No one likes to lose and no one likes to see their kids lose. But Jason Kelce hopes that his daughters experience the agony of defeat just enough to “know how much it sucks.”
Jason, 36, explained himself to his brother, Travis Kelce, on the brothers’ “New Heights” podcast. In the episode that aired on Wednesday, June 12, Jason stressed how important it is to learn how to lose.
“Especially for kids, losing is incredibly important. I think we put way too much emphasis on winning at the high school and below age groups,” he said. “I kind of hope my girls win just enough that they’re confident, but lose enough that they don’t think they’re the best at what they do so that they’re hungry to continue.”
Jason and his wife, Kylie Kelce, share three daughters, Wyatt, 4, and Ellie, 3, and Bennett, 15 months. They still may be a few years away from playing competitive sports, but Jason and Travis can still reminisce about — and respectfully disagree on — their youth sports experiences.
As Travis, 34, began recounting his success in youth sports, his brother needed to jump in with a reality check.
“I won everything,” Travis muttered, with a grin.
“You lost a lot. What are you talking about?” Jason interjected, listing his brother’s high school football and basketball troubles.
“I won hockey, lacrosse, baseball I won a lot,” Travis replied, going back before their high school days.
After some more back-and-forth, Travis invoked Thomas Edison, inventor of the light bulb, as someone who has learned from failure.
“He learned 9,999 ways on how not to make the light bulb and then the 10,000th time, he made the light bulb,” he said.
“And he didn’t get a trophy for the 9,999 times he didn’t make the light bulb, you know what I mean?” Jason added.
Travis replied, “But they were every bit as important as the time that he did.”
“You don’t need to be happy that you’re falling,” Jason said. “You just need to hate it, but know that it’s a process in order to get it right. Sometimes you gotta throw a trash can when you lose a game for your entire team so they know that you care.”
Famously, Jason has done exactly that. Not after a loss, but in a moment of frustration he once took his frustrations out on a trash can after getting hurt during practice while playing for the Philadelphia Eagles.
