As a sports parent or youth sports coach, you know that sometimes it can feel like it’s the most thankless job on the planet. There’s a million things you could be doing for all the time you spend with young athletes and sometimes, the lack of appreciation can get you down.
So, I’m writing this post to give you boost! To help you feel great about what you are doing for kids, your own and others on the teams, and to encourage you to keep doing it! Just the fact that you are here on my site and following tells me that you are a cut above the average parent or coach and I’m here to start off by telling you:
Thank you for all you do!
If you are new to us here at The Academy and reading this wondering if it’s worth it to put your kid in sports, this list is also for you! It would take a book to list all the benefits of sports for youth but here’s my top 10:
Health Through Exercise
Do you remember how when we were kids (back in the 80’s or earlier) when after school we would rush to get our chores done so we could play outside with the neighbor kids? That’s pretty rare nowadays so what happens when kids get home from school if they don’t have something like sp
orts to go to? Yep, video games and other electronic entertainment.
A whole host of benefits of playing sports for kids comes directly from their health due to getting enough physical activity.
U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention did a study and found that only 1 in 4 kids gets the minimum recommended amount of physical activity in a week.
“This means that most kids are at risk for poor physical and mental health” according to James Sallis, professor of family and preventative medicine at UCSD.
Do not underestimate this benefit of sports for our youth as it’s not just about health today, but about the positive habits they are creating that last a lifetime.
Self Confidence
As adults, it’s easy to forget how difficult it can be growing up and establishing your identity and place in the world. If you care at all about kids and want to help them, you must understand and always remember that the number one priority of most kids in middle school and older is:
To Fit In
or at least to feel like they fit in. They can handle a lot of difficulties at home and anywhere if they have this issue taken care of and it is a building block for self confidence.
This is the one of the biggest benefits of team sports for kids. It gives them a sense of belonging, community and often a few really good friends. Once these basics are covered, then kids in sports can then take it to the next level of confidence by improving their skills, winning, bouncing back from defeat, getting picked up by teammates, parents and coaches, and the list goes on.
Goal achievement
There is nothing so powerful as a committed human being on a mission to achieve a desired goal. We have the fundamentals passed down from our genetics for this. Like when we are babies and we want to walk. However, all sorts of negative thinking can get in the way making obstacles to seem too hard and many of us grow up only seeking goals that get us the minimums of consistent food, clothing and shelter. And some of us not even that.
Sports is the perfect school for learning what it takes to blast through our adversities and push ourselves through discomfort and to do it early in life in a relatively safe place.
In sports, kids learn:
- goal setting and planning
- how to ask for help
- discipline
- resilience
- determination
- all things they will need when they enter the adult world.
I understand that as a parent, sometimes it seems like a big waste of time to cart your kid all over town and arrange your life around practices and games. I truly get that as a parent myself. But most parents are unaware of how each and every practice ingrains a set of neural networks in the kids brain about following through on a commitment and all the other things I mentioned above. This stuff sticks with them, believe me and there are countless studies showing a direct correlation between kids who play sports and better academic achievement.
So when your kid is sulking from that last loss or not playing to his/her potential or playing timidly or too nervous and it seems like they want to quit, keep in mind that these are THE BEST opportunities to gain the full benefits of sports for kids. Some kids learn the skills naturally and through experience and some need help. That’s what I’m here for.
Let’s do this,
Craig Sigl