With the school year underway, your kids are likely busy with homework, making friends, and learning all kinds of new things. It may seem like your schedule is too hectic to fit in a youth sport as well, but take a minute to consider the bountiful benefits! You cannot put a price on the life lessons, physical skills, and relationship building your kids will learn while enrolled in athletics.
Sports present a great foundation for what it is like to function with strict rules. You cannot change the rules of the game; everyone has to play by them. This teaches your young child how rules and boundaries work to create a cohesive sport. It also teaches your older child to think of ways to get ahead while still following the rules of the game. This is much like life, but few other things offer such a concrete way to practice following rules. This is just one of the many life lessons children glean from athletics.
In an age where childhood obesity is becoming an epidemic, it is important to teach youth the importance of taking care of their body. The health benefits to playing a sport are plentiful. Weight control, balance, hand-eye coordination, endurance, strong muscles and bones, and cardiovascular health are some of the physical benefits acquired through playing sports. Enroll your child in sports and guide them towards finding a physical activity that they love before laziness or weight becomes a part of their lives.
The various relationships made with the team, with the coaches, with your rivals all provide practice for tough real-world scenarios. Children need to experience anxiety over the “big game” or unfairness when their coach seats them on the bench. These hard lessons help them grapple with life and learn to navigate relationships. The friendships formed with teammates are often unbreakable! Give your child a chance to learn communication, compromise, teamwork, and all the other relationship building skills that go into a sport.
If your child is already enrolled in athletics for the year, hopefully you took this article as a reaffirmation that it is worth the benefits! If your child is not yet involved in a sport through school, sign them up this season to see their relationships, physical skills, and life experience grow!
Browse our older blogs to discover how your kids can train and build their skills at home.
Posted on Tue, September 19, 2017
by Andy Rennecke filed under