The Benefits of Athletics to a Child

Referring to athletes as “dumb jocks” is a thing of the past. It takes a lot of time, effort, and guts to be an athlete, but in the end it all pays off because playing sports help prepare children for the future. Playing sports as a child is like a practice run for the future; there are many life lessons that are taught through sports. The child will be forced to deal with these life lessons in a larger prospective when they grow older. Athletics are a very important part of growing up because of the benefits and life lessons that sports teach.

It is important for children to find out who they really are and to develop their own character. Sports help them find out more about themselves and teach them to be happy with whom they are. The book How to Win at Sports Parenting states that involving children in sports helps them to become “self-directed, compassionate, cooperative citizens of integrity” (Sundberg 71). The development of character also develops “independence, responsibility, and accountability” which boosts self esteem (Sundberg 71). Sports teach children not only to get better physically, but also emotionally and mentally. Being the team’s MVP does not develop self-estee

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Children should also be encouraged to make friends with opponents and encouraged leaving rivalries on the field. The research also stated that exercise boosts the number of capillaries which in turn leads to more oxygen, the more oxygen lead to more blood and nutrients, causing the brain to develop faster. Obesity is a struggle that over five million children, between the ages of six and seventeen, are dealing with. The name came about from a southern man when he said, “My

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stomach done lopped over my belt” (qtd. Growing children are known to obtain the largest amount of mental benefits from exercise (Athletics: The Benefits. Along with the friendships comes teamwork, which teaches them to relate in positive and cooperative ways to others. Physicians say that a person’s fat percentage should not be over 30 percent, but the average American diet contains 36 percent fat (“Athletics: The Benefits. Playing together creates a special relationship and bond amongst teammates that is hard to break (Conner 191).

To sum it all up, sports help children to develop character, open up the mind, make friends, understand healthy competition, understand teamwork, and why it is important to stay physically fit. Competition teaches kids to test themselves against the standards of others and against themselves. Comer, professor at Yale University gave an example, he said “students who before cared little for mathematics, showed great interest in baseball’s hitting and field percentages” (191). When a child plays a game against a really competitive team and in the end wins, it teaches the child to respect his or her own efforts and to respect the strong efforts of the other team (Conner 191).

Approximate Word count = 1575
Approximate Pages = 6 (250 words per page double spaced)

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