Sports can be a great activity for any youngster. A child can learn the importance of team work, how to compete in a hard but fair manner, and it can help a youngster get in good shape and gain friends. Going to practice and playing games for a full season--whether in individual sports or team sports--takes a youngster on a journey that may become habit forming to someone who loves what he is doing.
Teamwork
Playing on an organized sports team can help a youngster understand the concept of team work. When you play a sport like soccer, you may not even touch the ball but you can be just as responsible for your team winning as the goal scorer. You may get in the way of the defender and prevent him from catching up to the play. That can allow the shooter an extra three feet of daylight that allows her to take a good shot and score a goal. Plays like this are common and helps youngsters understand the concept of teamwork.
Conditioning
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) says that obesity among young people tripled between 1978 and 2008. As a result, any activity that gets youngsters running and exercising regularly because they are participating in sports will help them get in better shape and have a chance to get more out of life. This can be an individual sport like track or tennis or a team sport.
Opportunity
Youngsters who play sports have a chance to improve and potentially earn a college scholarship. Scholarships are offered in all competitive college varsity sports for both young men and young women. This is a great benefit to any young person who comes from a family where a chance to go to college might not otherwise be in the picture. Available scholarships sometimes go unused because qualified student-athletes are not always aware of their existence. This is particularly true of golf scholarships at colleges in non-warm-weather cities where a number of schools struggle to fill their openings.
Warning
When a youngster plays on a sports team because she wants to play a game she likes or loves, that's a positive development. However, if the player's parents push a child who is not interested in playing, it can cause damage. Additionally, a child who plays for a coach who wants to win and is in it for ego gratification can hurt children who may struggle to perform well.
Coaching Influence
Organized sports can be helpful for children when they are given instruction by knowledgeable coaches. Some of the skills a coach can teach include proper technique for hitting in baseball, ball handling in basketball, blocking in football, running form in track and shooting in ice hockey. Children can make friends and those friendships can last for years. If adults don't put themselves first and try to give children a positive experience, it can help the youngsters learn many skills that will help them as they get older.
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