If You Love Sports

Published: 2021-07-04

5/5 Average rating

“If you love sports…REALLY love sports, you’ll think you’ve died and gone to sports heaven.”

Over 40 years ago I was in ESPN’s under-construction control room when Lee Leonard voiced those famous first words, launching and changing sports in ways we’re not finished imagining.

Over 40 weeks ago I was at home when SportsEdTV executives found me and said they wanted to become the ESPN of sports instruction and I might be a good fit, if interested.

I was, am, and will be.

One of the proposals I made to them is this blog—On The Heart Beat—which tells stories of athletes with special hearts.

Another is the Learn to Win program I now lead for SportsEdTV. Learn to Win is the HeartMath powered science and technology leading to peak performance in sports.

This recent reflection, rebranding, and reverence toward love and heart and sports have led me to this question:

What has heart got to do with the love of sports anyway?

I’m not talking about couch potato love of sports. I’m talking about athletes who love to play sports.

We’re talking about the joy of bleeding hands from too much whacking of a tennis ball against a brick wall kind of love.

Or, shoveling a foot of snow off the outdoor rink to skate, sort of love and even the kind of love that a kid feels when she sleeps in her first Little League uniform.

There it is. The magic word feels! The belly bumping, high fiving, tears on your cheeks exuberance that players feel—just by playing.

That’s at the root of HeartMath’s science and technology which powers SportsEdTV’s Learn to Win peak performance training. When you’re loving your game, your sport, your play, in your heart you win, no matter the score.

And…and…and…you play better.