a video chat? As it turns out he was.

My five year old nephew, @mrbonkers, is a cool kid and brings me a lot of happiness; when he answers my video calls with, hello uncle bonkers, I smile immediately.

He was telling me about what he's been doing: Study (reading and writing), violin practice, what he's been eating (we like to compare to see if we have eaten the same things), playing Lego, going to the hardware store with his dad, practicing his shooting (with the Nerf gun I bought him), swimming lessons, and riding his bike among them. He's a very clever kid and my brother likes to keep him active and engaged with a variety of things and we talked a little about each, it was cool to hear he's progressing with all of them nicely.

He has just gotten a new bike for his birthday, one that replaced his kid's bike with a more grown up version: Front and rear disc brakes as opposed to the peddle-back brakes on the old one, suspension, better ground clearance and a more durable bike all round. My brother paid a lot of money for it but recognised my nephew was limited by the older bike and a new one would see him develop with more safety.

I have seen videos of him on the bike track doing jumps and we talked about it. He told me he is getting big air and he was so proud of himself, as I was of him too. The air isn't that big, but he is gaining confidence and that's the point of it. It reminded me of myself at his age and beyond.

My bike wasn't as good as his but I'd push the limits of it, and myself, searching for bigger and better things; I guess that was the early stages of my pursuit of success. I had many failures though.

Most of these, when on my bike, meant crashing, scrapes, cuts and bruises, lost teeth, cracked ribs and a lot of pain to my coconuts (that's my testicles for those who don't know) as they often bore the brunt of my fucken stupidity. I learned though, got better, applied more effort and would push the limits once again...oh yeah, my poor fucken coconuts.

I did the same in any sport I played: Cricket, soccer, Australian rules football, field hockey, tennis, squash, rugby and ten years of playing American football as an adult. I tried and failed, adjusted and retried. I found success too, a lot of it, especially when I was playing American football and all of it built character, a high regard for training and practice, the ability to spend hours in the gym, to eat well, to evaluate, plan and apply myself again and, of course, to interact with others and to lead. I took the same approach with my professional life, relationships and anything else I set my mind to.

I don't have my own kids, it wasn't meant to be it seems, but I look on my niece and nephew as my sort of my own and talk about their growth and development with their parents.

If @mrbonkers was my own he'd be introduced to team sports already, I believe it is important to socialise in that way, see good and bad in others and be treated in well or badly also, there's many lessons to learn there. Learning how to lose, and how to take lessons from it, evaluate performance and find a way to do better then go back and do better is an important skill best learned early. It's also good to learn how to win with grace, humility and confidence. Playing sports of any kind, competing as an individual or in a team in the arena is of vital importance to a developing mind and I'm glad to see my nephew starting to explore that.

He'll be enrolled in a BMX club soon, he's super-keen, and will learn some of the more technical aspects of the sport but more importantly will compete, in and lose, and will see different sides of human nature in himself and others. He's a great kid, kind and respectful, friendly and outgoing, so it'll be interesting to see how he goes.

These days, kids are more likely to be seen sitting for hours in dark rooms with a headset on while gaming, something I see as quite unproductive. Mine wouldn't be though and neither will my nephew. That doesn't mean he won't have exposure to technology though, just that it will be balanced, and it won't be mindless games like Fortnight or whatever fucken nutbag game people are playing these days.

The lad speaks two languages at better than five year old level, builds Lego Technic sets designed for teenagers, plays the violin, makes things out wood with saw, hammer and nails, reads and writes (he sends me letters in the mail), cooks with his mum, goes to work with his dad and learns technical and practical things, cleans his room without being asked, has a sense of humour much like mine was at his age (a cheeky one) and is sharp as a tack...he's a good kid all round and good value. I'm very proud of him and the same can be said for my niece who is developing at a very fast rate as well.

I wonder though, what's your thought on sport in respect of kids? What age should they get involved with team, fun or competitive sport and how do you feel it helps with their development? What were your experiences as a kid in respect of sport, the benefits of negatives of working towards something positive, the winning and losing and the ways in which you have personally dealt with it? Feel free to comment, I'd be happy to hear from you, and I always respond.