Practicing sports is essential for a healthy and complete development of children

The sport practiced by children is essential in their harmonious and healthy development. Through sports, the children will be active, develop a healthy mind and body and will be part of a community where they will learn to socialize. The different unstructured ways of playing until adolescence will help them develop their life skills and become more resilient. (1)

Today we find more and more sport clubs, especially private ones, that increase their offer with a variety of sports, if we are talking about already established sports, like football and swimming or newer sports like Brazilian jiu-jitsu or even different types of dances.

I will describe 5 sports that are beneficial and quite accessible for the children, taking into consideration such elements as access to location and price.

1. Martial Arts

I will begin by describing the benefits of martial arts, a sport that unfortunately I personally delved into late, due to some old preconceptions. In the past, martial arts were quite the taboo subject, associated with kung-fu movies and violence, so parents were reluctant to let their children practice martial arts. In time, however, with more information available thanks mainly to the Internet, the world discovered in clips from children’s competitions and specialized blogs, that practicing martial arts from an early age can actually be beneficial. They develop motor qualities such as speed, reflexes, coordination, strength and mental skills such as trust, decision-making under pressure, the sense of belonging to a community, discipline: all these qualities are beneficial in the child’s future adult life.

Also the increasing number of private clubs which still depend on the income of satisfied customers, have well trained coaches, focused on the quality of services, the development of children and the joy of the children that are practicing the sport.

Of course, if you are worried about possible injuries, martial arts also have semi-contact styles, such as Shotokan and variations of kenpo, taekwondo and other karate styles, adapted to have minimum contact between athletes.

Taking into account the fact that this is a continuously developing industry, you can test several clubs and several styles, so that you find the most suitable style and trainer for your child.

2. Swimming

It is known that swimming is perhaps one of the sports universally accepted by specialists and parents as being very beneficial for children.

Swimming is very good for the harmonious development of the body, strengthening the joints and muscles. At the same time, it helps improve cardiovascular functions and lung capacity, especially in overweight children. (2) Exercising in water is more pleasant, because the buoyancy and light weight of the body make the exercises attractive for children while helping burn calories.

Moreover, a study shows that after 12 months of swimming exercises, participants with excessive body fat significantly reduced subcutaneous and intra-abdominal fat, a decrease of 6-10% in body weight of overweight people and 13-21% in body weight in those classified as obese.

Unfortunately, the swimming pools are not accessible to everyone, thus limiting the access of some of the children to swimming. On the other hand, due to the development of the wellness industry, more and more centers are opening that include swimming pools, and children can definitely find a center with an instructor and an environment suitable for them to start swimming.

3. Track and field

Track and field is a sport that develops basic motor skills such as speed, endurance, strength, flexibility. By introducing children to events like speed or endurance running, long or high jump and different forms of throwing events, children will develop athletic skills and qualities that they will benefit from throughout their lives.

Athletics starts with the running school and with the correct running technique, which is emphasized more than in any other sport. Through athletics, the child will develop a special appreciation for physical education in general, being at the same time a sport that can be practiced individually at any age.

One of the main qualities that develop in track and field sports is speed. Speed is the most important quality in sports, because it can be transferred to any other sport, such as football, swimming, tennis, handball, martial arts. Equally important, speed is the quality that is emphasized the most in sports, and if a young person already has it from athletics, it is a huge advantage.

Through track and field sport arts, the child will learn to face the competition individually, but will have the support of a team at the same time. In track and field sports, he will not have a team to compensate for his effort in the competition (with the exception of the relay), but he will have a coach with whom he will form a healthy mentoring relationship and a group of colleagues who are also motivated.

4. Football

It is probably the most popular sport at the moment and lately it has become increasingly popular among girls. Football will develop the child’s pleasure to play, to be innovative in finding solutions during the game and the orientation in space.

Football is, in addition, particularly good for the development of coordination and motor skills. It improves hand-eye coordination, agility and lung capacity.

Football also develops team spirit and improves the communication of the children.

Being a very popular sport, access to football clubs is easy and the costs of practicing it are relatively low, considering that the equipment is not very complex. Football is one of the sports in which the child does not need special qualities to enjoy the performance, because the team format and the different positions in the game can facilitate his/her access to a position suitable for his/her qualities.

5. Tennis

It is probably the most expensive sport on the list, but the financial effort is worth the rewards. Tennis helps improve balance, coordination and agility. Moving on the field and changing direction will help develop these qualities and hitting the ball will develop the child’s hand-eye coordination.

It also seems that playing tennis improves academic results and helps in the development of strategic thinking. (3)

Furthermore, tennis belongs to the category of sports which can be practiced for the rest of one’s life. Tennis players can start from the youngest ages and practice tennis until they are 70 years old – or older.

Conclusion

The involvement of children from a young age in sports activities will develop their physical and mental qualities to a level that they would not have reached otherwise. Developed countries have understood this, and some of them have a very advanced culture around sports, granting scholarships to many athletes: take for instance, United States, where 180,000 scholarships are granted annually to athletes based on their athletic performance and results. (4)

It is never too early or too late to involve the children in sports, as they will only have to gain from practicing a sport, gains that will be beneficially impactful for the rest of their lives.