Areas of Cognitive Development That WIll Improve By Participating In Sports

In general, the goal of participating in sports is to improve in areas of cognitive development starting with motor skills. Motor skills are functions of the brain that involve movements of the muscles to perform actions in a smooth and efficient manner. When a child’s body matures, the evolution of motor development relies heavily on a more efficient way of processing information. The four basic motor capacities that reflect a child’s athletic skills are balance, flexibility, agility, and force. First of all, balance is a strong foundation for developing an athlete. For instance, improved balance supports many athletics skills, such as running, throwing, kicking, and the rapid changes of direction needed in many team sports. Just as important, flexibility allows children to perform more physical stretching motions such as swinging a bat, jumping, and throwing and kicking a ball. Not to mention, agility grants athletes the ability to swiftly move in forward, backward, and sideways motions. Together with force, a child will be able to push themselves further off the ground when running and project any objects with more power and velocity.

Furthermore, social skills are behaviors that give children the ability to interact and communicate with others. In particular, group sports require plenty of communication by incorporating teamwork and accepting responsibilities. Teamwork is very significant because it requires a group to collaborate together in order to reach a common goal. Without teamwork, a group has a slim chance of winning a game no matter how talented the individuals are. As for accepting responsibilities, group sports need athletes to understand their duties and utilize it with precision. More social skills that can be developed from participating in sports are sportsmanship and leadership. Sportsmanship teaches children how to play the game with fairness and respect for others. As for leadership, some athletes attain this quality to socially influence others to reach the same goal by giving encouragement and support. In order to build solid teamwork, there must be individuals that have strong leadership skills.

Another area where sports can improve a child’s cognitive development is their psychological skills. To be specific, one of the most common psychological attribute that is enhanced is self-esteem. With high self-esteem, children will have the confidence for their own worth. As a result, they will have better problem-solving and decision-making skills. A boost in problem-solving and decision-making skills will allow a child to identify, analyze, and form strategic solutions for puzzles. For example, some sports, such as football, basketball, and soccer, require play calls to figure tactical ways to break through the opponent’s defense and score points. In addition to psychological skills, sports will encourage a child to be ambitious. It is important for a child to have ambition because it gives them a desire to reach their personal goals.