Players, fans have chance to rethink sports

“We can use sports as a vehicle to get to a bigger truth,” said Jack Bowen. “We are forced to stop doing the things that had us running around like crazy.”

Bowen is known in sports circles, mostly, as the boys’ water polo coach for Menlo School. But Bowen also holds a master’s degree in philosophy, teaches the subject at the school and has written several philosophy books. He was the lead author for the book, “Sports, Ethics and Leadership.” So Bowen has a unique perspective on the shutdown of events — not only from around the world, but down to the high school level, and from players to fans.

“We’re being forced to be philosophical about our lives. … We’re not forced to sit with our thoughts (often),” Bowen said. “The things that were really important to us a month ago have disappeared into thin air.”

Bowen said he sat down a little less than two weeks ago, when schools were in the initial stages of shutting things down. Bowen wrote out a list of 10 things to do while the shelter-in-place order was in effect. Of the 10, four dealt with water polo-specific items: how to train and what drills to be doing. The other six entries were ideas that everyone can implement into their lives right now — from finding a new hobby, getting ahead in school (or work) and just trying to stay healthy both mentally and physically.

For athletes, Bowen believes this time off can really sharply define if this is really what they want to be doing.

“Youth sports has run amok. Kids are playing year ’round. … I’ve talked to kids who say, ‘All I’ve done for the last five years is play my sport,’” Bowen said. “Now, they’re being forced not to play their sport and one of two things can happen. One, [they] say, ‘Oh my gosh. I do love my sport because I really want to be out there with my team, practicing, working to be my best.

“Or my guess is, there will be a small [group] who will say, ‘I’m so glad I don’t have to go to practice.’ When this is all over, (athletes and fans) can come back and really be intentional about what you want to do.”

In a more broader context, this is also an opportunity for sports fans to really find out what it is they truly love about sports — and not to feel guilty about doing so.

Critics would say why spend so much time worrying about such trivial things such as sports, but there is a large portion of the population who get something out of watching sports — whether its an escape from reality, a sense of belonging or purely from an entertainment angle.

“I think it’s OK. I think you should be morally allowed to talk about sports and think about sports,” Bowen said. “You should be allowed to think about knitting or music or sports, while also understanding, also, all this suffering is going on.”

But Bowen also realizes that maybe the pendulum has swung a lot more toward a rabid relationship with sports.

“On the flip side, and I’ve said this all along, I think we put too much emphasis on sports,” Bowen said. “All of the thinking we’re doing (about sports now) is going to bring the dial back a little bit, closer to where it should be, while also allowing all the virtuous things we love about sports to shine.”

Bowen uses a funeral as an analogy. He said when people go to a funeral, many look at it as an opportunity to take stock in their own life and the changes they want to make to live a “better” life. Oftentimes, just the hustle and bustle of life gets in the way and these well-meaning changes fall by the wayside. Bowen looks at the current situation in the world as an chance to revisit those values.

“The hope is that people, coming out of this, people being more intentional about what they’re doing [under] the umbrella of sports,” Bowen said.

This is why Bowen has continued to teach and coach at Menlo School. He could have moved on to the college ranks, to the national-team level. But Bowen takes stock about every five years — really looks at where he is mentally and what he is looking to achieve — and every time, he decides Menlo School is right place for him and his family.

He believes the best thing about youth sports, which includes the high school level, is that it gives him an opportunity to teach. Like many other coaches, they see themselves as teachers first and coaches second because there are life lessons to be learned on the field, court and in the pool.

“The great thing about coaching high schools is … it is explicitly an educational arena,” Bowen said. “You get to come out as an educator.

“Doing youth sports well, there are profound riches to be found.”