Thursday 19 November 2015

Team Sports: The Benefits of Sport Participation

There are so many reasons why you should encourage your children to participate in sports.  In addition to the physical benefits, sport participation has been proven to raise IQ, build confidence, and improve mental health.  Outside of the field sport participation helps children to become champions in life.  Here are some reasons why (Derived from: sheknows Canada):


1.   They teach you how to get along with others: Organized sports teach children the essential life skill of getting along with teammates they might not necessarily like. Team sports teach children how to overlook an annoying teammate or a bad attitude. They also encourage friendship and empathy for fellow teammates.
2.   Engaging in competition: Making sure everyone gets along comes down to one simple word: respect. By noticing the strengths that each individual player brings to the team, they'll learn to appreciate and respect each others' talents. It's healthy to be competitive, but respect fosters a friendly competition that pushes each teammate to be the best he can be.  In addition, team sports will give your youngsters something to take pride in. Once they achieve goals they set for themselves, they'll gain pride in their success and confidence in their skills.
3.   Leadership:  Children playing team sports have to learn how to achieve balance between their schoolwork and athletics, which fosters a strong work ethic both on and off the court.
4.   Life isn’t always fair: Kids must learn that in the real world life isn't always fair, unfortunately their team won't always win, and every call by the referee won't always seem fair. Dealing with disappointment will only make your youngsters stronger as they grow older. 

5.   Boosts self-esteem: Team sports are a huge self-esteem booster.  They'll gain greater confidence by learning about their own strengths and capabilities. 

It is easy to see after reading the above how impactful team sports can be on the positive development of children.  Inside Youth Sports also has some great articles on The Role of Organized Sports in Your Child's Life.

One of our very own players for AIC Hockey believes hockey has had a tremendous positive impact on his life.  Listen to Chris Porter speak about sport participation in this quick audio clip: 






1 comment:

  1. Kids should always be engaged in some sort of outside activity.

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