This weeks post is all about the positive benefits for getting children involved in sport through Mental, Social, Emotional, Educational, and overall health. Here is what I found out!

Before I start, this is a website called Project Play Linked, is their website and what they stand for. It is an amazing initiative that was launched in 2013 that provides so much for children in the United States. (Don’t worry, I will be getting data from other corporations in Canada in the next couple weeks and then later on, Cranbrook specifically. Stay tuned!) I got some of the information through the studies they have done. If you get a chance it is a great website to checkout 🙂

Health:

Regular activity in anyone will have positive effects, so, let me break it down for you. When getting children involved at a young age, they will start to build and maintain healthy bones, grow muscles, and healthy joints. This can prevent and delay high blood pressure and health risks. Not only that, regular activity and sports participation can be a predictor for adult participation. It is an easy spiral to avoid activity at a young age which will in turn, make it harder to become active as an adult, resulting in higher risk of chronic diseases and health issues. So now that we all have the gist of things here, lets move to the educational portion!

How Does Activity Help Education?

By immersing yourself in activity, you’re not only helping your health, but you are helping your brain. Exercise feeds your brain. It does this by increasing blood flow and your heart rate. An increase in blood flow is not only extremely beneficial, it is essential. Exercise induces good blood flow to deliver all the nutrients required to carry out the brain’s job, while it also increases production molecules important to your brains function, including your memory. With more blood flow to the brain, it can boost your focus and concentration needed to be successful in class. When anyone takes part in activity, they release endorphins which will improve your mood and motivation. This is why many teachers incorporate “brain breaks” so students may come back with a better attitude towards learning. One of the most important things I believe being involved in sports does for you, is growing social skills. I know in my life, sports have taught me how to handle teamwork, better communication, and how to use develop a routine and better discipline. I am not always the most motivated or the easiest to work with, but i am forever grateful to have learned discipline and how to work with others to achieve a goal or finish a task together. I think we can all agree that group work is so much better when its with people who are cooperative, motivated, and easy to talk to. These are all skills we can develop through sports. There was a study completed by project play, showcasing that high school athletes are more likely to attend post secondary institutions and be successful due to some of those underlying habits. I’m not too sure how they were able to provide this knowledge and information and over what time, but I wanted to add this as it was interesting to me.

Mental, Social, and Emotional Benefits:

Most of my core friendships have been people I have met throughout sport. You’re able to meet so many different people whether it is on your team, an opponent, a spectator, or just someone met along the way. The opportunities are endless. This gives kids a way to meet new people and be around a group that shares the same goal. It also allows kids to learn to resolve conflicts on their own. Sadly, disagreements and arguments will always be present in sport, however, this provides opportunities to come to resolutions and hash out whatever needs to happen without a fight and with adults present. Being able to resolve conflicts with words and actions that will not hurt another person physically or emotionally is a great life tool that can be used at any age. This relates to self regulation and resiliency as there are many tough times but they have the chance to help shape a better you. Sports are also where I learned to set goals. Goal setting is a huge skill that will help in everyday life. Speaking of goal setting, this a perfect leeway into my own

Goals!

My longterm goal for this entire project is to be able to share what I know with all of you readers but also to be a better teacher by knowing how to teach these areas and help students find their passions. Whether it is sport, music, any form of art, activity, and anything else. There is so much good in this world and I cannot wait to see what it holds. My goal for next weeks post is to be able to explain challenges relating to sports and the negative factors that go along with it if it is taught the wrong way!

I hope you guys enjoyed my second post and stick around for the next ones because they keep getting more interesting!

– Carter White