7. To Have Fun

I always had a blast playing ball with my friends. We would pay attention when necessary, but we always ended up laughing towards the end of practice. Even tension during game time was eased by cracking a few jokes with one another. Sports are supposed to be competitive, but they are also supposed to be enjoyable.

6. To Learn How to Multitask

When I played volleyball, basketball, and ran track in high school, I had to learn to juggle sports with school work and a part time job. Playing sports definitely taught me how to multi-task. I had to be able to take care of all aspects of my life and make them work together. I think this has helped me become the organized person I am today.

5. To Improve Coordination Skills

Most sports usually involve some sort of hand-eye coordination. Basketball teaches people how to run while looking forward and dribbling a ball as well. Volleyball is often about timing the ball and hitting it with precision. These are just a couple of sports that require one to be coordinated when playing.

4. To Gain a Feeling of Accomplishment

It was always such an amazing feeling when I’d be able to notice my personal improvement as well as my teams when comparing the beginning of the season with the end. Winning a basketball or volleyball game or placing high enough to earn a medal in track always made me feel like my hard work finally paid off.

3. To Make Friends with like Interests

People tend to work well together on a team, since they tend to have at least one thing in common; the sporting event they are all participating in. I made many new friends when I changed school part way through my high school term, all because of basketball. I went to a basketball camp with girls from my new school the summer before classes were to start. It was an excellent way to make friends with similar interests.

2. To Learn to Work as a Team

Being able to feed off of one another’s energy is often the basis behind many sports. Taking many people and turning them into a sort of machine that runs smoothly is why the big name coaches get paid the big bucks. People who take up sports tend to do better in group settings, once they figure out how working as a team is much easier than trying to do everything on your own.

1. To Keep in Shape

Going to practice every day and working out during the entire sports season will definitely keep you in shape. It’s much easier to stay in shape when you are physically pushing your body to its limits daily. Sports are a way to make exercising not seem so mundane and basically boring.

If these 7 reasons to play sports don’t get you off the couch and out onto the field or court, then I don’t know what will. I had a friend that wanted me to participate in a sporting event that she liked when we were in high school. I told her that I would if she would go out for one that I liked in exchange. We both tried each others favorite sports for a season and decided we could still be friends without torturing each other in this manner. She stuck to her sport and I to mine. What reasons do you have for playing sports or for not playing sports?

Top Photo Credit: misslizzycakes