Positive Effects Of Sports On Youth
Youth sports are an inseparable part of today’s culture, and with the many positive effects it brings, youth sports is here to stay. In most American families at least one child is involved in some sports activity. Apparently, the majority of society understands how sports hold such a high positive contribution to child development.
This issue is close to my heart, as while growing up I was swimming in a competitive club, while the positive effects of these 10 years on my life are in many ways part of my current healthy lifestyle routine. Some might say there’s a risk of physical injuries and mental disappointments for the child. However, when looking at the big picture it is without doubt more positive experience rather than a negative one. Not doing sports activity as a kid will necessarily do more harm than good.
The positive effects of sports on youth are broad in its advantages can be both physical and mental and too many to even count. However, some may have an impact in a much deeper sense than others, such as better health, better social abilities, improved time management skills, higher self-esteem built and daily stress regulation. Those are the almost immediate benefits youth achieve by doing sports.
But let us not forget that attributes like precision, knowing how to take wins and losses with respect and knowing how to address competition will benefit children in later stages of their lives. With that said it is obvious that sports of any kind or shape will only do wonders with a child’s mind, body, and soul.
Better Health
When society is facing global childhood obesity epidemic with one out of every three children affected. It is now more important than ever to get children involved in sports activities as youth sport generates a healthy environment of kids growing up with healthier habits. As a child, I did sports on daily basis, from swimming to soccer and even windsurfing, I did whatever kept me busy and going.
In addition, it led me to a healthier decision-making mechanism in the later years of my life. The advantage of youth sports is in the habits it sets the equivalent will be in sowing the seeds of love to the whole concept of sports activity so that children will learn that it makes them happier, healthier and fitter.
Generally speaking, sport generates a healthy process of a stronger body through the releasing and stimulation of hormones as the brain involved in every and each process. This also helps in creating a stronger immune system, better responsive nervous system, more flexible muscles, and a more durable skeletal system.
Overall, the physical benefits of sports and fitness on youth are tremendous in their effects on the overall quality of life. They do sports, they become healthier, and by being healthier they have more time to learn and develop.
As they get fitter and healthier they tend to get less sick, wake up earlier more energized, which, resulted in lower chances of getting overweight and obese.
Social Connections
When 21 million kids in the U.S. between the ages 6 to 17 play team sports you can be sure that social interactions are in the making. These encounters involve aside from the activity itself a healthy social gathering, which is the key to balanced social development.
In many cases, this leads to a dominant and socially active group, whether on school grounds or outside school hours.
Being able to socially interact with others is one of human’s key characteristics. However, many people are lacking those social skills or tools. Those skills are essential for life in this crowded world and can be important for the sake of friend-making, job finding, maintaining relationships and intimacy etc.
It doesn’t mean that only kids with sports background will develop those skills, but it definitely improves their chances to perform better through life and its challenges.
Furthermore, those early social relationships will last for life. The shared experiences and rough times together forge strong bonds. Those kids will grow and forever hold a warm place in their hearts for the time when they pass a hardship alongside a good friend as such. These experiences are priceless, as they rarely present themselves in later adulthood.
Builds Higher Self-Esteem
High self-esteem is usually achieved by positive childhood experiences. It is built up over time and helps people be more satisfied with their achievements.
It is true that not all youth sports experiences are perfectly influencing kids for the better, however, those combined with the positive influences do build stronger self-confidence and one’s personality to enhance the positive influences it absorbed.
Higher self-esteem for kids can be built through a daily practice of sports. It could be learning a new move and perfecting it, or the sense of success by achieving a goal through practice.
In addition, many sports programs for children hold small competitions or events to enhance this sense of achievement and enforce children’s self-esteem buildup.
The higher self-esteem this youth will engage would enable them to develop faster in life, supported by constant solid ground by providing them the freedom to be themselves. Even if their environment thinks otherwise, and allows them the optimal opportunity for self-love.
Effective Time Management Skills
When taking part in sports activities through daily life, time management is super important. This youth needs to know their daily schedule and be conscious of it. Meaning, even knowing when to have lunch becomes a factor as it influences one’s ability to perform later on training.
In addition, time is running out fast when sports activity is part of one’s day, so they must manage their homework time and be more efficient with their daily tasks in order to successfully manage their routine. Becoming more responsible is an acquired advantage in this lifestyle. The young man or woman develop a sense of responsibility.
Efficiency is an essential concept while growing with a schedule. Children learn time management on their own. No explanation is required as they learn what happens when they are late for class or train. As it seems they are treated more like adults in terms of showing up on time, having that exact right lunch in order to maximize their workout, planning their day ahead properly and even having the space to have a social chat before and after the train. A mini adulthood is being practiced simply by encouraging youth to get up of the sofa and move their behinds… how splendid!
So this raise of awareness is constantly developed in an athlete youth. That exact awareness not only helps them have a flourishing childhood but become rather handy in later life and in actual adulthood.
A Way To Reduce Daily Stress Levels
Well, children have a lot of energy and not that many ways to release it. Doing sports help them express a large amount of energy and as a result, lowers their body’s stress levels. A daily way to get this extra energy out of the inner bodily system is a must, and sports seems to be the best answer for it.
Moreover, sports activity helps with frustration release. Children absorb many things from their environment, some can be harmful to the body and mind as they raise stress levels. Among those feelings is frustration, in many cases children will choose to take it out on others.
But with sports, they have a monitored environment they can just let it all out, supervised and legalized and instead of hurting someone or something they take it out on the training alongside the benefit of good health, fitness, and balanced wellbeing.
We must
They grow, develop, voice change, muscle structure built, sexually develop and have a wide variety of inner changes through puberty.
Sports by far will be the answer for most, if not all, of these challenging changes as it enhance the connection between body and mind to a balanced, positive and effective middle ground.
To sum it all up then, get your offsprings to do sports. It is just awesome.
I have been swimming for over 20 years now, started at the age of 9 and can only think of good things to say about it. I had my social environment of active healthy children around me, developed competitive nature and learned not to fear it, embrace the sense of winning, accept the sense of losing while being modest about both.
Provided my body all the building blocks needed for healthy growth and when wanted to “party” with junk food (cause lets face it, good burger and french fries are
So basically I was never laughed at as a fat kid cause I was fit, always slept well as a result of physically active and properly tired by night and the list of great things about it can go on and on all thanks to going through puberty of sports.
Yes I worked hard The good and the bad all shaped me to be better then what I could have been without it.
If you got any other thoughts or just feel like sharing a story related to it, feel free to leave a comment.
Peace, His Side.