10 Important Reasons To Play Youth Sport
Many of the benefits of playing youth sport prepare young people for life
By my late teens, I was regularly injured and had to stop playing sport for a long time.
Straight away I realized I was missing something big from sport. It all came to me in the absence of the buzz on that first evening when practice didn’t go-ahead for me.
I was alone and all my teammates were playing.
Over the next few months, I knew that I was missing something huge and struggled to fill the gaping void in my calendar each evening.
Over the following years, I came to realize all the things that make up that buzz that surrounds playing sport.
So, for a start, here are ten things that begin to show how sport can be of benefit to a young person:
1. A healthy physical outlet for aggression:
Young people’s brains are constantly developing. They do not have the same maturity level as adults. As they are experiencing puberty their brains are being reshaped. Within the brain, the gray matter which involves neurons and synapses (which are the connections) are also changing.
As a result, their judgment is being sharpened.
All young people are developing at different stages. Some may experience emotional tantrums or instability at this time of life. This can affect their peers too and question their decision making.
By having a safe and stable sporting environment young people can healthily exercise their aggression and channel their frustrations and misunderstandings into something productive.
2. A place to learn structure:
Young people are prone to social experimentations. Fitting in with their peers is very important to them. The possibility of joining gangs and attending parties is always a temptation.
By creating a structure within a young person’s life that involves learning a routine it aids their sense of progression and increases the chances of them feeling more productive. It also gives them the option that they will be more productive in the future also.
3. It helps with understanding winning and losing in life:
Understanding losing in sport alloys young people to prepare for the lower points of their lives.
As adults, we quickly realize that the sport and the team we follow are not the perfect teams. They will have ups and downs and they will not always win. Following a team or sport regularly means that you will experience a see-saw of emotions.
As young people are still developing their emotions, sport gives them a healthy way to experience both winning and losing.
By experiencing these feelings together and through the process of a recreational activity the outcome of loss may feel bad but in reality, young people’s lives are not generally threatened by its outcomes.
4. Sport allows young people to work together:
Young people love to mix with other young people. It is one of the charms of overcoming childhood. As youths realize that they are that bit more independent than their childhood years they can now begin to get to know other people of their age group.
As young people are brimming with energy by allowing them to work together can give them something worthwhile and positive to get stuck into.
Organized sport gives young people this platform.
5. It is physically healthy:
In the United States, childhood obesity is a big problem. With nearly 20% of those between 2 and 19 years of age being obese, it means that nearly 14 million children and adolescents struggle with their weight control.
Sport allows young people to exercise and gives options for young people to play in a team or individualized manner. Exercise during this age group is important to regulate their hormones and build strong bodies for them for their futures also.
6. Youth sport is an outlet for young talent:
Although school is a place to be tried and tested often it is not the place where people can have their expressive talents observed. Other than the teacher, not everyone in school sees a student’s workload, reads their stories, or answers their questions.
Sport gives young people a stage to perform on.
It allows young people to express their abilities. As it is fast and reactive, if they fail a test with an opponent usually within minutes there is another test of their ability that comes along. This gives them a chance to redeem themselves and to prove that they can dominate others.
7. It can be a place for young people to align confidence with their abilities:
As young people grow they are being challenged by so many changes in their lives. Their bodies and the bodies of their peers are strengthening, social connections are becoming more challenging, and expectations are also more demanding.
All of this can test a youth’s confidence. Sport gives them an outlet to use and improve their abilities so that they see the benefit of working hard and maintaining confidence in their potential.
8. Sport is usually a supervised social outlet for young people:
Many studies on youth development have shown that their memory, reasoning, and ability to plan have developed good maturity by the age of 16. This proves that people of this age are intellectually able to learn.
Young people’s behavior can be dictated by the need for new experiences. Although they can cognitively understand the risks of trying something new, they often choose the need to experience a risky situation over their understanding that the outcomes will not be favorable to them.
Being involved in sport means that you are usually supervised and directed even when risky situations occur.
9. Youth sport is a place to foster friendships:
Teamwork is often the nucleolus of youth sport. Whether it be working with your coach as an individual athlete or working with others in a team scenario, the need for positive teamwork is required.
By working as part of a team trust is fostered. Trust is also a trait of friendship. As young people are discovering other young people at this time of life, sport can introduce them to other young people who are capable of using trust positively.
10. It can be a positive place for role modeling of good adults:
Young people need direction in life. They have many hopes and dreams but lack a road map on how to get there.
Sport allows young people to meet adults outside of school and their homes. It gives them the possibility to learn from some good adults and to develop positive relationships with someone older and more experienced in sport and life.
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