Youth sports are a staple in virtually every corner of the world, and for good reasons: They support growth both physical and mental and help develop many of the characteristics found in well-adjusted adults. Although the physical exercise provided by sports is essential, there are many other benefits both immediate and long-term.
Sports in the Computer Age
Despite the popularity of sports among children, they have more competition than ever. According to "Pediatrics for Parents" magazine, the average school-aged child spends 37 hours a week in front of some sort of screen, whether playing video games, watching television or on a computer.
None of this provides any physical benefits, and the explosion of technology has caused many children to scale back athletic endeavors, or quit altogether. Encouraging kids to play sports is one way to avoid letting them morph into video zombies.
Exercise
According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, somewhere between 16 and 33 percent of American children are obese --- in large part because of the aforementioned abundance of home entertainment. But children who play sports are far more likely to maintain a healthy weight and avoid the many health risks that come with being overweight. Those risks multiply when a person becomes obese early in life, so it's important to get your child involved in sports early.
Get Out There and Compete
For the sake of a child's comfort, adults often paint the world as a safe, happy-go-luck place. But that's not reality. Even in grade school, there's competition socially and academically. When your children go to college and enter the work force, the competition level increases dramatically.
Playing sports teaches kids how to be competitive and that it's OK to desire victory. Kids who play sports learn about the thrill that comes with a hard-fought win, a lesson that serves them throughout life.
Dream and Achieve
Another way sports are beneficial to kids is that it teaches them how to set goals and work to achieve them. A child may not be athletically gifted enough to win on talent alone, but the harder she works at her chosen sports, the better the results she'll see.
Sports have concrete results, not only in wins and losses but also in things like batting averages, points and times. As the kid works harder at his craft, his results will improve and he'll learn the value and results of goals and hard work.
Coming Out of the Shell
Many children are naturally shy or averse to immersing themselves in unfamiliar social settings. Sports encourage kids to interact with their peers, and through that osmosis they learn different techniques and realities involved in making friends and dealing with adversity.
Whether it's learning teamwork through passing a ball or understanding politics from losing out on the title of team captain, sports provide invaluable social benefits kids will use now and later in life.
