As a kid I was introduced to many sports from a young age; I didn't like them all but through them I was able to determine what felt right, was interesting, what I was good at and those I wanted to pursue with more focus. I discarded many, I was terrible at soccer for instance, and applied myself to those I was more interested in and that meant I put in more effort and became better at those.
Looking back, I can see how important it was to try things out, gain the experiences across many sports and other activities as well.
Sport is a great teacher. We learn how to lose and work harder for better results, to focus on the things that will bring improvement, apply ownership and discipline, how to be a gracious winner, to take instruction, how to deal with adoration (for those who attain high standards) and how to cope with declining skills. There's so many more advantages to sport and I believe every kid should be exposed to various forms of it.
I was speaking to my brother last week about my nephew @mrbonkers and how he's going with the various sporting endeavours he is currently engaged with and was so pleased to hear how he's progressing, that he's picking up on the lessons and gaining life skills that playing sports bring. He's doing really well and it makes me feel proud and also happy because I know he'll carry that forward as he gets older. He is such a great little kid and is building on that.
He's currently racing BMX (now an Olympic sport), playing rugby, soccer, tennis, doing down hill mountain biking and has started on boxing. It's the bike he loves the most and a close second is boxing and he's great at both. Of course, he's not yet six years old so the boxing is more about exercise, not getting into the ring and punching on with others. It's all designed to give him experience in a broad range of things and as he gets older there's others he'll gain exposure to.
So many kids spend their time on computer games and other wasteful activities, something that is beginning to cause issues with sporting clubs due to a lack of interest and declining numbers, and I think that will affect the quality of sport and sporting skills moving into the future - not to mention people's health. Playing sport was such a big part of my young life and all the way through into adulthood and I valued that opportunity; it wasn't just the exercise, the strength I gained, it was the enjoyment, the camaraderie and social aspect, and the valuable lessons; there was a great reward on my investment.
What part has sport played in your life, I mean the sports you have personally played. How have you gained, what did you learn and if you have kids have you encouraged them to do the same? Feel free to comment below if you'd like to.
Design and create your ideal life, tomorrow isn't promised - galenkp
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Image(s) in this post are my own
