Research shows that children who play organized sports are frequently healthier and physically stronger than their less athletic peers. But what about the mental benefits? According to sports psychology author Jim Taylor, Ph.D., endurance sports have been found to enhance brain development and raise IQ. In addition, he says that sports build confidence, develop focus, and teach kids about emotional control. “Kids learn essential life skills, such as hard work, patience, persistence, and how to respond positively to setbacks and failure,” Taylor says. Here are five main benefits in addition to the health/physical value of encouraging your child to get involved in organized sports, including the variety of athletic opportunities at Elite Cheer.
Friendship When children are younger, they typically join team sports to make new friends and learn social skills. Here at Elite, we have kids that come from a variety of locations across the Omaha metro and the surrounding areas–Fremont, Council Bluffs, West Omaha, and Bellevue, just to name a few–who create lifelong friendships and family bonds with one another. According to licensed marriage and family therapist Bette Alkazian, team sports teach children how to overlook an annoying teammate or a bad attitude. They also encourage friendship and empathy for fellow teammates. “When a friend gets hurt, you cheer for them and hope they find the inner strength to push through and play on,” she says.
Team sports bring together kids from various religious and cultural backgrounds, which is sure to provide a valuable learning experience. Teammates must learn how to adapt to and accept each other’s cultures so they can work together as a team. Learning how to be a true friend and how to accept others are powerful people skills that will take your child far past high school.
Respect When playing on a team, kids, coaches, and parents spend plenty of time together. Making sure everyone gets along comes down to one simple word: Respect. Not only will your athlete learn to respect and honor his or her coach and the coach’s decisions, but also to respect their fellow teammates. By noticing the strengths that each individual brings to the team, they’ll learn to appreciate and respect each other’s talents. It’s only healthy to be competitive, but respect fosters a friendly competition that pushes each teammate to be the best they can.
In addition, team sports will give your child something to take pride in. Once they achieve goals they set for themselves, they’ll gain pride in their success and confidence in their skills. With the individual aspects of our sport, such as tumbling, combined with the team properties (stunting, etc.) the combination shows each individuals’ goals intertwined with a team and group mentality to enhance and build essential life skills.
Strong Work Ethic Kids who participate in team sports are also more likely to be active, hard-working students, and better future workers. That’s because organized athletics teach kids how to be disciplined during practice, how to focus on the task at hand, and how to have patience when the going gets tough. Children playing team sports also have to learn how to achieve balance between their school work and athletics, which fosters a strong work ethic both in and out of the gym.
Perseverance Unfortunately, their team won’t always win and every outcome won’t always seem fair, but dealing with disappointment will only make your child stronger as they grow older. Not only will they gain the willpower to be the best athlete they can, but they’ll also learn the importance of perseverance and endurance to get them through the rough times and most importantly, to never give up. Coping with failures or unwarranted outcomes is a crucial life skill.
Courage Team sports are a huge self-esteem booster for kids. They’ll gain greater confidence by learning about their own strengths and capabilities. In addition, kids involved in athletics tend to be natural leaders and learning leadership skills at a young age will be a big boost someday in the corporate world. Organized athletics also have the power to give your child courage. Imagine your child on stage performing in front of 10,000 spectators, fans, and competitors. They have to jump, tumble and stunt without error. That takes some moxy!
For more information on Elite Cheer, please contact Kevin Hooker at (402) 968-1883 or by email at kevin@elitecheer.com.