Youth sports are not about watching your kid blossom into the next Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Judge.
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kid → watch → Mahomes
They’re not even about becoming a collegiate athlete.
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They → ’re → athlete
Take it from Pro Bowl running back Jonathan Stewart: Youth sports are about giving kids a community to help them become young adults and develop positive habits that will last a lifetime.
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that → take → lifetime
Stewart, who starred in the NFL for 11 seasons, now coaches a middle school football team alongside two of his former Carolina Panthers teammates, Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen and Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly.
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who → star → Fame
In addition to sharing his infinite football wisdom with his players, Stewart recognizes that football, and youth sports as a whole, gives something something more important than anything on the field: a community.
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football → share → field
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page → contain → partners
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News → sign → wager
This content was created by a team that works independently from the FOX newsroom.
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that → create → newsroom
"The truth about youth sports, it is not for your kid to become an NFL great.
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kid → become → sports
Youth sports gives your kid a community," Stewart told OutKick in a recent interview.
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Stewart → give → interview
"It gives them a sense of prioritization.
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It → give → prioritization
You are a kid, you have to make time to play.
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you → have → time
You have to make time to study, you have to make time to take care of the things at home, make your bed in the morning, wash your own jersey, iron your own clothes, whatever it is that you have to do, you are becoming a man, a young man.
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you → have → that
"This is the middle school age where we're now a community that's giving you the tools to be successful teenagers."
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that → give → tools
While Charlotte Christian School in North Carolina may have one of the most decorated middle school coaching staffs of all time, Stewart emphasized that their credentials aren’t the most important thing.
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credentials → have → time
Above all else, the 39-year-old wants to be a good mentor to incredibly impressionable middle schoolers.
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old → want → schoolers
"The thing that I like most about this age specifically is how impressionable they are.
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they → like → age
They want to learn.
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They → want → ?
They want to be good and they're OK with being pushed and you can talk to them like adults
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you → want → adults
You know at the high school level, you have to talk to the high schoolers, like high schoolers.
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you → know → schoolers
It's really interesting, but you know, at this age, you can talk to them like adults, and they'll receive it and they'll believe it and trust it," Stewart said.
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Stewart → know → it
The former Panthers running back said youth sports give kids a platform to find belonging and purpose among their peers.
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sports → say → peers
"As people, our personalities, the things that we believe in, this is an opportunity to mentor, right? And get your young men ready to become young men.
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men → believe → that
That's really what I see in middle school football, and it goes throughout, you know, baseball, basketball, whatever those things are.
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things → see → baseball
You get a chance to have your kid to be around other kids to become friends and it's an easier way to become friends with teammates and find a belonging and a purpose," Stewart said.
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Stewart → get → belonging
"Because it can be lonely being a middle schooler trying to find your way.
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it → try → way
I see a lot of the kids on our team, I'm like, man, if it wasn't for football, who knows where this kid would be, right?
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kid → see → football
What would he be doing after school?
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he → do → school
Would he be at home by himself, or is he here amongst guys having fellowship before practice?
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he → have → practice
Laughing and giggling, playing around, whatever it is, and then all of a sudden have to figure out what that on and off switch is for when practice starts, right?"
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practice → laugh → sudden
Stewart never thought he would coach football.
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he → think → football
Olsen and Kuechly had coached Olsen’s sons throughout youth football and would ask Stewart to coach year after year.
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Olsen → coach → year
Stewart has two daughters, so he didn’t think it made sense for him to coach, but when his daughters began attending Charlotte Christian School, the former running back joined the staff.
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back → have → staff
With Stewart on the sidelines, his daughters have gotten more interested in the sport.
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daughters → get → sport
"My daughters actually enjoy going to the games and they look forward to it.
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they → enjoy → it
They like seeing me on the field and coaching the kids up and they ask questions about the game and they ask about practice and it's an interesting time of the year because they didn't necessarily get to see me play football
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me → see → football
," Stewart said.
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Stewart → say → ?
"And so, to be able to connect the dots, I think makes them feel pretty good about their dad and just about themselves and our family as a whole, just understanding that football is a part of our family.
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football → connect → family
Stewart sees football as a teacher of many of life’s important lessons.
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Stewart → see → lessons
"Football is family and you show up no matter what.
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you → show → ?
…and 30 more, not listed.
The Aporia
