Organized, well-structured youth sports and on-going physical activities can provide many benefits for children and adolescents. Positive experiences that sports and an active lifestyle bring play an important role in a young person’s life.
At University of Missouri Health Care, our adolescent medicine team encourages all children to participate in sports or other regular physical activity.
Physical exercise is good for the mind, body and spirit. Team sports help teach adolescents accountability, dedication, leadership and other skills.
Many athletes do better academically
Playing a sport requires a lot of time and energy. Some people may think this would distract student-athletes from schoolwork.
However, the opposite is true. Sports require memorization, repetition and learning — skillsets that are directly relevant to class work.
Also, the determination and goal-setting skills a sport requires can be transferred to the classroom.
Sports teach teamwork and problem-solving skills
Fighting for a common goal with a group of players and coaches teaches you how to build teamwork and effectively communicate to solve problems.
This experience is helpful when encountering problems at work or at home.
