Most parents are curious to find out what hobbies their child will be interested in. If the parents are wise, or have the resources they will introduce their kids to a variety of activities. The best way to teach a kid any type of skill is to start them young. In particular sports, starting your child off early can have a long lasting effect that can be great for their development. A lot of parents start their kids off with sports like swimming, gymnastics or martial arts. These are great activities to start with because it helps a child develop gross motor skills. As kids get older putting them in team sports like soccer, baseball, or basketball can become a pivotal part of their social development. They learn the value of teamwork, communication and the different planes of motion. Why this is important in the youth years of a child is because they start to understand how the body works in different situations. As kids become teenagers they might start to put all of their energy into one sport. This makes sense because usually by then an adolescent knows what they are interested in. What a parent needs to really pay attention to is those years where their child is playing multiple sports because so much can be learned and taught during that time. Here are some reasons why youth should play multiple sports.
- Learn life skills i.e. throwing, kicking, catching, running, ect
- Develop different muscle groups
- Learn what sports they like and don’t like
- Decrease chances of injury because one muscle group is not being overworked
- Have knowledge of different sports
- Work in all planes of motion (sagittal, transverse and frontal)
- Learn different strategies that can carry over into other sports. Example, passing and cutting in basketball and soccer
- The value of teamwork
- Long lasting friendships
- Learning how to take different coaching styles
- Learning how to be a leader
Ed Miller, CSCS
