Many of us are sports enthusiasts. We don’t mind sacrificing time and resources to keep track of our favourite sports. We know sports impact our lives profoundly, but, most of the time, we don’t stop to consider how far-reaching the impact could be.
It is, however, important that we take a seat, evaluate, and re-evaluate some of the activities we engage in. When we do that, we will realise what benefits the activity holds for us, and be encouraged to participate more in it.
It is in this spirit that this post identifies and discusses various ways sports can influence our lives.
1. Sports Help Us Express Feelings
Human moods and emotions are on a huge spectrum. We can feel anger, fear, surprise, joy, sadness, anticipation, and love. Any human being without these feelings is generally regarded as abnormal by societal and medical standards. Not only should one have these feelings, it is also important that they are expressed, instead of being bottled up.
Sport is one significant activity that helps in the expression of these emotions. The expression of feelings doesn’t stop with those participating in sports, it extends to sports officials and fans.
Think about the joy you feel when your team, or the team you support, wins. Also, think about the surprise when a team or players, that should have lost win, or the anticipation whenever a sporting competition is about to begin.
Of courses, sports are not only concerned with positive emotions, negative ones like anger and sadness are also there. Whichever it is, the important thing is that they are felt and expressed, because without feelings and expressions we’d be less human than we ought to be.
2. Sports Help in Curbing Crime
One of the major factors that influences crime is idleness, particularly among the youth. Fortunately, idleness is one thing sports are famous for eradicating. Sports are sure to keep you busy, even in your leisure time, by providing something for you to be engaged in.
A classic example of using sports to reduce crime is the Venezuelan Project Alcatraz. The aim of the project was to transform youthful offensive leadership into something positive through the values of rugby. Through this, would-be toxic leadership skills are transformed into positive ones.
Try to imagine what would happen if all the people engaged in sporting activities were suddenly to have nothing to do at all. Would it lead to an increase in the crime rate? There’s good reason to believe it would.
3. Sports Keep Us Healthy
We know that sports keep us physically fit, and therefore healthy. However, we don’t always know how far that extends. We often think of sports and health in relation to athletes alone.
The fact, however, is that it goes beyond that. Sports keep sports enthusiasts or fans just as healthy as they keep the participants. The same way sports help in preventing hypertension, heart disease, and more, in a sportsman or woman, the same happens for the fans. This is because a sports enthusiast invests almost the same amount of passion in the game as the participants themselves.
Aging individuals serve as a typical example. Though they may have lost the needed strength to actively participate in sports, their passion and interest in sports rewards them, to a large extent, the same way participating in sports rewards sportsmen and women.
4. Sports Help Us Stay Happy at Home
Sports make families and partners happy. Happiness doesn’t end at the arena where sports are played. It is always brought home. For one thing, with the television available, the atmosphere can always be kept joyous by tuning into one sports programme or another.
Secondly, sports lovers now find different ways to let their personality come out in their homes, by including sports-related patterns and designs in their home decorations. Some people, for instance, use sports wallpapers. Others decorate their walls with photos of their favourite player or athlete. Others cover their beds with the kind of bedding that is telling of their preferred sport, VisionBedding sports bedding for instance.
The presence of all these sports symbols in their homes helps them to be happy all throughout the day.
5. Sports Help in Building and Strengthening Relationships
Sports create unique opportunities for nations to meet with other nations, and for individuals to meet other individuals. Through such meetings, new relationships are built, while existing ones are strengthened.
It aslo breeds unity and oneness among members of a community or nation, and creates a platform for resolution of differences and conflicts.
6. Sports Help in Character Building
Different qualities are required of us, both in our relationships with people, and our careers. Some of them include accountability, self-confidence, leadership skills, teamwork, and more. These are qualities that we gradually and unconsciously absorb as we engage in sports.
Any one who masters these qualities is sure to have better relationships with others, both in social, educational, and their occupational lives.
7. Sports Improve Academic Performance
Participation in sports undoubtedly keeps a school-aged child physically vibrant, fit, and active. It, however, does not end there. That physical vibrancy also translates to intellectual vibrancy. This is because physical exercise helps in improving concentration. This means that a child who participates in sports is likely to have more concentration in their studies than someone who does not participate in sports. This improved concentration could ultimately lead to improved grades.
Conclusion
Generally, sports are known to contribute to the economy of nations’ and individuals’ wallets. Sports also provide jobs for people. Apart from these well known impacts, sports equally bear meaningful significance in other aspects of our lives. What I have tried to do here is to help us realise how impactful sports can be to our daily lives, whether we participate actively or indirectly. We should, therefore, be encouraged to pay more attention to sports, to be able to enjoy all the benefits they can provide us.
