4.3: Individual Development through Sports
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This page is a draft and is under active development.
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\(\newcommand{\avec}{\mathbf a}\) \(\newcommand{\bvec}{\mathbf b}\) \(\newcommand{\cvec}{\mathbf c}\) \(\newcommand{\dvec}{\mathbf d}\) \(\newcommand{\dtil}{\widetilde{\mathbf d}}\) \(\newcommand{\evec}{\mathbf e}\) \(\newcommand{\fvec}{\mathbf f}\) \(\newcommand{\nvec}{\mathbf n}\) \(\newcommand{\pvec}{\mathbf p}\) \(\newcommand{\qvec}{\mathbf q}\) \(\newcommand{\svec}{\mathbf s}\) \(\newcommand{\tvec}{\mathbf t}\) \(\newcommand{\uvec}{\mathbf u}\) \(\newcommand{\vvec}{\mathbf v}\) \(\newcommand{\wvec}{\mathbf w}\) \(\newcommand{\xvec}{\mathbf x}\) \(\newcommand{\yvec}{\mathbf y}\) \(\newcommand{\zvec}{\mathbf z}\) \(\newcommand{\rvec}{\mathbf r}\) \(\newcommand{\mvec}{\mathbf m}\) \(\newcommand{\zerovec}{\mathbf 0}\) \(\newcommand{\onevec}{\mathbf 1}\) \(\newcommand{\real}{\mathbb R}\) \(\newcommand{\twovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\ctwovec}[2]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\threevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cthreevec}[3]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfourvec}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\fivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{r}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\cfivevec}[5]{\left[\begin{array}{c}#1 \\ #2 \\ #3 \\ #4 \\ #5 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\mattwo}[4]{\left[\begin{array}{rr}#1 \amp #2 \\ #3 \amp #4 \\ \end{array}\right]}\) \(\newcommand{\laspan}[1]{\text{Span}\{#1\}}\) \(\newcommand{\bcal}{\cal B}\) \(\newcommand{\ccal}{\cal C}\) \(\newcommand{\scal}{\cal S}\) \(\newcommand{\wcal}{\cal W}\) \(\newcommand{\ecal}{\cal E}\) \(\newcommand{\coords}[2]{\left\{#1\right\}_{#2}}\) \(\newcommand{\gray}[1]{\color{gray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\lgray}[1]{\color{lightgray}{#1}}\) \(\newcommand{\rank}{\operatorname{rank}}\) \(\newcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\col}{\text{Col}}\) \(\renewcommand{\row}{\text{Row}}\) \(\newcommand{\nul}{\text{Nul}}\) \(\newcommand{\var}{\text{Var}}\) \(\newcommand{\corr}{\text{corr}}\) \(\newcommand{\len}[1]{\left|#1\right|}\) \(\newcommand{\bbar}{\overline{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bhat}{\widehat{\bvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\bperp}{\bvec^\perp}\) \(\newcommand{\xhat}{\widehat{\xvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\vhat}{\widehat{\vvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\uhat}{\widehat{\uvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\what}{\widehat{\wvec}}\) \(\newcommand{\Sighat}{\widehat{\Sigma}}\) \(\newcommand{\lt}{<}\) \(\newcommand{\gt}{>}\) \(\newcommand{\amp}{&}\) \(\definecolor{fillinmathshade}{gray}{0.9}\)- Explain how engaging in sports contributes to both physical and mental health, including the development of discipline, teamwork, and resilience.
- Evaluate the impact of sports on academic performance and personal behavior.
- Examine the role of sports in fostering healthy lifestyles and lifelong habits that lead to improved health outcomes.
Participating in sports offers numerous benefits that extend beyond physical health. It promotes a healthy lifestyle, provides opportunities for team building, and instills valuable life qualities such as strength, perseverance, leadership, and discipline. By practicing dedication and hard work in sports, individuals learn the effort required to achieve success, a lesson that is applicable in all areas of life. Sports also teach resilience, helping individuals learn from failures and mistakes, which is crucial for personal and professional growth. Additionally, involvement in sports can boost confidence both on and off the field. These characteristics help children develop into independent, motivated individuals.
Mental and Intellectual Health
It has been shown throughout the research that athletes get better grades and perform better on standardized tests. For example, swimming is one of the top academic performing sports along with tennis and track and field. The habits of the sports carry over into school performance. Girls set goals that help them stay focused and in line with their physical and emotional health. The Women's Sports Foundation conducted a comprehensive study revealing that girls who are engaged in sports tend to have higher academic performance, better health outcomes, and improved social interactions. These girls are also less likely to engage in risky behaviors, such as substance abuse and early sexual activity, compared to their non-athletic peers. Moreover, the involvement in sports helps them develop a sense of discipline, teamwork, and leadership, which are crucial skills for their future professional and personal lives (Oakley et al, 2017; Women's Sports Foundation, 2018). Coaches and parents begin to develop subconscious expectations for the athletes that keep them from getting involved with activities that they shouldn't be involved in.
A study conducted by Pate et al. found that approximately 70% of male students and 53% of female students reported participating in 1 or more sports teams in school and/or non-school settings; rates varied substantially by age, sex, and ethnicity (2000). Male sports participants were more likely than male nonparticipants to report fruit and vegetable consumption on the previous day and less likely to report cigarette smoking, cocaine and other illegal drug use, and trying to lose weight. Compared with female nonparticipants, female sports participants were more likely to report consumption of vegetables on the previous day and less likely to report having sexual intercourse in the past 3 months.
