28 Mar The Benefits of Youth Sports For Kids
From films like “Remember the Titans” that illustrate the power of coming together against steep odds and the power of friendship to overcome racial barriers to a film like “Riding Giants” that leaves the viewer in awe of pushing the envelope in big-wave surfing, there’s just something about sports that is exhilarating and inspiring. The aim of this article is to show some of the benefits of youth sports for kids. Whether you’ve been a team player, supported one, or worked hard to accomplish a personal athletic goal, it feels good to persistently work toward the desired outcome.
From a young age, we often get our kids involved in sports. Maybe it’s because we enjoyed playing the same sports when we were little, or maybe we never played, but our kids are showing interest, and so we sign them up. Whatever the impetus behind it, there are several good things that come from getting our young people involved with a sports team, and some of it has nothing to do with sports and everything to do with learning about life.
Let’s start with an apparent reason; more excellent health. Due to the advances in technology and embracing the virtual world as no previous generation has, today’s children are less active than their predecessors. Playing games today often happens without ever leaving the couch. In contrast, getting kids in the pool, out on the track, breathing in crisp air out on the football field for autumn practices, or on a court practicing drills and technique is a way to get kids moving. Not only does your body generally perform better if it is getting adequate exercise, but it’s also proven that it improves your overall health. And, beyond that, you’ll get your kids away from gaming and, instead, help facilitate opportunities for them to interact and engage with real people, real opponents, instead of folks that don’t exist except on a screen.
It cultivates belonging. It’s an innate need to belong, to identify with others, to make connections. When this doesn’t effectively happen for our children, they often investigate other outlets that aren’t productive or healthy. Team sports are a great way to be part of something and belong.
Sports are a great way to instill discipline. If you’re involved with a team or are merely trying to break your own personal best record, it involves dedication and sacrifice. It means being there for practice every day, even when you don’t feel like it. It may mean being careful about your diet to achieve greater physical strength and endurance. It might mean time away from family at championships and many hours devoted to training. But what will they come away having learned from all of this? Dedication. Diligence. Persistence.
As a companion thought to that last point, the discipline and dedication that is required ultimately help them learn that hard work is required to achieve goals. As Matt Biondi, an American Olympic swimmer (who won 11! medals), said, “Persistence can change failure into extraordinary achievement.” Our kids have to learn that persistence is required when you want something, and this will apply throughout their entire life, long after their days playing sports are over.
As a culmination to the last two points, there’s this: In today’s world, where we increasingly hear the term “entitlement” and see its manifested behaviors surfacing in our youth, team sports are a good way for our young people to learn that you don’t always win, and things don’t just happen. It’s important to let our kids lose, to have to get up again, to have to really work for something. And just because you work hard and you put in the time, it doesn’t always mean that things will check out the way you hoped they would, and this is a crucial life lesson. If our children go through life expecting that it is going to be something akin to perpetual success, sunny skies, and cake with sugared frosting on top, they’re going to fall hard when the struggles that come to every life come to them. The reality is: you don’t always win, and the losses are as instrumental to our education as are the victories.
As Mary Lou Retton, an Olympic gymnast, said: “A trophy carries dust. Memories last forever.” Maybe that’s what it’s all about, at the end of the day: providing experiences where your kid can learn life lessons and have memories that will sustain them over their lives. When life gets difficult, maybe they’ll go back to a time when their coach shared something meaningful with them during a particularly difficult practice. Or maybe, years down the road, when an old familiar song comes on, they’ll be taken back to traveling in a motorcoach to the state championships, and they’ll fondly remember the strength of those friendships and the laughter and jokes that were shared. The benefits of sports aren’t held hostage in that one moment of time; they’re carried over a lifetime, laying a foundation for everything that follows.
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