From physical capacity, to mental exercise, to social practice, to discipline and sacrifice. All the things sport teaches you as an adult but being sculpted from a young age and when your brain and body are still developing and in a moulding state has to be one of the most beneficial things for growing kids.
I do understand that sport is not desirable or enjoyable for everyone, so I am going to start off by saying that it isn’t essential, but it is beneficial for anyone and everyone. Plus there are so many different types of sports, almost anyone is bound to find something suitable. And if not and never will, then that’s cool too… Just remember if ball sports are not your thing, there’s water sports, there’s martial arts, dancing, athletics, and a number of varieties in each of those categories! Why is it so important? Glad you asked. Here is my oh so humble and I think/hope agreeable opinion…
Straight skill, son
Two words – muscle memory. And this is at any age… Yes you may argue that some people are uncoordinated and physical activity is really hard and unenjoyable but whether you care to admit it or not, the more you practice, the better you get, the more coordinated you become, and the easier it is, and therefore more enjoyable! Ya feel? It’s so easy to talk yourself out of something and tell yourself that you’re not getting it or its impossible to execute. But that in itself is impossible! You can literally do anything you try and work hard at. It’s so extraordinary how capable the human body and mind is. You just keep telling it to do something and eventually, it just starts doing it. The more and more you repeat a skill, your mind and body will work together to recognise what it is you’re practising and memorise it. Then every time you do it, your body will execute whatever it remembers and anything extra you “add on” or advance on, it will remember that too for the next time you do it and on goes the cycle of progression. If you wanna do something, just try it and you’ll be able to eventually. It’s that easy. No, don’t argue with me. It is just that easy. Just keep doing it and don’t stop because eventually, your mind will start filling its memory bank with new stuff and everything you’ve been working on will be pushed back. Not forgotten, but just not prioritised. Then when you come back to it after however long of a break, you’ll have to trigger your memory to get that progression back and your body will follow suit (muscle memory).
Future you
Obviously when you’re growing up, most parents tend to focus on education and with great reason! Education, mental activity and discipline in school is important but I do think it comes hand in hand with physical activity. For longevity at least, it’s been proven and evidently extremely beneficial to exercise both your mind and body, no matter what age you are. We’ve all seen those crazy comparison images of 70+ year olds, one who had/has an active, healthy lifestyle versus someone who was careless. And if you haven’t, I’d like to reintroduce you to the device you’re reading off and segway to a handy section of it called Google…
Yeah not everyone is super into the whole longevity thing/yolo, I get it, you do you. But you never know when your body may need you to kick in some extra strength or ability. Life is unpredictable! Although you can start doing sport at just about any age, you cannot deny how much having muscle memory and conditioning helps. The human body is amazing and certain things that just shouldn’t be good for it don’t affect you as much when you’re consistent and practising while your body is still developing. This brings me to my next point…
Sport as an adult – unfortunately, not everyone is blessed with an upbringing in sport whether they liked it or not. A lot of people don’t get to express their interest, or even figure out they’re interested in something until they’re old enough to make their own decisions, or have enough money to just do it on their own. So for someone who never had that pre conditioning and training is going to find it a lot harder to start fresh in their 20’s or 30’s or older. Doesn’t mean you can’t, it just means your body has to learn the basics and get used to the new way it’s moving, which may or may not mean being prone to injury. Believe me, injury is inevitable in any sport and happens no matter what level you’re at but that’s why fundamentals in anything physical is essential. You only get one body, you should take care of it, cherish it, love it.
Maybe if you have or are planning to have kids, take that into consideration…
Mental flex
I feel as though there is an unsurfaced recognition in the way sport teaches you life lessons or problem solving but its a thing and it’s sort of unexplainable yet evident and understandable if you do/did it. Not to mention the great social skills it gives you. That one doesn’t really need explaining but working as a single, independent cog in a functioning, flowing team of gears truely is character building!
If you were anything like I was during my pubescent years, sometimes anything relating to school and school work just sent red flags to my brain and I refused to put in the effort (tiny regrets since I’ve changed and learned to love learning but luckily in this time of existence, anything I want to know is literally at the touch of my fingertips anyway). But when it came to what interested me after school, I went above and beyond to be on top of it. I admittedly would prioritise my hobby over school work which I understand is what some parents probably fear, so balance is definitely key. But unfortunately at the end of the day you can’t exactly force how a kid prioritises things (I mean you can try). And if it’s the opposite and school work is overwhelmingly, time consuming and not mentally supportive, then sport is a great way to release stress, give your mind a break from the regular thought pattern and start using it in a different way. I can honestly say that I learned more about discipline and sacrifice doing something I was so passionate about than in school where I was forced to go somewhere I didn’t like. Again, I understand everyone is different and has different views on education but alas, that was just the way my tiny brain seemed to process these things.
Conclusion
I understand that every human is different and changes and is constantly changing but this is my own personal conviction about the topic and i’m just putting it out there with no intentions of anyone taking it in. Or reading it for that matter…
I personally believe that sport at any age will not only benefit you physically and mentally but will allow you to be a more advanced version of yourself. Starting a sport while you’re young and still developing gives you the tools and skills you didn’t know you needed for your future self. It gives you a break from working like clockwork with curriculum or if it’s the completely opposite, then a break from technology and dumbing down, to still get your mind exercising in a different way. You never know when you’ll need to rely on your body’s athletic capacity to help you and life isn’t as short as you think, so why not try and be a more advanced version of yourself? Sounds fun, true? Anyway, I’ll leave the off the way I always do. Take it or leave it, thanks for reading it, I don’t care what you do with it here on out.
Peace.