Participation in sports has been linked to success in math and science, subjects traditionally dominated by men. One explanation for this may be that sports help girls resist traditional gender scripts that limit persistence and competition in these areas. To explore this, we contrast the effects of sports on boys and girls in academic domains that are stereotyped as masculine (physics) and feminine (foreign language). Furthermore, we differentiate sports by those characterized as masculine or feminine to identify activities that may reinforce or challenge traditional gender norms. Overall, participation in sports has had positive effects. Compared to non-participants of the same sex, girls are more likely to take physics and foreign language, while boys are more likely to take a foreign language. The sports categories reveal divergent patterns for boys and girls, where masculine sports associated with physics for girls and foreign language for boys, while feminine sports are associated only with the foreign language for girls. These findings confirm prior research that sports improve academics, but suggest that sports do not have uniform effects. While some sports may potentially counteract traditional femininity and help girls persist in masculine domains, other sports may not provide the same benefits (Crissey, et al, 2005).
When being highly involved in sports, overall health becomes a top priority as well. Learning time management skills is key when every day consists of six hours of school, sports, family time and homework because otherwise the human body would be exhausted and worn down and would not be able to perform as well as they could. When people are in better physical shape, it is much more motivating to develop healthy eating habits that will last a lifetime. Developing healthy eating habits give people more energy to perform well in sports and exercise, and will also help prevent diseases such as heart disease and diabetes. Therefore, exercise through sports and exercise must be accompanied by a healthy overall lifestyle.
Benefits of Team Sports
Working with other athletes on a team creates a tight-knit community, and one learns to trust the other players and to rely on the help of others in order to obtain a common goal. Everyone on the team is striving for a common goal and it takes an unselfish team play to have success in sports. The environment in a functioning team is collaborative and non-threatening; allowing for more open and focused learning. Skills such as combined effort and compromise are learned far quicker in competition. These sorts of connections can last beyond the field of play and carry into athletes’ social and business lives. For example, how one plays and communicates on the field can reflect how one communicates to members at a business meeting and how they work to obtain their goals. Working in teams can benefit a group to overcome difficult challenges because the minds and work of a group can be more powerful and successful than just one person. They allow for diversity in thought on how to approach a challenge and allow for the group to be sustained by constant support (Kozlowski, 2006). Sports can make athletes more health-conscious, motivated, focused, and energetic. Being part of a team can enable athletes to communicate much better with others, consider others needs, solve critical thinking problems and become a leader.
Building Healthy Habits
There is currently an epidemic in America regarding overeating and unhealthy lifestyles. One major concern is the rising obesity rate in young children. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the prevalence of obesity among children and adolescents aged 2-19 years was 19.3% in 2017-2018, affecting about 14.4 million individuals. Children are growing without a knowledge of proper diets and exercise, leading them into unhealthy lifestyles as they mature. This trend is worrying, as the United States lags behind other countries in the movement toward a healthier world. Several factors contribute to this recent spike in obesity in America. The rapid development of technology over the past century has significantly reduced physical activity in daily routines unless one makes a deliberate effort to exercise. For instance, the widespread use of automobiles has largely replaced walking as a means of transportation. Additionally, the invention of the assembly line in factories has enabled the mass production and efficient distribution of food, leading to grocery store shelves stocked with inexpensive, high-calorie, and palatable food produced in bulk. These technological advancements have allowed the U.S. population to grow, but they have also adversely impacted the health of its citizens.
Participation in organized sports is an influential factor in developing habits of healthy living and physical fitness. Being physically fit not only helps people live healthy lives, it also helps people live longer. If you are able to keep up an active lifestyle throughout your life you will be able to slow the onset of osteoporosis as well as reduce chronic disease risk. Also, people who make physical activity and exercise a part of their daily lives when they are young are more likely to keep it in their lives as they grow older and benefit from it throughout their lifespan. While many children engage in physical activity, usually by playing with their friends, and team sports the amount of physical activity they get as they grow into adolescents usually declines. In America, today obesity and being overweight occurs in over 20% of children. On top of that, inactivity and poor diet contribute to 300,000 deaths per year in America. It has been shown that significant health benefits can be obtained by including 30 min of moderate physical activity, which must be performed at a minimum of three days per week and can even be split up into three 10 minute chunks, which will reap the same results as one 30 minute session. However more frequent exercise will certainly lead to more rapid improvements (American College of Sports Medicine, 2024).
REFERENCES
American College of Sports Medicine. (2024). General activity and health recommendations. Retrieved June 6, 2024, from https://www.acsm.org/education-resou...ecommendations
Crissey, S. R., Pearson, J., & Riegle-Crumb, C. (2005). Gender differences in the effects of sports participation on academic outcomes. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Sociology Association, Marriott Hotel, Loews Philadelphia Hotel, Philadelphia, PA.
Kozlowski, S. W. J., & Ilgen, D. R. (2006). Enhancing the Effectiveness of Work Groups and Teams. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 7(3), 77-124. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1529-1006.2006.00030.x
Okely, A.D., Lubans, D.R., Morgan, P.J. et al. Promoting physical activity among adolescent girls: the Girls in Sport group randomized trial. Int J Behav Nutr Phys Act 14, 81 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12966-017-0535-6
Pate, R. R., Trost, S. G., Levin, S., & Dowda, M. (2000). Sports participation and health-related behaviors among US youth. Archives of Pediatrics & Adolescent Medicine, 154(9), 904-911.
Women's Sports Foundation. (2018). Teen sport in America: Why participation matters. https://www.womenssportsfoundation.o...report-web.pdf