Teach Life Skills

The main benefit of sport is the lessons we can learn that will have a positive impact on our outlook, behavior and attitudes. This is particularly important for children. In this context we are referring to grassroots sports where children can learn skills, improve with practice and be guided by great (and not necessarily great) coaches.

The professionalization of sport around the world has changed the environment. It has opened up a greater capacity for athletes to earn a living from their sport which provides sufficient financial reward for the time, effort and commitment it takes to be a professional athlete.

However, it has created a culture in junior sport where there is increasing pressure to be elite, which has negatively impacted most sports and the sheer enjoyment of playing the game for many kids. Unfortunately, this pressure is too often created by parents.

It’s time to get back to the fundamentals of why sport is great for children and the positive lifelong lessons they learn. These include:

• The joy of movement and activity.

• Cooperation, coordination and collaboration.

• Improving skills with practice.

• Winning and losing with humility.

THE JOY OF MOVEMENT AND ACTIVITY.

Kids love to play! It’s one of the best things about being a kid. Running, jumping, skipping, swinging, throwing, catching.

These are the skills that kids need to learn from a young age. As their bodies grow and develop maintaining these skills can be difficult, but participation in sport is a great way to maintain progress.

COOPERATION, COORDINATION AND COLLABORATION.

Sports are a great way to teach children cooperation, learning to listen to instructions, take turns and sharing of equipment and attention. These are all significant lessons for kids to learn and need to be reinforced at home, school and sports.

Coordination is a major factor for both children and adults. Often it can be one of the greatest reasons we quit, if we feel that we are not suitably skilled, or our movement patterns are poor. Both these issues can be corrected and when it is done at an early age, it greatly enhances the potential for enjoyment in sport and increases lifelong commitment to activity.

Collaboration in sports is a key to success. Even in individual sports it is vital that the athlete learns to take guidance and advice from others.

IMPROVING SKILLS WITH PRACTICE.

Improving skills with practice is an essential life lesson for everyone. Taking time to practice and learning that hard work pays off teaches you to be a better person. Very few of us are instantly brilliant in any field and the commitment to practice is a fundamental factor in our education.