The benefits to children participating in organized sports are numerous. Organized sports help teach kids about physical fitness and and the importance of taking care of their bodies throughout their lives. Sports also can help teach kids important social and interpersonal skills, as well as teach them the value of hard work and persistence.
Fitness
Playing organized sports helps children get the exercise they need to stay healthy, and develop habits that will stay with them throughout their lives. Sports also help kids develop and understand skills and strengths that they will need forever, such as agility, coordination, endurance, and flexibility.
Healthy Habits For Life
Children who play sports have an increased awareness of their bodies, and are less likely to do things that will harm them at an early age, such as smoking cigarettes, drinking, or taking drugs. Many sports programs also strive to teach nutrition to young athletes, giving them even more awareness of the things they should and should not do to their bodies. This is a particularly important issue now more than ever, as the obesity rate in children is rising each year in almost every part of the world.
Confidence and Identity
Participating in sports can help a child become more confident in his skills. As children practice and work to become better at any activity, their confidence level will increase. This new-found confidence will carry over into other things besides sports, including their studies and personal lives.
Group activities such as organized sports help kids identify with a particular group--their team, perhaps--which is essential to the personal and social development of a child. Children who do not feel they are accepted or belong anywhere often experience depression, anxiety and a general lack of confidence.
Hard Work and Persistence
Group sports teach kids that in order to become good at something, they must work toward their goals. This is a very valuable lesson, one that they must carry with them into their adult lives. Sports also teach children that when they do not succeed--losing a game, for example--that they must deal with losing, and move on. Obviously, this is critical, because as an adult, you must move on after any kind of defeat or loss, and work to prevent those things from happening again, whether it is on the field, in your work, or in your personal life.
Social Benefits
Children who participate in these types of activities learn to communicate and work better with their peers and with adults. Teamwork is a valuable skill for children. Organized sports often are made up of kids who have a variety of different social and economic backgrounds, which can help teach children about diversity, and also provide the opportunity to make new friends.
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