SPORTS

 

SPORTS

Positive experiences that sports and an active lifestyle bring play an important role in a young person’s life. Organized, well-structured youth sports and on-going physical activities can provide many benefits for children and adolescents.

Team sports help teach adolescents accountability, dedication, leadership and other skills. Physical exercise is good for the mind, body and spirit.

MANY ATHELETS DO BETTER IN CLASSROOM

Some people may think this would distract student-athletes from schoolwork. Also, the determination and goal-setting skills a sport requires can be transferred to the classroom. Playing a sport requires a lot of time and energy. Sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skill sets that are directly relevant to class work. However, the opposite is true.

LEARN TEAMWORK AND INCREASE PROBLEM SOLVING SKILLS

This experience is helpful when encountering problems at work or at home. Fighting for a common goal with a group of players and coaches teaches you how to build teamwork and effectively communicate to solve problems.

HEALTH BENEFITS

However, they also encourage healthy decision-making such as not smoking and not drinking. Clearly, sports can help you reach your fitness goals and maintain a healthy weight. Sports also have hidden health benefits such as lowering the chance of osteoporosis or breast cancer later in life.

INCREASE SELF-ESTEEM AND DECREASE STRESS

Achieving a sport or fitness goal encourages you to achieve other goals you set. This is a rewarding and exciting learning process. Watching your hard work pay off and achieving your goals develops self-confidence.

When you feel under pressure or stressed, call up a teammate, head to the gym to talk and play it out. Exercising is a natural way to loosen up and let go of stress. You can also make new friends who can be there for you as a support system.

These endorphins may give you more energy and focus for whatever life has. Physical exercise reduces the stress hormones in your body and stimulates the release of endorphins. When you are physically active your mind gets a chance to unplug from daily stresses and strains of life.

GIVES BETTER SLEEP

Team sports provide a chance to unwind and take part in an activity that improves your fitness. Fast Company suggests that exercise and sport triggers chemicals in the brain that can make you feel happier and relaxed. If you play sports outside, you can benefit from fresh air which is said to promote a good night’s sleep.

INCREASE LUNG FUNCTION

This increases the lung capacity during sport, improving lung function and efficiency. Regular sport causes more oxygen to be drawn into the body with carbon monoxide and waste gases expelled.

BUILD STRONG RELATIONSHIP

Sport with colleagues is a good opportunity to build better relationships and networks that may help you in your job. Sports enable you to build better relationships with people you may be aware of, but not know personally. Through frequent sport you can get to know a lot about an individual’s personality, their strengths and weaknesses.

GIVES STRONG HEART

Stronger hearts can improve overall health of the body. A healthy heart can pump blood efficiently around your body. Your heart is a muscle and needs frequent exercise to help it keep fit and healthy. Your heart will improve in performance when it is regularly challenged with exercise.

IMPROVE NEW CONNECTIONS

Sport can offer a new way to meet others that you may not interact with day to day. And who knows, playing a sport might even open new career and business opportunities for you. As a result, you can make new friends. Sport brings together a mixture of people from different communities, backgrounds, religions and beliefs.

BUILD CONFIDENCE

Small, incremental achievements throughout the year can build personal confidence over time, giving you the ability to take on new projects and assignments at work with your new-found confidence. This is especially noticeable through tournaments and matches where you and your team put your skills to the test. By training frequently and working towards seasonal goals you can build your confidence and abilities.

BUILD MENTAL HEALTH

This includes improving your mood, enhancing your sense of well-being, reducing anxiety, combating negative emotions and protecting against depression. The Public Health Agency report that regular participation in sport and being active can also promote good mental health.

BULID LEADERS

An emergentics study has found a correlation between playing sports and strong leadership qualities. All sport teams need leaders to show the way and help develop new or younger team members. Sports enable people to develop a ‘team mindset’ whether its winning, losing or training together.

AIDS HEALTHY DEVELOPMENT

Physical exercise before the onset of puberty has been identified by a New Zealand study as a way of reaching peak bone mass, enabling children to become stronger – a great foundation for future growth. Children who play sports develop stronger bones and muscles, leading to a smaller chance of physical injury.