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Does your child lack self-esteem? Sports can help! From boosting academic success to personal happiness, our experts tell you how sports will support confidence building in students.
Self-esteem is one of the treasures of life. It not only allows us to be happier by appreciating ourselves but also to cope with mistakes, sadness and grief. It lets us bounce back in the face of setbacks with a spirit of never giving up.
That's why for children, developing self-esteem at a young age will let them thrive both inside and outside the classroom.
Though sports might seem unrelated to self-esteem, studies show that sports competence is directly related to higher confidence levels. Other surprising correlations that you might find are music can aid studying, art & play enhances learning while outdoor learning allows better retention of knowledge.
🔥 Expert Tip: “Parents don’t usually enrol their children in sports to make star athletes,” says Jayvardhan Sinh; a sports management professional who has widely worked with kids and young athletes both in India and the UK. “They do it so they [students] can gain the many values being a sportsman/woman has to offer.”
Over the past year, the pandemic has restricted physical movement. Though as students come back to the classroom from remote learning, they will have more opportunities to engage with sports!
Why are sports good for children? 🤔
👉 Produces Happy Hormones
Self-esteem is love for oneself. If you aren’t happy your self-esteem is bound to be at an all-time low
Sports like other goal-oriented physical exercises allow the body to produce endorphins – one of the four happy hormones produced by our body.
Endorphins are the body's “natural pain reliever” that ease our experience of stress or discomfort. 🙂
👉 Builds Social Skills
🔥 Expert Tip: “Group sports helps build social skills,” says Sinh. “Like being collaborative with different kinds of people for the common goal of winning and taking up leadership positions.”
If kids see that they can make an impact through their social skills whether for themselves or for their team, their confidence is bound to shine through.
Building these social skills will also help students prepare for their careers. This further ensures self-esteem in their future jobs as well! 💪
👉 Strengthens The Community
The pandemic has taught us more than ever that human beings are social animals and thrive when connected to communities. Without them, a sense of isolation or not knowing where one belongs can be detrimental to our self-esteem.
Sports help positive community building. Sinh feels the most powerful example of this is how Nelson Mandela used sports in South Africa to strengthen the struggle for racial equality and unite the nation. 🤝
How do sports help academically? 🤔
Good academic performance is bound to strengthen student self-esteem. There are a number of ways sports can help achieve it.
👉 Inculcates Self-Discipline
When Sinh was managing the football coaching of young teenage boys from Dharavi – Asia’s largest slum – he noticed that the kids suffered from problematic behaviours. In the absence of strong parental figures and guardians, they were rampantly involved in petty crime and would even often abscond from home.
Though football helped to self-discipline them.
To participate in the game the boys were willing to “take instructions from the coach.” The crime rates amongst the group also drastically dropped. Football practice required them to wake up early in the morning; rested and alert for the game. Which meant the boys had to sacrifice their nocturnal misdemeanours!
Self-discipline can also become a great tool for student academic success.
👉 Boosts Motivation
Sinh feels that a good sports coach can be extremely motivational for students.
🔥 Expert Tip: “If students are struggling on the field a good coach will be able to motivate them through a pep talk,” says Sinh. “He will play on their strengths and make them tackle their weaknesses in a way that they are able to perform in the game. He can be a mentor in a way that is not always possible for parents.”
Sinh adds that sports “naturally motivate” students with the will to perform. Whether that is for oneself or one’s teammates.
Students can take back this motivation to the classroom to learn.
Especially if they’re struggling with certain subjects that require them to exert more effort.👊
👉 Improves Focus
🔥 Expert Tip: “All sports have very specific and acute instructions and rules that need to be followed when playing,” says Sinh. “ So students need to be completely focused on the game. One wrong move and they can stump chances of winning for the entire team.”
Kids can take this sharp focus they acquire in sports to help them learn faster during lessons! ✊
At GoStudent we help students achieve their highest academic potential. So they have time to pursue sports and build their self-esteem!
Book a trial lesson with one of our tutors today!
