I have a kid with attention issues. School is a problem for him even though he is quite smart in math and science. He never sits still. bouncing off the walls all the time. I've been sitting him in a tree with me hunting urban deer this year and I have also taken him out on a few squirrel hunts. He is a different child in the woods. No distractions. One task...all his attention on one thing. He even shushed me for making too much noise yesterday evening. We were sitting over a couple doe and he was dying to shoot one. We had dinner plans with friends and since I see these doe all the time I told him to hold off.
Having something in your life that you care about gives you a sense of purpose sometimes. Connecting with nature, gaining an appreciation of where food comes from, understanding the delicate nature of life in the animals we hunt....all this increases your respect for life and respect for yourself. Some kids are big into sports but not every kid is.
My wife is a high school teacher. Early on in her career she took note of what linked almost all the kids who did well in school and who were just good kids as apposed to the ones who were trouble. It was involvement by parents/adults in their lives, and activities that made productive use of their idle time. She has been determined to give that kind of involvement to our kids. I have to tell you that there have been many times and many fights where I was PO'd about how much time I had to put in for kids activities, but our kids have all been been better off for it. My older two have both done well with traditional sports/school activities, but my youngest has only recently been able to pay attention long enough to take part in organized sports. Baseball,football, soccer, karate, aikido. one of these turned out to be something that he wanted to continue once his initial obligation was complete. This year when I was getting ready for archery season he picked up a few old trainer bows that had been his brothers and started shooting. And he was out there every day. So I bought a used modern compound bow in his draw range and had it tuned up for him. He practices all the time. Not sure if this will be a lifelong thing but for now it is something he does that he takes pride in. Pride is like magic for a kid.

You gave that kid something he didn't have. You gave him something magic.