Sports And Sports: The Importance Of Sports

Over 3000 years ago, sports were created in Ancient Greece that included throwing spears, and other objects with intent to train for war and hunting. This shows that sports, also known as athletics, are not just for fun but were created for a purpose. Today, there are many different types of sports but Football, Baseball, Basketball, and Soccer lead the way being the four major sports. However, there are many more sports including individual and team sports. There are millions of children who play them, usually starting around the age of six when they start school. According to Donna L. Merkel, “seventy-five percent of American families with school-aged children have at least one child participating in organized sports.” It is key for children …show more content…
Sports teach children self-discipline and concentration. Both which is essential for adulthood, and throughout life. Sports teach children that you don’t always have to be a magnificent athlete but if you have the self confidence in yourself you can achieve your goals. Mental preparation is very important in the understanding of a sport. Also, sports teach athletes that you are supposed to make mistakes. The mistakes allow athletes to learn how to correct themselves so that the mistake won’t happen again in the future. Coaches use criticism to teach their athletes as well which is a big learning tool. Young athletes learn how to receive constructive criticism which helps them know what they are doing wrong and what they need to change. Another personal benefit is children learn how to handle adversity. Young athletes learn about the feeling after a lost or making a bad play. Although, this could feel horrible athletes need to learn how to overcome this feeling so that it doesn’t come again. As the prominent coach Vince Lombardi puts it, “It’s not whether you get knocked down, it’s whether you get up.” This is a great quote by one of the most famous football coaches ever, he agrees that you will fail sometimes but you have to learn to get back up and keep striving for what you want. Lastly, sports benefit children personally by teaching sportsmanship and learning leadership skills. …show more content…
Children can benefit greatly from sports because they have to interact with their teammates. Some kids don’t have good social skills, as a result they are shy in school. However, sports make it detrimental that children interact with each other because they need to use teamwork to win. Even if kids don’t necessarily get along sports requires them to get along, whether they like it or not. According to Ted Temertzoglou, Board of Directors of Physical and Health Education in Canada, says in a video that “Advantages of team sports is learning how to work with people that is a big one, in life kids are going to be working with different people they necessarily don’t get along with and in a team context they learn about getting along and the skills they need to do that.” This shows that even experts know that sports benefit children athletes socially. Another societal benefit is that sports allow children to stay out of trouble. In the article, Benefits of Youth Sports, it says that “Kids who play youth sports are less likely to join a gang, break the law, abuse alcohol or drugs, have discipline problems in school, and to drop out of school.” The article agrees that children who play sports are less likely to do bad things. Also the article says, “Kids who play youth sports are more likely to perform well in school,graduate from high school, go to college, become and remain employed, and contribute to society. More specifically,