I wish I had played team sports. I think every kid should. Teamwork builds character - teaches people about leadership and cooperation.

Rocca frames team sports as a formative social institution rather than mere recreation. The regret (“I wish I had…”) positions the claim as hard-earned hindsight: he implies that missing structured, cooperative competition can leave gaps in learning how to function within groups. “Teamwork builds character” invokes an older civic ideal—sports as a training ground for adulthood—then specifies the practical virtues he associates with it: leadership (taking responsibility, motivating others) and cooperation (subordinating ego to shared goals). The quote ultimately argues for broad access to team activities as a kind of informal education in social competence and civic-minded behavior.