Top 10 Best Team Sports For Kids To Play & Benefits

One of the best ways to mould social skills in kids is having them engaged in a sport or two. Getting them involved in team sports is a great way to ensure a holistic child development. With lots of sports available for kids these days, you may find it challenging to tell the best for your child.

Here are the top ten team sports for your child and why they are important:

1. Basketball

Basketball has a long history, but a simple sport when it comes to set up and equipment. The primary requirements include the basketball and hoop, and a large enough recreation centre, and good basketball shoes. Basketball is one of the few no-contact sports that pose minimal risk to your child. Its simple moves, like passing, dribbling and spilling, build character, dexterity and teamwork.

2. Soccer

Whether you choose to call it football or soccer, it’s safe to say that this sport is among the most popular team sports in the world. It is played in virtually every country around the globe, regardless of the name. Soccer helps kids with balance and improves foot dexterity. It also teaches kids teamwork, discipline, fairness, and builds muscle strength, coordination, flexibility, weight distribution, lung capacity, and cardiovascular endurance. It can be played by kids who are 4 years old and above.

3. Swimming

Swimming is an effective way to address your kids’ fear of heights and water. This valuable life skill can never be forgotten once learnt. Swimming classes give your child the benefit of one-on-one instruction from the coach while enjoying social interaction with teammates. It helps your child focus on skill development without the pressure of comparison. Swimming is a great way to keep your child physically engaged and entertained.

4. Cycling

The bicycle holds fond childhood memories for most people around the world. Every child loves the freedom of riding around on two wheels. Cycling teaches children balance and weight distribution. It is advisable to start your child on a tricycle from 2 to 5 years, then switch to training wheels. For health reasons, it’s important to keep multispeed and multi-gear bikes at bay until your child hits 9 years of age.

5. Inline skating

Inline skating is one of the most popular sports among kids of all ages these days. Children can begin inline skating from the age of 4, provided they have good motor skills. As your kids start learning, it is important for you to get a professional instructor to guide them and teach them safety precautions. You should also get your child a helmet, knee and elbow pads. Skating helps children develop patience, proper weight balance, reflex coordination, agility, increases muscle strength, and improves cardiovascular endurance.

6. Hockey

Whether field or ice hockey, this sport builds endurance, leg strength, dexterity, and vision. Children will learn how to move around the rink at 10 miles per hour while keeping their eyes on the puck. Hockey has a longstanding fighting history and while it has gone down, it’s still a likely possibility. You can keep your child safe by getting them the appropriate protective equipment, but I may not keep your child totally injury-free.

7. Baseball and Softball

Many kids have grown up admiring star baseball players. Baseball is a beloved sport that improves hand-eye coordination, arm strength, and balance. It will also help them learn teamwork, discipline and social skills. Children as young as six years old can play baseball. They should start out with softball and graduate to hardball once they grow older.

8. Cricket

Although cricket is a difficult game at first, once your child gets the hang of it, they’ll never forget it. There are lots of other sporting activities your child can do with cricket equipment without going into the full game. Cricket helps build arm strength and physical endurance.

9. Running

This is probably the easiest and most cost-effective sporting activity in the world. Running comes naturally once a child starts walking and develops proper balance. It’s not only fun, it instils a sense of confidence, builds endurance and leg strength. It improves focus, concentration, and cardiovascular fitness. Running regularly builds child immunity, lung capacity and reduces the occurrence of common colds and the flu.

10. Tennis

Tennis is one of the sports that allows your child to become a good celebrity as a role model. It has gained a lot of clout among kids and builds a healthy competitive spirit. It gives your child the ability to think quickly, develop agile feet, build arm strength, proper hand-eye coordination, and visual accuracy. It also improves muscle strength and cardiovascular fitness.

Why are team sports important?

Sports are essential in a child’s development for the following reasons:

• Fitness

The most obvious advantage of team sports is physical fitness. Sports build cardiovascular endurance, muscle strength, agility, hand-eye coordination, quick reflexes, build lung capacity and improve immunity. They also fight childhood obesity, boredom and keep your kids physically and mentally engaged.

• Confidence

Playing in a team allows your child to discover hidden abilities and know that everyone has strengths and weaknesses. This allows the child to feel good about themselves and instil a sense of achievement once they see their abilities applied in a team. It also actively battles shyness and prevents anxiety and depression.

• Discipline

Team sports need the discipline to develop teamwork. Following the rules of a particular sport will build discipline and avoid unruly behaviour. This discipline will serve them well as adults since it can be extrapolated to the workplace, handling finances, and conflict resolution. On top of these, the discipline gained helps in anger management, since most sports have strict rules about lashing out in anger or physical altercations.

• Social skills

Playing as a team teaches children important social skills and how to live with people of different backgrounds, races, religions and cultures.

Why your child should play basketball

Your child can play lots of sports to enhance their discipline, physical fitness, and teamwork. But many of these sports don’t come close to basketball when it comes to an all-round well-developed child. It’s also a career sport, and your child may just be a future NBA legend. If you are looking to inspire your child into playing basketball, and hopefully becoming a star, you need to get good basketball shoes for them.

Please contact us today for more information on basketball, and all basketball equipment and accessories.