10 Good Reasons Why Kids Should Play Sports

Let’s face it: our children are growing up in a very different time than us. While we used to go out and play all day long, especially during summer, our kids spend their days glued to the screens. Whether they’re researching topics for their homework, chatting with their friends or playing video games, the truth is that they are slowly getting used to the sedentary lifestyle in front of a screen.

But it doesn’t have to be this way. With a little bit of perseverance, you can get your child interested in sports and even get them involved in a sports activity. There are many good reasons why kids should play sports and in this article, we’ll share the top 10 reasons why. 

10 Good Reasons Why Kids Should Play Sports

As mentioned earlier, there are numerous reasons why kids should play sports. From helping them develop social and teamwork skills to improving their mental health and physical fitness, there’s no denying it that playing sports has several benefits. Without further ado, here are top 10 reasons why kids should play sports. 

1. It Develops Their Social Skills

When your kids play sports, they are, in effect, participating in a social activity. Since they need to communicate with both their teammates and their coaches on a regular basis, your children will inevitably develop and improve their social skills. This will help them throughout their life as they will learn what’s appropriate and know how to act in any given social situation.

2. It Teaches Them Teamwork

Team sports requires all team members to work together towards a common goal — whether that’s winning the championship or winning the next match. Through their regular practices and matches against other teams, kids will learn to encourage each other and to work together in unison to achieve the common goal. This is yet another skill that they will carry with them in adulthood as most jobs require teamwork skills. 

3. They Will Develop Long Lasting Friendships

It’s not unusual for team members to stay in touch with each other even long after they’re done with sports. As a team member, you practice others all year long. Together you go through hard times as well as good times and that kind of bond is hard to break. Your team members become second family and someone who will always have your back no matter what.

4. It Helps Them Deal With Adversity

Playing a sport is not always sunshine and roses. Your child will inevitably face some adversity but the good news is that this will also teach them how to deal with it and how to push through it when they feel frustrated or tired. Life is full of adversities and learning how to deal with it is one of the most valuable skills anyone can possess. 

5. It Keeps Them Busy

Consider for a moment how your kids spend time after their school obligations and homework assignments are done. Do they chill in front of the screen or are they engaging in a hobby? If you answered the former, having them play a sport is a good way to keep them busy. It will put them in a safe and structured environment and keep them from getting into trouble.

6. It Teaches Them Discipline

Team sports requires commitment and discipline. Kids will need to go to practice every single week, in some cases multiple times per week. They will also need to make sure to do all of their homework before going to practice which teaches them how to effectively manage their time and make sure all their chores and assignments get done.  That’s a lot of hard work that will fully prepare them to enter the workforce when they grow older.

7.  It Teaches Them Respect

Playing sports can also help your child learn respect. As team members, kids will have to learn to respect the decisions their coach makes as well as the decisions of the referees make, whether they agree with them or not. But it’s not just coaches and referees that your kids will have to respect. They will also need to learn to respect their team members as well as players from the opposing team. Most importantly, they will learn how to respect themselves. 

8. It Helps Them Stay Physically Active

It goes without saying that playing a sport helps your child stay physically active. As mentioned earlier, our lives have become very sedentary which bears many health risks. Physical inactivity not only increases our chances of getting seriously ill, it also negatively impacts our mental health. Do your child a favor and enroll them in a team sport. 

9. It Helps Them With Their Academics

According to research, sports improves our mental health and increases our cognitive abilities. As such, playing sports can help your children do better in school. As a result, they can get better grades which can open up a world of opportunities from your child. After all, it’s not unusual for kids who do well in both sports and academics to receive scholarships to prestigious universities.

10. It Teaches Them To Deal With Winning And Losing

Finally, playing sports teaches your kids to deal with both winning and losing. And while dealing with a win is much easier than dealing with a loss, it’s important for your child to learn how to accept the loss and move on. Keep in mind that as adults, we don’t come out as winners every time which is why this skill is so crucial.

Final Thoughts

Aside from helping your child stay physically active, participating in sports helps them develop important social and life skills that they can carry with them throughout their teenage years and all the way into adulthood. 

If you already have a sports team for the youth in your community or if you’re thinking about starting a sports team, the next step is creating a website. Be sure to read our guide on how to create a sports website for youth sports and get started on it.