How many times have you watched a professional sporting event and considered the amount of discipline that must have gone into getting an athlete to where they are today? Discipline allows us to persevere when a situation is hard, painful or just plain annoying. When we recognize that the value of something is worth the cost, we begin to enact discipline. We push through.
Discipline is a learned skill that must be practiced, and youth sports is one of the best teachers. Being that discipline is key to almost every part of life, we can begin to see how youth sports can be really beneficial for kids. There are several key elements in youth sports that make it a great place for kids to learn this necessary skill.
How Youth Sports Teach Discipline
The Power of Play
What better way to teach kids something than through playing a game? When it comes to sports, kids get to immediately put into practice what they are being taught. While their minds are busy doing that, they aren’t aware that they’re learning discipline.
They’ll sometimes complain about being tired, but then the adrenaline kicks back in and they’re back at it. In the moment, they don’t realize they are learning discipline, but someday they will look back and think about how far they’ve come.
The Coach Figure
Unfortunately, not all coaches will deserve a special shout out from athletes who make it to the big leagues, but even the bad ones play a part in teaching kids about disciple. A good coach will tell a kid when they have more to give. A good coach will teach them how to push themselves. Later on, that kid will use the tools given by their coach to be their own coach in life.
In the case of a bad coach, kids have the opportunity to learn discipline in how they respond to challenging people. The coach isn’t guiding the child in this instance as much as they’re providing a learning opportunity.
Positive Reinforcement Through Reward
This point has a different application depending on if the sport is team- or individual-centric. If your child is playing a team sport, like baseball or volleyball, they may see payoff for the team’s hard work when they win. However, it’s possible that your child will be a part of at least one team that has a season riddled with losses. In this case, your child will learn the value of discipline when he or she reaches a personal achievement. Maybe they wanted to learn a new pitch or new soccer maneuver. They’ll feel a lot of satisfaction when they’re able to apply that new skill in a game.
For the sports that focus more on personal achievement, like swim and track, the reward will come through meeting new personal records. Even if they continually come in last place, they will begin to see their mile or lap time drop. Of course, winning does help in this area, but by celebrating the personal achievements they will eventually experience bigger wins.
Sudz Fundraising: Helping Kids Play for Free
We wholeheartedly believe in the benefits youth sports offer kids. We’re also aware of the cost associated with being part of a team. Sudz Fundraising offers efficient and effective fundraising programs to help alleviate the cost of sports. Common fundraisers don’t usually offer products supporters actually want, but Sudz strives to change that. By selling household and wellness products people actually want (and may ask for more of), sports teams have enjoyed much simpler and more rewarding fundraisers!
Contact us today and we’ll help you design a fundraiser that will allow your kids to play sports for free!
