The Important Values we Learn in Sports

Sports contribute many important values to every person's life. Learning about some of them will help us to understand the importance of sharing a physical activity with other people.
The Important Values we Learn in Sports

Last update: 23 October, 2019

All sports transmit values that are necessary for everyday life. Tolerance, achievement, respect, and honesty are some of the teachings that are present in every discipline. The best part is that the values we learn in sports are something we train and acquire innately during sports practice.

We can learn a lot of different values from sports from a very early age. While it’s true that sports involve competitiveness and confrontation, they also allow us to push our limits and socialize in different spheres.

For this to be possible, athletes must implement values such as respect and solidarity, with the goal of controlling the passion that we usually associate with sports.

Practicing any sport is a concrete activity that requires a strong commitment. Through this commitment, it’s possible to learn behaviors that are useful for not just our sports performance but our personal growth as well.

These types of activities certainly embody the best human values. We could say that values are the foundation of sports. That’s why practicing any sport plays a fundamental role in the education of younger generations.

The values we learn in sports are the keys to educating young people

Sports are essential for people of any age, but especially for young people. The main reasons are that they allow them to tone their bodies and work their minds, besides helping to build relationships with other people.

With the help of sports, we can make new friends, release tensions, grow and experiment with new sensations and emotions.

For younger people, sports are one of the most important aspects of their development. Among other things, they play a very important role in training and education. Equally, it’s also an opportunity to keep their minds and bodies healthy too.

A team of young girls playing sports to learn different values

By reaching their sports goals, young people can learn to feel proud of their achievements without belittling their opponents. They learn that their attainments can be appreciated, so the attention is focused on the pride that comes with the team’s success, without allowing an air of superiority to control their feelings.

Children and teenagers can also learn to cope with failures, defeat or adverse circumstances when they practice sports. Those abilities are something they can definitely extrapolate to other areas of their lives in the future.

The values we learn in sports

In the following list, we’ll talk about the values that we can learn by regularly participating in sports:

1. Perseverance

Trying time after time to achieve something helps to develop a necessary quality for future success: learning to overcome big obstacles. While it’s possible to not become successful in the sports world, perseverance is something that will come in handy later in life, whenever we find our true callings.

2. Discipline: one of the main values we learn in sports

In the sports world, discipline is something we need in order to gain the required abilities and maximize our performance. This attribute maximizes our chances of success in any activity. Through sports, individuals learn that they require discipline to contribute to the team’s performance.

3. A spirit of improvement

Sports are synonymous with commitment. They require putting our limits to the test and ultimately surpassing them. One of the reasons for playing sports is to enjoy a sense of achievement and success through self-improvement.

This requires a lot of generosity in the effort and perseverance that we exert. Therefore, it leads to an improvement of our physical and moral qualities that no other activity can achieve.

4. Respect

Respect is one of the fundamental values that constitute the foundation of any sport. Any sport discipline can teach us to stimulate ourselves, focus, win and also lose.

Two small children playing soccer and learning important values while doing so

Playing sports means we know how to accept defeat and start again with determination. The first step to accept the victory of our opponent is to congratulate them and shake their hand. From that point forward, it’s up to us to learn from our mistakes and try to be better.

5. Friendship, a wholesome value within sports

This value encourages us to see sports as a tool to become more understanding of one another. Feeling part of a specific social context is one of the main needs of each individual. A group of people who share a common goal can achieve the impossible.

The values we learn in sports are numerous and very relevant. On top of providing physical and mental benefits, sports also contribute immensely to the education of young people. It’s a waste to leave sports out of our lives!


All cited sources were thoroughly reviewed by our team to ensure their quality, reliability, currency, and validity. The bibliography of this article was considered reliable and of academic or scientific accuracy.


    • Monjas, R., Ponce, A., & Gea, J. M. (2015). La transmisión de valores a través del deporte. Deporte escolar y deporte federado: relaciones, puentes y posibles trasferencias. Retos. Nuevas Tendencias En Educación Física, Deporte y Recreación, 28, 276–284. Retrieved from https://goo.gl/V4S3Yf
    • Ruiz Llamas, G., & Cabrera Suárez, D. (2004). Los valores en el deporte. Revista Educacion, 335, 9–19.
    • Amat, M., & Batalla, A. (2000). Deporte y educación en valores. Aula de Innovación Educativa, IX, 10–13.

This text is provided for informational purposes only and does not replace consultation with a professional. If in doubt, consult your specialist.