Posted on April 19th, 2022

An estimated 60 million American children take part in organized sports every year, and nearly 8 million play for their high school teams. Among those, few go on to play in college. For example, 93% to 95% of high school soccer players don’t do the sport at the college level. The odds of becoming an Olympian are more like 1 in 500,000.

Those kinds of numbers are a potent reminder to families that playing at the highest levels should probably not be the end goal for most children who participate in organized athletics. But kids can benefit, even if they don’t really excel at their sport.

“There are many developmental benefits to sports for children that extend beyond the benefits of actual physical exercise,” pediatrician Dr. Krupa Playforth told HuffPost. Here is a look at four powerful ways kids benefit from sports.

1. Playing sports can lower children’s risk of depression and anxiety risk throughout their lifetime.

“Regular exercise in children (or anyone) [can] translate into better mental health, which is particularly pertinent with today’s challenges,” Playforth said.

2. Playing a sport as a child can help foster a lifelong love of movement.

Playing sports certainly offers kids physical benefits in the moment, including helping them improve cardiovascular health and work on things like dexterity and coordination. But athletics may have an even more powerful role to play in children’s lives in the long run.

3. Kids who play sports may be less likely to be lonely — even as adults.

Participating in team sports in particular has been tied to stronger sense of self and connection, according to the American Academy of Pediatrics.

“The team environment provides a setting for athletes to bond socially, identify with peers, and engage in personal growth and development,” the AAP says, noting that kids who play sports tend to score higher on measures of overall social functioning.

4. Kids who play sports are better at time management.

Time management is an essential lifelong skill, one that has become increasingly important with so many demands on our collective time.

Despite the popularity of sports in early childhood, 70% of children quit by the time they’re 13, according to the National Alliance for Youth Sports. Their top reason for throwing in the towel is that it simply isn’t fun anymore.

Original article: https://www.huffpost.com/entry/benefits-of-kids-sports_l_620d4e33e4b0557b5a3e375a