5 reasons girls should be playing sports

Playing sports is a great way to get some much needed exercise, but they also allow for personal development and having a good time.

But there is still a big difference in participation numbers between girls and boys when it comes to regular exercise; with up to 70% of boys participating in regular exercise, and some reports suggesting the percentage of girls undertaking regular exercise to be as low as 31%.

Rather than telling girls to do some form of arbitrary exercise, maybe we should be encouraging them to take part in sports, and here are 5 reasons why. There are many benefits for girls who play sports.

1. Better Grades.

Common sense may suggest that using spare time to play sports would eat up time that could be used for studying, and have a negative effect on grades. But research actually suggests girls who take part in sports perform better at school when compared to those that don’t participate in any form of exercise. Sport is known to improve concentration, memory, and learning capacity; these traits all play an active role in school performance giving these girls the edge in the classroom.

2. Teamwork development.

Learning to work as part of a team can be difficult especially when the majority of the day is spent working individually, at a desk, in a classroom. Setting goals alongside coaches, trainers, and teammates, and working towards these goals will facilitate the development of communication skills and teamwork.

Learning these skills on the sports field can then easily be transferred to other situations where achieving a common goal is the desired outcome, and the success of the team is not determined by an individual’s performance but the performance of each individual working for the group. It’s also worth mentioning that a lot of socializing goes on within teams and the social benefits of taking part in a sports team are great for personal development.

3. Enhancing Self-Confidence.

Setting goals, training towards them, and then achieving them is a great way to improve self-confidence, and for this reason girls who take part in sport tend to be more self-confident. By setting and achieving goals it allows for the progression of skills, and the confidence to try new activities that have a higher degree of difficulty.

The greatest influence on sports confidence is performance accomplishments; learning that the biggest changes in performance come from your decisions and actions can significantly increase a girl’s self-confidence. This in turn will lead to the decrease in focus on external factors such as peers or fate, and an increase in focus on internal factors will lead to greater risks being taken on the sports field, in the classroom, and socially, resulting in greater rewards.

4. Stress Release.

Being a teenager can be quite a stressful experience, as many of you may be aware, and the causes of these stresses may seem trivial as an adult but they are very real for a teenager. The pressure on girls to look a certain way is only increasing with the rise of social media, and a recent study discovered that one in three teenagers experience stress at least once a week.

Exercise can reduce the feelings of stress and the physical symptoms by inhibiting the release of the hormone cortisol from the adrenal gland, which acts as part of the bodies fight or flight response as well as suppressing the immune system. Additionally the release of endorphins is increased during exercise, endorphins are the bodies feel good chemical and the release of these chemicals in conjunction with exercise is often referred to as Runner’s high.

5. Long Term Benefits.

Maintaining a healthy weight and improvements to cardiovascular fitness are obvious benefits to taking part in sport, but the long term health benefits should not be overlooked. As girls get older those that participated in sport and exercise at an earlier age are less likely to develop osteoporosis as they will have developed stronger bones.

Research also suggests girls who exercise are less likely to develop breast cancer as they get older. Introducing girls to sport will hopefully keep them interested in exercise and keeping fit, as well as fostering new skills and friends. The long term health benefits should also be remembered alongside the development of skills and teamwork that will be beneficial throughout both their sporting and personal life.

Taken from: kelliworley.com (article, By Simon Howarth), Google (images).