Sports: a vehicle to teach life skills
ALEXANDRA PASTERNAK-JACKSON, CEO at Amcham Finland, is working to make Finland a more open and
international place to do business and to help Finnish companies navigate the US market. She has taught on the
importance of networking as well as held non-profit board positions, both in Finland and the US. Alexandra holds
an MBA from Haaga Helia University of Applied Sciences and a BA from the Elliott School of International Affairs
at the George Washington University. She lives in Helsinki with her Texan husband and two kids.
UUSI KOLUMNI
“Why are sports so important in the US?” was a question
asked by a Finnish university student at a lecture
I recently gave. I had suggested sports as a good small
talk topic in the US and she rightfully asked, “why?”
Those of you who have worked in the US know that
small talk around sports is a common Monday morning
practice, especially after a big weekend game. Although
I don’t follow sports myself, I often check sports scores
and read coverage when I’m in the US to help smooth
interactions when the topic is inevitably brought up.
Common ground
When asking about sports, other than a genuine interest
in it, people are looking for common ground. They
are looking to start the day, the meeting, or interaction
with a shared experience. After all, the United States
of America is a country with a complicated history of
racial, ethnic, generational, and geographic tensions,
but it’s common knowledge that support for a favorite
sports team transcends it all.
A love of sports, or at least a feigned interest in it,
is an effortless and very American way to embrace and
celebrate a common identity as an American. In fact,
helping to remind people of their common ground,
sports come up in conversation all the time in the
form of language expression. Sports analogies and
metaphors are frequently used in business life in the US.
Sports metaphors like “Full court press,” (Basketball),
“Down for the count,” (Boxing) “a hail mary” (American
football) or “in your wheelhouse” (Baseball)
integrate sports in everyday conversations.
Skills you need to succeed
While large scale events such as The Super Bowl, the
World Cup, The Olympics, the World Series, dominate
people’s annual calendars seeping into both their professional
and personal lives. 98 million people watched
the Super Bowl this year (February 2019). For scale, that
is almost 18 times the population of Finland.
In the US the sports industry is worth approximately
$350-$450 billion. It generates thousands of jobs,
provides entertainment, and commands people’s time,
money, and fandom. Both for professional teams and
also amateur or even, youth leagues, being involved in
sports in some manner is a useful social code. In the
US, sports are more than the technical and athletic
skills needed to play the game.
From an early age, sports are used as a vehicle to
teach life skills and desirable character qualities. Playing
a sport can not only teach you discipline and teamwork,
but also coachability, leadership and a growth mindset.
These are all skills you need to succeed in life and
especially in the business world. In fact, Fortune estimates
that 95% of its Fortune 500 CEOs played sports
in high school and/or college. In an Ernst & Young
study, 96% of female CEOs (821 executives surveyed)
played organized sports when they were younger.
More than playing a game
When my young son played soccer in Texas I saw firsthand
the difference in the approach to sports and how
it sets young Americans up for success. I had signed
him up for physical activity and to make some friends
- what we got was so much more. It was a lesson in
teaching growth mindset and self-confidence.
My son’s program had three rules, that they all
repeated at the beginning and end of every practice: 1.
Listen to your Coach 2. Believe in Yourself 3. Try Your
Best. Before they started their first drill the coach
would offer a word for everyone to think about, to use
in a compliment for another player, and to see how
they could practice it themselves. My son embraced
words like integrity, leadership, perseverance, team
work, responsibility, good judgement and more. After
a hard practice he’d turn and say to his friend, “You
showed good judgement passing the ball to Luke when
he was open.”
In that one sentence he showed how he had learned
about building others up, about the importance of judgement,
about the bigger picture and the team instead
of the possibility of your own glory, and about working
with others and recognizing their contributions.
The ethos was to teach good character through
sports. It was and is clear how those teachings lead
one to embrace sports as something more than just
people playing a game or an industry making money.
I won’t be one of the many in Finland staying up
until 2 AM to watch the Super Bowl or the World Series,
but I carry with me a deep appreciation for the
life lessons, the care, and the community building that
sports represents in the US. I hope you do to.
18 | SAM MAGAZINE 3/19