--- title: Pop Warner Exec. Director: Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football description: Pop Warner's executive director on the virtues of the game canonical: https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/ author: Jon Butler article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-18T11:00:40.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:15:19.048Z article:section: Ideas og:title: Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football og:description: Pop Warner's executive director on the virtues of the game og:url: https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ad4ee31b17aa527/6986a3e755a8597203a829fc/pop-warner.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Pop Warner Football Regulations To Prevent Concussions og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football twitter:description: Pop Warner's executive director on the virtues of the game twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ad4ee31b17aa527/6986a3e755a8597203a829fc/pop-warner.jpeg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football by [Jon Butler](https://time.com/author/jon-butler/) ## Jon Butler Sep 18, 2014 11:00 AM UTC  Concord-Carlisle Pop Warner football players go through drills during practice. Concord-Carlisle Pop Warner football players go through drills during practice.Boston Globe—Getty Images by [Jon Butler](https://time.com/author/jon-butler/) ## Jon Butler Sep 18, 2014 11:00 AM UTC In stadiums and playgrounds across the country each day in the fall, young people embrace the finesse and the physical journey of football, the contact with a purpose and the joy of hauling in a pass in the back of the end zone. Ours is a game that has nurtured millions of young men and women. Because football is more than a great sport, it is a classroom. It teaches a variety of positive attributes – character, loyalty, discipline, teamwork, physical fitness and leadership among others. It may be why [General](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/General%5F%28United%5FStates%29) [Raymond T. Odierno](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Raymond%5FT.%5FOdierno), Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army, credits football for getting him into West Point, and cites leadership and fitness as the two qualities most sought after in military recruits. Nothing teaches those attributes like football and team sports. The hard work and teamwork have instilled character and an appreciation of working as a unit. We have so many great sports for our young people but football is the sport in which teamwork is essential to success. In basketball, a coach can run an isolation play for her star player. In baseball, an ace means the rest of the team can relax and ride that pitcher’s arm to victory. But in football, if all eleven players don’t do their jobs on every play it will be a long day. There is a bond in pushing yourself as you and your teammates go through the same exhausting practices in the most physical of games. The athletic demands improve your physical fitness and the joined experience cements a loyalty. Football also teaches both physical and mental resilience. As Vince Lombardi put it, “In football, you’re going to get knocked down. It’s what you do next that matters.” It is no coincidence that one of the highest correlations of corporate chief executives is that they played team sports. They learned to work together to overcome obstacles, how to deal with different personalities within the team and the gratification of succeeding with teammates. Football is not just a game; it also helps instill these traits into our youth. All of these aspects guide them towards being the leaders of tomorrow. _Jon Butler is the executive director of_ [_Pop Warner_](http://www.popwarner.com/)_._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/"},"headline":"Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football","datePublished":"2014-09-18T11:00:40.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:15:19.048Z","description":"Pop Warner's executive director on the virtues of the game","url":"https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/","keywords":["Sports topic","Football"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ad4ee31b17aa527/6986a3e755a8597203a829fc/pop-warner.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jon Butler","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jon-butler/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5ad4ee31b17aa527/6986a3e755a8597203a829fc/pop-warner.jpeg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Pop Warner Football Regulations To Prevent Concussions","caption":"Pop Warner Football Regulations To Prevent Concussions","creditText":"Boston Globe—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3394678/nothing-teaches-leadership-like-football/","name":"Nothing Teaches Leadership Like Football"}}]}] ```