The Positives Of Playing Sports

The benefits of sports participation have been studied during the last few years. Sports participation has also long been thought to provide a social environment that fosters basic values such as fair play, competiveness, and achievement (Pate, Trost, Levin & Dowda, 2000). Furthermore, Pate et al. (2000) conclude that in the most populous demographic subgroups of United States high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors. This trend was most striking for white females and white males, among whom sports participation was significantly associated with numerous positive healthy behaviors and almost no negative health behaviors. African American and Hispanic students had fewer associations with positive health behaviors, and even some association with negative behaviors were observed. Sports has been a important key to high schools students get involved on a social environment that can cause very positive healthy behaviors among the youth. Pate et al. (2000) continue to observe that school and community sports programs have the potential to help youth establish lifelong healthy physical activity patterns.

Benefits of Youth Sports“Sports do not build character. They reveal it,” said John Wooden, legendary UCLA basketball coach. Playing sports not only provides physical activity, but also other positive benefits. This is especially true for children. A well-structured and organized youth program will provide benefits and positive experiences for young athletes. While children are having fun participating in sports they are also building character, learning to work as a team, and playing fairly. Most people think the only benefits of sports are physical. Sports are more than just developing hand-eye coordination and burning calories, youth sports provide many developmental benefits, physical benefits, and psychological benefits.

Positive Psychological Effects. Along with a child’s physical health, research shows that a child’s psychological well-being will improve through sports as well. An article on Health Fitness Revolution mentions that playing sports heightens the athlete’s morale through the different ways the athlete helps their team (“Top 10 Benefits of Youth Sports”). More specifically, an article on Psychology Today says that a girl who participates in sports generally has a more positive view of her body, even if she doesn’t “conform to society’s very rigid standards of female beauty” (Lindholm). When children feel confident about themselves, they ultimately feel the same about their whole life as well.

Sports is all based and focused on getting in shape and help fix the shape of the body, or might help others to open their mind and will be able to focus more. It helps children to participate in other events. Playing sports also improve skills in many ways, humans who play sports are 3 percent more likely to volunteer and help others (MCCS forward). There are many possible ways that these activities are played for many different reasons. It can help and improve personality, getting in fit, and will help socially:

High schools in the US have had successful and popular sports programs that date back past the 19 century and have been a hit to this day. But in the US, high school sports are becoming too much of a necessity, students are more worried about how they will play their sport over how their grades are or if they are caught up in school. But has anyone ever considered, what might occur if these US high schools were to discontinue their sports teams? Would the schools benefit or become hinder? If high school sports were canceled in the US the schools would have much more money to spend on all of its students. Student-athletes would be much more focused in school and would achieve better grades and test scores. Also, teachers

2) Young athletes are more likely to achieve academic success than their peers. a) Data show that high school students who play sport are less likely to drop out. Participation in sport also has been associated with completing more years of education and consistently higher grades in school. b) team captains, MVPs achieve in school at even higher rates. c) physical movement can affect the brain’s physiology by increasing cerebral capillary growth, blood flow, oxygenation, production of neurotrophins, growth of nerve cells in the hippocampus, neurotransmitter levels, development of nerve connections, density of neural network, and brain tissue volume d) These changes may be associated with improved attention; improved information processing, storage, and retrieval; enhanced coping; enhanced positive affect; and reduced sensations of cravings and

The audience went silent. The crowd locked their eyes’ on only two things, the soccer player and the ball. This was their last chance. If they score this penalty, they have a chance to move on into the finals. The player kept his attention on the ball. He ran towards it and kicked it with a powerful force, aiming it towards the soccer net. The audience threw their hands’ up with tears in their eyes’. The stadium now filled with passionate cheers as everyone jumped up and down from their seats. Soccer is the greatest discovery because; no other sport has the power to unite countries. It helps with promotion, which increases the financial situation of an economy. In addition, soccer is one of the fewer sports that does not discriminate. Anyone can enjoy the wonderful benefits of this sport.

Sports can help people that play in physical ways too. One way is that sports can help people stay healthy. Another thing is that people that dont do sports are more likely to be more fat than the people that do play sports. Also kids that play sports tend to have healthier bones and muscles compared to people that don't play sports.

Behr talks about how football improves concentration, saying, “It forces you to focus on what you're doing. Otherwise you can be a casualty. So you can’t afford to let down your guard” (Behr). The concentration gained on the field can benefit in many ways, such as in the classroom taking tests, on the job getting tasks done, or learning new things. Everything we do requires concentration. Memorization is also an important role in life. While playing football you have to memorize all of the plays, film of other teams plays and key players. This requires the athletes to constantly exercise their memorization skills. The repetitive use of memorization allows athletes to have a better memory than most non

Young boys often dream about playing in the NBA or the NFL when they grow up. If parents make sure their boys and girls are in sports when they are very little than they have a better chance of getting to the pros. When you are little you usually play recreation ball at your local rec centers. You also usually have a dad or an older brother that coaches the kids. Typically when you are in 2nd grade you can start playing rec basketball.

It can decrease the risk of heart disease at a later age, develop new nerve cells in the brain, and promote skills such as teamwork and collaboration, which will help a child throughout their years of schooling up into their career path. Youth sports can make kids smarter, stronger, healthier, and help them create strong social skills. It perks up kids’ moods and encourages them to work together to achieve a common goal. It is crucial to keep youth sports organizations going nationwide so that the younger generation of our nation can continue to benefit from all that it has to

Sports may help improve children’s overall health. Many people against youth sports might say that participating in sports has a high risk of injury. This is not correct; children have a much less chance of injury as that of an adult. However I believe that sports can improve children’s health.

Youth sports are an incredibly healthy way for kids to grow and release energy. Children in preschool can begin to take part in sports like dance and soccer, and as they grow older, the lists of sports gets longer. However, there are negatives of sports that are often not talked about by parents, coaches, schools, or the media. As a result, stigmatization occurs, leaving children struggling with sports to suffer alone. With youth sports, elevated levels of stress occur, and as a consequence, mental health can decline. Youth sports can have an adverse psychological effect on young athletes and it is an effect that can be damaging for children for their entire lives.

Bradley, Keane and Crawford proved the positive influences of sport participation in 402 Irish secondary school students on the Leaving Certificate. The no sport group, forming the control group, compared to the soccer and rugby team had slightly lower test scores in the Leaving Certificate, whereas the only individual sport, rowing, was significantly higher then the other two groups (Bradley, et al., 2013). In this study, rowing, as the only individual sport tested, proved higher test results, which is not to be forgotten that there exist limitations in the study such as no comparison to another individual sport, the no comparison to another school, and the relatively small number of rowers on a team.

Sports, a very popular past time today, have been around since ancient times.  Greek Olympic Games featured events from chariot races, javelin throws, to wrestling.  In addition, a game similar to soccer was played in China by the second century BC.  In England, a violent rugby type game was even played to settle feuds between villages.  With the development of the industrial revolution and the creation of the first public schools, sports decreased in violence and were played more recreationally and constructively.  Basketball was invented to help the youth in New England spend their energy in the winter months.  Since the early 1900’s sports have been a key experience in the United States (“History of Sports”).  I have played