6 reasons why your child should play more than one sport

Every parent knows that keeping your child active is extremely important for their physical growth and development. But here are six reasons why playing more than one sport will further your child’s development and give them a better and more active start in life.

(1) Different sports provide different benefits:

The skills your child will gain from playing basketball regularly, will only increase and be enhanced by playing another sport, because the extra sport will add a new set of important skills for your child.

(2) Health benefits:

Just like general exercise, different sports will target different areas of the body. So your child participating in boxing will work all muscle groups especially, the arms, legs and core muscles, their cardiovascular system mainly their anaerobic endurance will be much improved. Other benefits include improved hand eye coordination and rhythm. Playing tennis or rock climbing, will also enhance their motor skills and focus on strengthening their core and build confidence. This is vital for the overall health of your child and their physical, mental and social development.

(3) Advanced skills:

Sticking to one sport will allow your child to master that individual sport, but playing more than one sport will give your child the opportunity to master more than one sport, equipping them with various skills and abilities that they will use in the future, you will also find in a majority of sports there are transferable skills that will compliment each sport they take part in.

(4) Discipline and adapting:

Playing more than one sport will give your child the advanced ability to be disciplined in more than one area, which will be fantastic for their adult life and their journey to adulthood as they will be more suited to adapting to new environments and situations.

(5) Mental ability:

Being able to learn rules, techniques and skills for one sport is great, but being able to learn these for more than one sport will provide your child with advanced mental ability.

(6) Social skills:

Being able to work well with other people is vital for your child. Playing more than one sport will give your child the opportunity to build relationships with different children, develop skills in team work, communication and learning camaraderie across different sports. Also if your child is taking part in individual sports they will be able to self motivate and learn how to become independent and self sufficient.

So these are the six reasons why your child should play more than one sport. Playing a sport is good, but playing more than one is better. Give your child the opportunity to develop the important skills mentioned above and ultimately, allow your child to get out there, try new sports and have fun!