Jeremy Alland, MD

To every sports dad,

As we are celebrated today, I want to speak to you about what I think it means to be a great sports dad in current times.

As a sports medicine physician, a former college pitcher, and a dad watching my own kids play, I believe being a sports dad is so much more than being there at the games and the practices. It’s more than coaching the teams. It’s more than developing their skills. It’s a whole list of things nobody puts in the box score. A list of things that candidly, we as dads, have not done well historically.

It’s getting the schedule onto the calendar before the season even starts. It’s knowing whose turn it is for carpool, whose turn it is for snacks. It’s washing the uniform the night before an 8 a.m. game. It’s getting them fed, getting them dressed, getting them there. None of that shows up on a stat sheet, but all of it is the job.

And on the field or in the stands, the best sports dads aren’t the loudest voices on the sideline. They’re not running the postgame breakdown in the car. They aren’t planning out pathways to college scholarships or NIL deals. They are letting their kid lead, putting their happiness first. They know they can push without pressure and are always there when they fall for support. They care more about effort than the scoreboard, more about how their kid handled a tough outing than whether they won it. They chase the process, not the outcome.

Here’s the truth I’ve learned, in my office, on the field and as a sports dad myself. The score fades. The trophies gather dust in a closet somewhere. The glory is short-lived. What stays is whether sport felt like joy or like a job. Whether it became their outlet, or another source of stress. Whether they wanted to keep playing, or wanted out.

This is what I think it means to be a sports dad today. Not perfect. Not loudest. Just being there, day in and day out, doing everything we can to help them love the game as much as we do. Full stop.

So to every dad working toward that, packing the snack bag, double checking the calendar, biting your tongue on the ride home, letting your kid own their own sport: I see you. I celebrate you.

Being a dad really is the best job on earth.

Happy Father’s Day.

Jeremy Alland, MD | Play the Long Game

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