11 Most Valuable Lessons Children Learn From Sports

There’s no doubt that sports are great for children, so we wanted to see which are most valuable lessons children learn from sports.  Research shows that children who were part of sports team improve their educational ability, and even those kids who are not so good at sports learn a lot about working in a team and positive thinking. They strengthen as they discover that not every failure is bad. You move on, try again and another victory is inevitable.

Some children say that playing sports taught them how to see the bigger picture, and “clear vision” is something that we need not only in sports, but also in our everyday lives. We have already showed you how important life lessons that you learn in college may be useful, and the truth is that sport gives you even more valuable lessons that you will remember for life!!

To make our list of 11 most valuable lessons children learn from sports, we have read about it on various websites, such as Coaching positive performance, Team USA, Experience in life, Bhg, NY Times, The active times, Child development info, etc. The parents wrote about their personal experience with their successful children and what were the most important lessons that they have learned from sports. Stay with us as we are going to discover together which are the most valuable lessons learned from sports:

 11. Being honest with yourself

No matter what others tell you, you just know deep inside how good are you at sports. If you had a great coach, he probably gave his best to teach you everything, but it is up to you whether you will give your best to learn something. Even in life there are a lot of friends who will tell you something just to comfort you, but you will always know the real truth.

10. Practice, practice, practice

If you have talent, great for you, but if you want a perfection you have to spend a lot of time practicing. This is not true just for sports, this is one of the most valuable lessons you learn from sports – nothing in life comes easy, you have to work a lot!

9. Constructive feedback matters

The best coach will always tell you honestly what you do good and what you do bad. You need the feedback, so you can continue improving yourself. Parents, remember this when you talk to your child after the game: don’t just tell them „Everything was all right“ if it wasn’t. Be honest, but don’t criticize them too much. After all, be sure that they will give their best to win the next game!

8. You are not predestined to be good at everything

Maybe your parents thought that their little boy is going to become a famous tennis player, but he just couldn’t hit that ball. Parents, think about your children and explain to them what are the options they have. Maybe they just don’t love tennis. Or they think they would succeed in football. Let them try, if they fail, they will probably try tennis! They have to focus on something they are best at.

7. Positive thinking

Moving on after the failure is also one of most valuable lessons children learn from sports. The failure makes them stronger, and determined to keep trying. We don’t have to explain why this is important in life, as it is clear that optimistic thinking leads to success. The positive thinking makes you encourage yourself after the game you lost.

6. Being respectful

Children learn how to respect players in the team, their coaches, and the most important, statistics show that they learn to respect their parents. Bad attitude never helps. You have to respect others because only then they will respect you. And the valuable lesson learned is – children start to respect somebody else even when they disagree with that person.

5. Life is not fair

 „Why did he win, he didn’t even practice, and I have spent my whole summer practicing! It’s not fair!“ Well, sometimes life is really not fair, and children need to know that. No matter how good are you at something, sometimes it’s just not your day, or week… This teaches them to be patient and wait for another chance.

4. Working in team

We all have to work in teams and for a child this is the easiest way to learn how to be good to others. If you want your team to win, you have to work together. Sometimes it doesn’t matter who’s going to score, but it’s important to win!

3. Losing with dignity

Nobody loves bad winners, but also, nobody loves bad losers. If you lose, shake your hands with the winner, congratulate him, be a good sport. Honor the game!

2. Being healthy

„Mens sana in corpore sano“ said old Latins, meaning  „a healthy mind in a healthy body“. There is a lot of evidence that physical activity is good for you in million ways, especially in preventing chronic diseases. When the child learns important lessons about the importance of healthy living in early childhood, they continue to take care of themselves afterward.

1. Knowing how to celebrate success

Knowing how to celebrate success tops our list of 11 most valuable lessons children learn from sports. Think about it – what’s the point of winning if you don’t know how to celebrate it? Every success is a product of hard work and all of us should know to appreciate it, enjoy it and be proud.