Great Benefits of Playing Sport Take it from us, sport can be a Game Changer

Great Benefits of Playing Sport

Take it from us, sport can be a Game Changer.

Taking part in sport can help us feel fitter, healthier and mentally strong, and that is just the start of it. Sport can also be fun, especially when played as part of a team or with family or friends.

As we have seen through our Club Game Changers campaign, sport can also develop great leaders and be an opportunity for individuals to shine, whether it is playing for a local grassroots club or at an international level.

If you’re considering signing yourself or family member up for a sport and need some encouragement, then it’s worth keeping in mind the many benefits below.

1. Better Sleep

Fast Company suggests that exercise and sport triggers chemicals in the brain that can make you feel happier and relaxed. Team sports provide a chance to unwind and take part in an activity that improves your fitness. If you play sports outside, you can benefit from fresh air which is said to promote a good night’s sleep.

2. A Strong Heart

Your heart is a muscle and needs frequent exercise to help it keep fit and healthy. A healthy heart can pump blood efficiently around your body. Your heart will improve in performance when it is regularly challenged with exercise. Stronger hearts can improve overall health of the body.

3. New Connections

Sport brings together a mixture of people from different communities, backgrounds, religions and beliefs. Sport can offer a new way to meet others that you may not interact with day to day. As a result, you can make new friends. And who knows, playing a sport might even open new career and business opportunities for you.

4. Improved Lung Function

Regular sport causes more oxygen to be drawn into the body with carbon monoxide and waste gases expelled. This increases the lung capacity during sport, improving lung function and efficiency.

5. Increased Confidence

By training frequently and working towards seasonal goals you can build your confidence and abilities. This is especially noticeable through tournaments and matches where you and your team put your skills to the test. Small, incremental achievements throughout the year can build personal confidence over time, giving you the ability to take on new projects and assignments at work with your new-found confidence.

6. Reduces Stress

When you are physically active your mind gets a chance to unplug from daily stresses and strains of life. Physical exercise reduces the stress hormones in your body and stimulates the release of endorphins. These endorphins may give you more energy and focus for whatever life has.

7. Improve Mental Health

The Public Health Agency report that regular participation in sport and being active can also promote good mental health. This includes improving your mood, enhancing your sense of well-being, reducing anxiety, combating negative emotions and protecting against depression.

8. Sport Builds Leaders

All sport teams need leaders to show the way and help develop new or younger team members. An emergentics study has found a correlation between playing sports and strong leadership qualities. Sports enable people to develop a ‘team mindset’ whether its winning, losing or training together.

9. Develop Stronger Relationships

Sports enables you to build better relationships with people you may be aware of, but not know personally. Through frequent sport you can get to know a lot about an individual’s personality, their strengths and weaknesses. Sport with colleagues is a good opportunity to build better relationships and networks that may help you in your job.

10. Sport aids the healthy development of children

Children who play sports develop stronger bones and muscles, leading to a smaller chance of physical injury. Physical exercise before the onset of puberty has been identified by a New Zealand study as a way of reaching peak bone mass, enabling children to become stronger – a great foundation for future growth.
The 10 Main Downsides of Playing Sports

Injuries

Sore Losers

Expense

Snobbery

Cliques

Gamesmanship

Weather Problems

Time Commitment

Stress and Sleep Issues

Repetition

I explain each disadvantage below in more detail.

1. Injuries

Unfortunately, injuries go with the territory when you play sports. They can run anywhere from minor muscle pulls and strains right through to broken bones and worse. Sometimes an injury just won't go away and keeps recurring, whatever health treatments you go through.

As you get older, your recovery time becomes longer too, so even if you are not injured, you can find yourself nursing aches and pains after playing that go on for several days at a time.

2. Sore Losers

Amateur sports are supposed to be about having fun, but try telling that to a sore loser. Sore losers suck all the joy out of playing. Coping with their fragile egos, bad tempers, and antisocial behavior is a challenge. Even if you beat them fair and square, they will imply that you cheated, or make up some excuse to try and take away any sense of achievement that you may feel.
It's not just a young person thing either, if anything, middle-aged men can be the worst sore losers around.

3. Expense

There can be lots of hidden expenses when participating in sports. Clothing, club fees, coaching costs, and equipment can all drain your finances over time. Tournaments and competitions out of town can result in large transport and hotel costs.
I once had to fly to Arizona from Florida for a weekend because my amateur tennis team made it through to the USTA Nationals. It was a wonderful experience, but certainly not cheap.

4. Snobbery

There's always some show off who has to let you know about how they have all the best equipment, the most expensive clothing, and how they undertake all the most prestigious coaching. I've met them in every sport. It's worst when you are young, but the phenomenon exists at all ages in my experience.

Young soccer players.

Public domain image via Pixabay

5. Cliques

Some sports clubs are warm, welcoming, and inclusive, but there are others that are a social nightmare. Sometimes the clubs have had the same leadership and membership for years, with set roles and their own way of doing things.

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Alternatively, the club or team is made up of a very narrow social, economic, or age group. As a newbie, you struggle to fit in socially, and no matter how well that you play, it's difficult to get picked for the team, or feel accepted.

6. Gamesmanship

Unfortunately, the art of following a narrow and literal interpretation of the rules, while completely disobeying the spirit of them, typically by employing all sorts of dubious ploys and tactics to gain advantage, is alive and well in amateur sports.