Sports provide array of gifts

Throughout life we receive many gifts.

As the holidays roll around, especially as children, the material gifts are what we most fancy: a teddy bear, a special toy or a fresh new pair of shoes.

As we — or when I, rather — reached my teenage years, the desirables get more complex and sometimes unrealistic: a video game console, the most state-of-the-art electronic device or a shiny new vehicle hot off the assembly line.

There are many gifts bestowed upon us during our time on this pale blue dot which cannot be quantified by a physical object.

And, sports has a funny way of delivering them to us, whether we anticipate them or not.

For example, athletics can give us many things: the ability to perform — and master — certain skills, the drive and determination to compete at a high level and the thrill of victory.

It can even help us transform our bodies and lifestyles, which I?have documented plenty in this space over the last few years.

The world of sports often provides us with many other character attributes. There are certain things I’ve been given in my years around sports. I’m sure any athlete can say the same, too.

I?recently posed a question on social media to my friends who have been around athletics at any point in their life. I?asked, “What did you get out of the (sports) industry that you didn't expect to receive?”

My inquiry received an array of answers. Gifts, rather.

Some subjects referenced injuries — a torn ACL, bad hips or arthritis.

Others were more positive and uplifting with what they collected but didn’t expect.

One respondent pointed to the joy they receive watching others succeed; another learned how to be humble in victory and gracious in defeat; and another discovered lessons about setting, maintaining and achieving personal goals.

Throughout my sports journey —?first as a youth athlete, then as a journalist and now as a runner — I’ve been given plenty of gifts.

I learned to accept a role and to be part of a team. I learned how to become a halfway decent photographer. I?gained the ambition to set goals and achieve them.

The most important gift I’ve been given in the realm of athletics, however, is not a character trait or a skill.

Sports gave me a life partner.

I will be a married man in less than a year’s time.

In November 2019, Chrissy will stand across from me and (hopefully) legally pledge to spend the rest of our lives together.

If not for sports, I doubt we would have ever met.

See, she was the athletic trainer at Fort Recovery High School for three years, beginning just months after I?came to the area in 2013.

It wasn’t until she left her post with the Indians that we started dating.

Fate??Perhaps. At the very least, the chance encounter has forever altered the paths of our lives.

Sport, as it turns out, changes lives every day.

It gives opportunities to those who may not have one otherwise. It teaches us life lessons, gives a sense of worth and molds us into functioning members of society. It provides an array of gifts.

It can also supply a wife, or a husband.

Even when we least expect it.