Team sports aren’t only great to watch. They’re a wonderful way for your children to experience organized sports. No matter the sport, team participation has been important for decades. Participating in team sports can help your child become a better problem solver, leader, and it can teach them how to work well with others.
Between 2011 and 2018, slightly over 70% of children participated in one form of team sport. If your children haven’t had a chance to do this, then now is the time. Here are a few reasons why team sports are great for your kids.
Gets Them Out Of The House
The coronavirus kept kids at home for nearly a year and a half. During that time, they remained cooped up in their rooms. They lost the ability to regularly interact with peers. Some who were extroverts before the pandemic are now dedicated introverts. Perhaps your children haven’t been so affected by being at home all the time, but no matter what, kids need to have time outside and engaging in play with other kids in order to develop critical social skills and habits for a healthy lifestyle. Keeping your child engaged in physical activity, and taking them outside often can help both them and you get over this pandemic slump and get some sunshine.
Team sports changes this scenario. It gets them out of the house for games and other related activities. It also allows them to spend more time in the fresh air. Getting your kids outside and off their screens is a great way to foster positive mental and physical health. Organized team sports like the little league can be a great opportunity for you to get out of the house as well. As a parent, there are plenty of opportunities for you to participate and get involved with the team’s activities.
If your child really loves sports and they grow up playing, there’s the opportunity for them to join their school teams and go on to get college scholarships for playing sports. Even if they don’t go on to get a sports scholarship or become a baseball star, playing team sports while growing up can provide a sense of community and structure that will benefit your child’s development. Many high schools will use team sports to make sure their athletes stay on top of their grades. If athlete’s test scores are too low, they lose their time on the team. This can help give your student the motivation they may need to keep their grades up at school. Regular time exercising, being outside, and playing games with friends and peers is also a great way to foster positive mental health in your kids.
Inspires Friendship
As they say, there’s no ‘i’ in teamwork. This is what makes team sports so important. For many coaches and organizations, the concept is not to win as many games as possible. It’s used to create bonds among those who participate.
Friendship is critical to a great team experience. It’s their partnership and encouragement that makes those who aren’t the top players feel like they mean something. Furthermore, the moments of friendship during a game tend to continue outside of the field or arena. Team sports are also a great way for your children to make friends if you ever move to a new place. There are teams everywhere, so your children can use their love of sports to join a new team when you move locations. This will help them make friends wherever you go.
Increases Critical Thinking
The period where kids join team sports is an important one. According to child development theorists like Jean Piaget, it’s when their critical thinking processes begin to emerge. To put it another way, it’s when they begin to mentally visualize resolutions to problems.
Thus, strategic concepts must be an important component of team sports. For instance, it’s the use of a football play designer from an organization like MyFootballPlays that allows team members to examine concepts. These are embedded in their minds and recalled when needed. As a result, they can adjust their performance on the field where needed.
Teaches Teamwork
Again, there’s no ‘i’ in team. Yes, some players have skills that are well above others. However, they have to keep their egos in check for the whole team to be successful.
Thus, participation quiets egos and teaches children the benefits of teamwork. Since this part of the brain is quite loud among pre-teens, tweens, and young adolescents, playing a team sport helps maintain the right level of egotism. It’s a mix of assuredness about themselves and how they can put their skills to good use in a team experience. These small but critical life lessons are important for your kid’s development later on in life when they are working with other people.
Increases Their Resilience
Resilience is the ability to quickly bounce back from adverse situations. Though a person could initially feel devastated, they have the power to shake things off and move forward. Team sports are a perfect place to learn how to do this.
Not every contest results in a win. Nor does every turn at bat or thrown pass result in success. Adverse conditions emerge all the time, and the best way to get through them is to wipe your hands and move on.
This goes not only for the kids that participate but the coaches and the parents. If a child shows resilience after a loss or a bad play then others don’t feel the need to criticize or scold them. Furthermore, they’ll also realize one error or loss doesn’t make an entire season.
It Encourages Them To Ask For Help
It’s hard for a child to ask for help when they feel others think they know what they’re doing. While their heart wants some assistance their ego urges them to find out things on their own. Team sports encourage their hearts to reach out. If your child has trouble communicating, or you are worried they won’t come out of their shell easily, team sports at a young age can help them bond with others and learn how to communicate while having fun. It’s critical that the sport and league your child enters is well-reviewed and trustworthy, sports for children are different than sports for teenagers and adults. When your child is young, sports are more about learning to socialize, learning teamwork, and having fun. As they grow, it will become more competitive and serious, which means they may no longer want to be a part of the teams. No matter what your child decides in the future, entering them in Little League can help them develop critical social skills at a young age. One of the most important lessons they will learn is how to ask for help.
That’s why coaches are there. Even though they see potential in their players they also realize they’ll hit bumps during the season. They want you to ask for help on your swing or your pass capability. The good news is skills your kids gain by asking for help continue to be used later in life.
Are you ready for your kids to participate in team sports? There are many positive benefits from entering your child in a team sport, including the development of critical social and coordination skills. Consider the above suggestions to move forward.
