BENEFITS OF SPORTS

Sports and health are heavily connected. The stress caused by exercise on the bones, muscles, ligaments, and tendons makes them strong and healthy. Exercise helps to burn calories in the body reducing chances of obesity. Heart muscles performance and endurance improve, increasing its efficiency and reducing the risk of heart diseases. Exercise triggers the use of sugar in the blood. Glucose is converted into energy hence balancing the blood sugars. Sports also help in the fight against cancer and other lifestyle diseases.Playing a sport is a great way for children to take a break from academics and release the pent-up energy.

Discipline:
Every sport requires some mental, physical and tactical discipline. Following rules, obeying the coach, practicing restraint, etc. are all forms of discipline children learn through sports. Discipline enables people to reach their full potential and realize their goals – a trait prevalent in all successful people.
Patience:
Practice plays a large role in improving performance in any sport or activity. ‘Practice makes you perfect’.
Accept defeat:
In sports, just like in life, one cannot win all the time. Playing a sport teaches children this truth early on in life. Therefore, children learn how to accept defeat and lose graciously. They learn how not to get disheartened and to get back up and try again. It also teaches them about healthy competition.
Teamwork:
“There’s no I in team”. Children learn that the team cannot win unless they all work together and play to each other’s strengths. They also learn how to become less selfish and not let ego get the best of them. Working together is an important trait in today’s life and learning how to do so early on helps kids become better team players in professional life.
Leadership Skills:
Becoming captain or aspiring to become one, naturally teaches children how to become good leaders – how to talk to other teammates, manage team emotions, take one for the team, etc. They also put these skills to use outside the pitch or court making them good leaders that others want to follow.
Lifelong Habits:
Sports teaches children to take care of their bodies through proper food choices and stretching. It also instills such fitness habits in them that they carry forward into adulthood, keeping any health problem at bay.
Reduced risk of obesity:
The more active a person is, the more calories the person will burn. Fitness helps in preventing fat to be accumulated in the body and reducing the risk of obesity and obesity-related diseases.
Healthy growth:
Physical stress caused by exercise helps muscles, ligaments, tendons, and bones to become healthier and stronger. The bone density also increases, reducing the risk of osteoporosis – a condition which makes the bones porous and fragile.
Stay on the right track:
Playing a sport requires some discipline and dedication. It also means lesser free time to spare. Due to this, kids are less likely to take in to bad habits such as smoking. They also get more exposure to positive role models who help them broaden their horizons and make better life decisions.