Here’s to the contributing athlete. You know the one. She’s not the team star, and she’s not a benchwarmer. I’ve been coaching youth sports for six years, and I can tell you, these contributing athletes—the middle players—don’t get enough credit.
Don’t get me wrong, the star and the benchwarmer are special in their own right, and they deserve the attention they get. The star carries the team and motivates others to do better, and they are often the driving reason a team will win a game. The benchwarmer brings us an example of perseverance, teaches our kids compassion and kindness, and we celebrate their wins with reverence. You only have to hear the name Rudy to know how deeply entrenched celebrating the benchwarmer is in our culture, which I’m grateful for and happy to do.
However, with another sports season starting to encroach on us, taking over our schedules, conversations, and trunks, I think it’s time for us all to pause and celebrate that middle player.
She wasn’t your first-round draft pick, or your last, but you picked her because you knew she’d show up—both on the field and off. The middle player on a team contributes in a way the opposing sides can’t, and they carry way more than they get credit for.
These are the kids who show up every practice, without complaint. They put in the work and the effort, but may not get that coveted goal, and the star on the opposing team will probably pass them.
But show up they do. They pass the ball to the lead scorer on their team, and they block the pass that may have gone to the lead scorer of their rival. They keep up, perhaps exhausted by the end of it, but they grin and bear it and get back in there. When they’re pulled back onto the sidelines or haven’t started in a few games, they take it in stride. That’s hard to do. They muster a composure and grace that we adults could certainly learn from.
And they also laugh and crack jokes and play silly games. They tend to take the game a little less seriously, and that can be a good thing. They’re the ones who are more likely aware of what flavor bubble gum is on the bench than the positioning needed to successfully steal a base, but they’ll be chanting those bench cheer songs the loudest and be the first to put their rally caps on when needed. You can blame those middle players whenever you find yourself with “a-wooga ah-ah a-wooga!” stuck in your head long after the ninth inning.
They bring an energy and joy that really is the foundation of what makes youth sports and being on a team so magical. They’re glorious examples of exactly what we all sometimes forget when we get wrapped up in performance—that these are just kids. The reality is that each team is simply made up of a group of kids, with various levels of talent and wide ranges of personality, all just trying to have a little fun, hang with friends, and feel good about themselves. So, let’s not forget to be proud of them, to laugh with them, and to thank them for contributing to the greater whole.
I am in no way taking the glory away from the star, and the benchwarmer deserves all our compassion, but to those middle players, those showing up and putting the work in without necessarily racking up the stats, thank you. You may not be the reason why we won the game, but you, for sure, are the reason we loved and will remember the season.
Go get ‘em!
by Kyle Means 
by Tatum Marlatt 
