Why Is It Important For Children To Play Sports?
Few images reconcile us with the world as much as children playing and having fun. In these moments, we see how time and space disappear for them, how there is no future and no past. They are there, going through life like the children they are. It’s the only thing that matters in every gesture. Thus, sports in childhood, although “innocent”, will strengthen their muscles and expand the capacity of their lungs.
On the other hand, these same children soon start to play sports in a much more regulated way, controlled by judges or referees and even have coaches. Then the environment changes: a goal or a basket becomes something more serious. Although it may not be the same as before, the fact that children continue to play sports in this way or another gives unique opportunities for development, as well as the possibility that they could be future “stars”.
Benefits of sport in childhood
Acquire a commitment and respect it
The regular practice of a sport makes children have to follow a certain discipline. There is a time to change, another to warm up, another to do a little mental preparation, another to compete, another to manage victory and defeat… Even during the week there may be certain hours scheduled for practice. Deep down, there is a commitment that the child needs to honor.
The child will be more willing one day and less willing the next, but he is part of a team and, as one of its components, he has to respond with his contribution. Thus, sport is a wonderful context for children to learn to organize themselves and activate their will to respond at certain times.
Living with expectations and frustration
Sport, at younger ages, becomes a field of income. Children often know when they are right and when they are not, without anyone telling them and even leaving aside a possible outcome.
Thus, she will learn that she is often the one who precipitates defeat when, in the first few moves of the game, she fails to meet very high expectations and collapses. She will learn to raise these expectations when she starts performing well. Thanks to sport, the child will also have the opportunity to learn to manage a defeat and prepare for the next competition. She can even reflect and understand, with help, how the expectations of others also affect her choices, her performance, and her performance.
She can also learn to manage her frustration and anger at herself. Here, parents have a precious opportunity to step in and teach their children to have constructive internal dialogue without them mistreating themselves. And best of all, we can do this at a time when our word has a lot of weight on the little ones, before adolescence and before peer influence begins to gain ground.
develop the senses
Many of the characteristics of the game itself have to do with life itself. For example, in the field there are people who accompany you, who support you, as well as on the journey of life. If we talk about a team sport, children will learn that they are not alone, for better or for worse. That she shares interests with a group of people (earning or achieving a good score) and that the results will be better if she trusts those other people and, in turn, supports them.
She will also learn that it is possible to turn around, with a lot of effort and intelligence, in many projects that don’t start well. A goal or a bad start does not imply defeat at the end of the match. That just means it will be a little harder to achieve, but not impossible. She will also learn that there are certain actions that others cannot do for her, whether organizing the game or quickly moving her legs.
We could go on highlighting parallels, but the last and one of the most impressive is that, with sports, children learn the importance of predicting outcomes, whether for the game or not. They learn that just as a bad start requires excessive effort, a good start or intercepting the ball before it reaches the opponent’s feet or hands is a huge advantage. In this sense, sport becomes a privileged exercise of sustained attention for children who have a prefrontal cortex (responsible for the organization of behavior and decision-making) in full development.
Finally, as much as sports are a setting for learning, one should never detach from this image with which we started the article. Those kids in the park, having fun and enjoying themselves. Because maybe the best part of playing sports in childhood is that it is usually one of the best opportunities to start making our first friendships and create several happy stories that will accompany us throughout our lives.
