10 Life Lessons Kids Learn When Playing Sports

It’s nice to win trophies and ribbons when you’ve been part of a winning team. It’s also wonderful to be able to play the game that you love. Putting your children in sports can not only add to their trophy case; but it also teaches them several life lessons over the years. Here are 10 life lessons that your kids are sure to learn while playing sports.

Teamwork

A valuable lesson that your children will learn through sports is how to work with others as a team. Your son or daughter may come across kids on the team that they don’t get along with, but will have to realize they are in this together if they are going to succeed. This life skill will help them transition into adult life and the workplace.

Building Character

Playing sports will also teach and develop your children's character. Whether it’s being honest, being courteous to others, self determination, or learning self-discipline. Your children’s character is far more important than how many championships their team may win. It will help them win later on in life.

Prioritizing Their Time

Being in sports is a lot like juggling. It’s tough at first, and you have to make adjustments. Your children will have to learn to balance their homework, friends, and family time. One hard lesson may be less screen time for them, which in all honesty isn’t a bad thing.

Perseverance

There may be times when your child feels like they’re up against the wall and don’t think that they will ever get it. Playing sports will teach them to persevere by not giving up, no matter how hard it gets. When they get older, it could mean fighting back after a substantial injury and returning to the game they love even stronger.

Overcoming Loss

No one likes to lose, its just a fact of life! Unfortunately, at some point, we will all deal with loss at some point. Playing sports at a young age can help your children learn how to overcome loss and realize that it does not define them.

Learning From Mistakes

We all make mistakes; but the most important part is how we react afterward. In sports, children are able to make mistakes and hopefully learn from them in a safe and encouraging environment. Your children will also learn from their mistakes when the coach pulls them aside and shows them what they can do differently next time.

Controlling Their Emotions

Do your kids throw a tantrum when something doesn’t go their way? This might take a while for them to overcome, but a major life lesson that they will learn is how to control their emotions. When a player gets upset or angry, they won’t be able to perform to their best ability. Playing sports will help them learn this.

Life Isn’t Fair

In sports, your children will learn pretty quickly that life isn’t fair. Whether it’s a missed call by a ref or umpire, or maybe their coach was not able to play them in the game as much as they liked. Understanding that things don't always go our way is an important step to growing up.

Dealing With Stress

It’s the last inning of the ballgame, there are two outs and your son or daughter is coming to the plate. That’s a lot of pressure and stress for a child, but it’s in a safe environment. Your child will learn to take a deep breath and give it their best.

Practice Pays Off

No one ever became a professional athlete without putting hours and hours into the sport that they love. Sports will teach your child that practicing pays off. It will reflect itself not only during a game, but later in life.

These are 10 life lessons that your kids will learn while playing sports. Does this motivate you to get your kids involved in playing sports? If you're a mom or dad of a child in sports, what other life lessons have they learned along the way?