Purpose. What kind of dumb program doesn’t let you fix typos.
For my kids to be part of a team and learn to work together, for them to stay active, to have another outlet for building social relationships and make new friends, to learn some skills and learn to improve on them, to have fun while doing all that.
For me it’s not about teaching them some life lesson of sometimes you get picked and sometimes you don’t. They have plenty of chances to learn that such as in gym class when they might be the last guy picked. It’s also not about learning sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, they learn that by playing board games at age 3 and 4. Our motto is "if you had fun, you won" I think too many kids are stressed out these days about winning and they have lost sight of the real meaning of sports. I know kids on my son’s team who half the time aren’t paying attention because they are too busy looking over at the score board. When kids are young and they lose, the lesson shouldn’t be "well try harder and maybe you will win next time" the lesson should be "winning isn’t everything, you should do your best and have fun" if you did that, then you did win in another way.
May 26th, 2010 at 4:17 am
Physical fitness is one of the most important. There is an epidemic of childhood obesity in the U.S., largely because kids are not sufficiently active. Learning work as a team and how to win and lose graciously are other purposes of team sports for kids.
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May 26th, 2010 at 5:07 am
For my kids, the purpose was to learn teamwork and get an idea of the sport, at first (cheerleading and dance *and yes dance and cheer are sports*) .
After a few years it was (for them) to succeed and become good or great at something they enjoy.
*lmao. I always wonder that when I mis-spell in my title.
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May 26th, 2010 at 5:40 am
Self-esteem boost, colleges loves athletes, helps with job interviews and acceptance into graduate school, scholarships, keeps one healthy etc…
Sports are very beneficial for children imo.
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May 26th, 2010 at 6:05 am
Team work, finding out that you cannot always win, getting physical activity, seeing that everyone has their strengths and weaknesses (ie~kid on soccer team may suck but she can kick your butt in track), and the most important thing~ the hope of them getting a scholarship so I do not have to pay so much for college
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May 26th, 2010 at 6:12 am
It’s fun for kids
It’s great physical activity, which our kids really need
They make a lot of friends
Learn discipline from their coach
Learn how to work in a team setting
Learn how to be a good sport
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My daughter does dance, soccer, and cheerleading
May 26th, 2010 at 6:52 am
For my kids to be part of a team and learn to work together, for them to stay active, to have another outlet for building social relationships and make new friends, to learn some skills and learn to improve on them, to have fun while doing all that.
For me it’s not about teaching them some life lesson of sometimes you get picked and sometimes you don’t. They have plenty of chances to learn that such as in gym class when they might be the last guy picked. It’s also not about learning sometimes you win and sometimes you don’t, they learn that by playing board games at age 3 and 4. Our motto is "if you had fun, you won" I think too many kids are stressed out these days about winning and they have lost sight of the real meaning of sports. I know kids on my son’s team who half the time aren’t paying attention because they are too busy looking over at the score board. When kids are young and they lose, the lesson shouldn’t be "well try harder and maybe you will win next time" the lesson should be "winning isn’t everything, you should do your best and have fun" if you did that, then you did win in another way.
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May 26th, 2010 at 7:35 am
Teamwork, exercise, socialization, education, fairness, rules, discipline, discovering talents, and competition. Everyone has had the experience or known someone who has had the experience of an obsessive coach who can only win and makes the whole experience miserable because of it. But there is a value to learning how to lose with your head held high, how to win gracefully, how to maintain self esteem, when to try your best, and other attributes associated with competition. It’s fun to watch a skilled game among kids (of a certain age). That’s all I meant. In America it seems like we’re unable to balance anything. We just move from one extreme to the other. A handful of coaches ruin winning – eliminate competition. A few overcoddlers can’t stand to see their preteen pout – ban tryouts.
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May 26th, 2010 at 7:58 am
Maybe to allow kids to learn to work together. Maybe it’s to allow kids who don’t do well academically to excel in another way at school. Maybe it’s to keep kids active. Maybe it’s to have kids burn off some energy so they don’t go nuts at their desk. Or maybe, just maybe, it’s a way to get us to conform to an arbitrary set of rules that have no purpose.
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May 26th, 2010 at 8:30 am
learning the fundamentals of the sport, gauge an interest in the sport or other sports, hand eye coordination, group interaction, playing outside, making parents into taxi cabs
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May 26th, 2010 at 8:44 am
Discipline, teamwork, building self-esteem, physical fitness
I also think that we, as humans, are competitive by nature (some more than others) and this is a good place to express this, to a degree anyhow.
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May 26th, 2010 at 9:17 am
Research shows that involvement in extracurricular programs is correlated with better grades, higher measures of self-esteem, better health, and many other positive factors.
The actual purpose of being involved in youth sports varies from person to person, though. Perhaps your parents force you to be involved. Maybe you want to impress members of the opposite sex. Or perhaps you are doing it for yourself because you enjoy it and find it personally fulfilling. I’m sure you can guess which option has the greatest benefit.
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1* Personal experience
2* A degree in psychology with much focused study on child and adolescent development
3* http://www.jasonkaufman.net/iWeb/JasonKaufman.net/Publications_files/Poeticsfinal.pdf
4* http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/custom/portlets/recordDetails/detailmini.jsp?_nfpb=true&_&ERICExtSearch_SearchValue_0=EJ431746&ERICExtSearch_SearchType_0=no&accno=EJ431746
May 26th, 2010 at 10:03 am
Physical Fitness, making friends, honesty, team work, I could go on and on…Youth sports is a great extracurricular activity.
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