Youth sports are not about watching your kid blossom into the next Patrick Mahomes or Aaron Judge. They’re not even about becoming a collegiate athlete. Youth sports are about something much bigger.
Take it from Pro Bowl running back Jonathan Stewart: Youth sports are about giving kids a community to help them become young adults and develop positive habits that will last a lifetime. Stewart, who starred in the NFL for 11 seasons, now coaches a middle school football team alongside two of his former Carolina Panthers teammates, Pro Bowl tight end Greg Olsen and Hall of Fame linebacker Luke Kuechly.
In addition to sharing his infinite football wisdom with his players, Stewart recognizes that football, and youth sports as a whole, gives something something more important than anything on the field: a community.
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Carolina Panthers running back Jonathan Stewart (28) rushes against the New Orleans Saints during an NFC playoff game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 7, 2018. (David E. Klutho /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“The truth about youth sports, it is not for your kid to become an NFL great. Not to make it to the NFL, not to make the spectacle of being a star player. Youth sports gives your kid a community,” Stewart told OutKick in a recent interview.
“It gives them a sense of prioritization. You are a kid, you have to make time to play. You have to make time to study, you have to make time to take care of the things at home, make your bed in the morning, wash your own jersey, iron your own clothes, whatever it is that you have to do, you are becoming a man, a young man. And this is the community for it.”
“This is the middle school age where we’re now a community that’s giving you the tools to be successful teenagers.”
While Charlotte Christian School in North Carolina may have one of the most decorated middle school coaching staffs of all time, Stewart emphasized that their credentials aren’t the most important thing. Above all else, the 39-year-old wants to be a good mentor to incredibly impressionable middle schoolers.
“The thing that I like most about this age specifically is how impressionable they are. They are sponges. They want to learn. They want to be good and they’re OK with being pushed and you can talk to them like adults, right? You know at the high school level, you have to talk to the high schoolers, like high schoolers. It’s really interesting, but you know, at this age, you can talk to them like adults, and they’ll receive it and they’ll believe it and trust it,” Stewart said.
The former Panthers running back said youth sports give kids a platform to find belonging and purpose among their peers.
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Carolina Panthers quarterback Cam Newton hands off to Jonathan Stewart against the New Orleans Saints during an NFC Playoffs game at Mercedes-Benz Superdome in New Orleans, La., on Jan. 7, 2018. (David E. Klutho /Sports Illustrated via Getty Images)
“As people, our personalities, the things that we believe in, this is an opportunity to mentor, right? And get your young men ready to become young men. That’s really what I see in middle school football, and it goes throughout, you know, baseball, basketball, whatever those things are. You get a chance to have your kid to be around other kids to become friends and it’s an easier way to become friends with teammates and find a belonging and a purpose,” Stewart said.
“Because it can be lonely being a middle schooler trying to find your way. I see a lot of the kids on our team, I’m like, man, if it wasn’t for football, who knows where this kid would be, right? What would he be doing after school? Would he be at home by himself, or is he here amongst guys having fellowship before practice? Laughing and giggling, playing around, whatever it is, and then all of a sudden have to figure out what that on and off switch is for when practice starts, right?”
Stewart never thought he would coach football. Olsen and Kuechly had coached Olsen’s sons throughout youth football and would ask Stewart to coach year after year. Stewart has two daughters, so he didn’t think it made sense for him to coach, but when his daughters began attending Charlotte Christian School, the former running back joined the staff.
With Stewart on the sidelines, his daughters have gotten more interested in the sport.
“My daughters actually enjoy going to the games and they look forward to it. They like seeing me on the field and coaching the kids up and they ask questions about the game and they ask about practice and it’s an interesting time of the year because they didn’t necessarily get to see me play football,” Stewart said.
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Jonathan Stewart visits SiriusXM on Radio Row at Super Bowl LX on Feb. 5, 2026, in San Francisco, Calif. (Cindy Ord/Getty Images for SiriusXM)
“And so, to be able to connect the dots, I think makes them feel pretty good about their dad and just about themselves and our family as a whole, just understanding that football is a part of our family.”
Stewart sees football as a teacher of many of life’s important lessons.
“Football is family and you show up no matter what. It teaches you the selflessness of our lives. It teaches you responsibility; it teaches you prioritization. But most importantly, it teaches you more about yourself and what you can get out of yourself,” Stewart said.
Watching kids grow and develop, both as players and as people, is incredibly rewarding for Stewart.
“Me and Luke have a favorite player, his name is Jack… and Jack is probably as big as this pencil or this pen. Not really, but like he’s a smaller kid. But I would take Jack to a battlefield because I know Jack will have my back. I know that he’s loyal to the game. I know he’s loyal to the cause. I know that he believes in the cause and he’ll do whatever it takes to make it right. He might get it wrong, but if you give him a shot, he’s going to put in the effort every single time,” Stewart said.
“And so last year we had him as a seventh grader, and now he’s an eighth grader, and he helps out the seventh graders. He’s more vocal this year and just seeing his confidence just kind of rise through the surface, it’s really cool. And yesterday we had a game and he’s making tackles now. He plays corner, and I’m not talking about like, just wrapping guys up, I’m talking going in for the kill.”
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Running back Jonathan Stewart #28 of the Carolina Panthers carries the ball against the Green Bay Packers during an NFL game at Bank of America Stadium on Dec. 17, 2017, in Charlotte, N.C. (Ronald C. Modra/Getty Images)
“We put him in at running back yesterday, and we gave him a toss, first toss of the year. Stiff-arm a guy, scores a touchdown, right? And that’s what makes you feel good.”
In today’s day and age, when it feels like we see parents brawling with each other, yelling at referees or even running onto the field during a play, remember that youth sports are for the kids.
And youth sports aren’t even about the game; it’s about the community that comes with it.
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Oral hygiene is incredibly important, and the NFL has partnered with Oral-B and Crest to make them the official toothbrush, toothpaste, floss and mouthwash of the league. Stewart has introduced a Panthers toothbrush into his routine.
“Oral hygiene and taking care of yourself is just as important as working out, right? Like, just as important as what you’re eating on a daily basis as far as the health standard, right? Because we’re talking about our gut health,” Stewart said.
In addition to waking up and brushing his teeth, the former running back said he uses mouthwash about four times a day. Unfortunately for him, not all the coaches in his career cared as much about their breath as Stewart did.
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Jonathan Stewart of the Carolina Panthers runs for a touchdown against the Minnesota Vikings in the first quarter at Bank of America Stadium in Charlotte, N.C., on Dec. 10, 2017. (Grant Halverson/Getty Images)
“Some coaches I’ve had, I won’t name them, but they got some ranky breath. I can tell you that. It’s unfortunate when you meet people that have funky breath because they don’t even know,” Stewart said.
Stewart spent 10 seasons with the Panthers and one with the New York Giants. In 134 career games, Stewart rushed for 7,335 yards and 51 touchdowns while catching 162 passes for 1,295 yards and seven touchdowns. He made the Pro Bowl in 2015.