Our Youth Development articles are meant to create awareness for all of the incredible ways kids can develop from youth sports. The goal is to help people notice the wide range of development that is happening during youth sports along with noticing performance and results. If you see development happening, even during poor performance or poor results, it can give you the power to make the most of the experience and align with your personal priorities in youth sports.
Embarking on a journey to cultivate a profound love for exercise can be transformative, ushering in a healthier, more vibrant life. In the pages that follow, we'll explore the essential elements that individuals need to cherish in order to nurture a genuine passion for physical activity. We'll delve into how youth sports serve as a remarkable platform to foster these loves, examine the profound impact a passion for exercise can have on one's life, and provide practical insights into instilling these loves, both in broad strokes and with specific, engaging strategies. Join us on this enlightening path towards embracing the joys of a lifelong passion for staying active.
What Does a Love for Exercise Entail and How Can Kids Develop it Through Youth Sports?
Youth sports offer a dynamic platform for children to experience the diverse facets of, and develop a passion for, exercise. These activities provide opportunities for children to develop a positive mindset, embrace endurance and perseverance, build pain tolerance, savor mental clarity, foster a sense of community, crave the positive energy of workouts, and discover the multitude of exercise forms available to them. Through these experiences, youth sports become a fertile ground for instilling a lifelong love for using exercise to driver their physical and mental health.
Positive Mindset about Exercise: In youth sports, children can develop a positive mindset as they see improvement in their skills over time. Witnessing their own progress, however small, can help them appreciate the value of consistent effort and a can-do attitude.
Love for Endurance and Perseverance: During a grueling soccer match or a long-distance run in track and field, children have the chance to push their endurance boundaries. Overcoming fatigue and persevering through challenging moments can instill a love for pushing their physical limits.
Development of Pain Tolerance: Contact sports like football or rugby can expose children to physical discomfort and pain. Learning to manage and endure these sensations in the pursuit of victory can lead to the development of pain tolerance and learning what is acceptable pain.
Enjoy the Mental Clarity that comes from exercise: Youth athletes often experience improved focus and concentration during practices and games. They may find that after a soccer match, their minds are clear, and they feel more relaxed and centered.
Love the Sense of Community of Working Out Together: Team sports such as basketball or volleyball emphasize teamwork and cooperation. Children have ample opportunity to develop a love for exercising through the shared experience of exercise.
Crave the Positive Energy that follows a Great Workout: After intense training sessions, children frequently experience a rush of positive energy and a sense of accomplishment for having pushed their bodies and minds.
Love How Exercise Comes in Many Forms: Youth sports expose children to a variety of ways to exercise. This may come from a variety of sports and also from the variety within each sports. This diversity allows them to discover how many forms of exercise they enjoy.
Why Are These Passions so Valuable Throughout Life?
The importance of a commitment to physical activity extends across the lifespan, offering immediate benefits in childhood, enhancing well-being during early adulthood, and laying a strong foundation for a healthy and fulfilling long-term future.
Today, The enjoyment of exercise is a cornerstone of a thriving childhood. When children find genuine pleasure in physical activity, it becomes an integral part of their daily routine. This enjoyment fuels their enthusiasm for outdoor play, sports, and active games, ensuring that they remain active and healthy during their formative years. It fosters a positive attitude towards staying active, making exercise a fun and fulfilling part of their lives. This joyous engagement not only supports their physical development but also promotes mental well-being, as they relish the excitement and adventure that comes with being active. Ultimately, the simple love of exercise in childhood lays the foundation for a happy, energetic, and balanced early life experience.
Near-Term, The engagement in these categories of physical activity during childhood lays a strong foundation for future success and well-being when the child reaches college age and enters their early professional years. The positive attitude towards exercise developed in childhood often persists into adulthood, making it more likely for them to maintain an active lifestyle during college. Regular physical activity continues to provide stress relief, mental clarity, and a healthy outlet for the demands of college life. Furthermore, the sense of camaraderie and teamwork nurtured through youth sports can be valuable in social and professional contexts, aiding in building relationships and collaboration. Overall, these categories of physical activity contribute to a holistic approach to health and well-being that can positively impact college life and early professional years by promoting physical fitness, mental resilience, and social connections.
Long-Term, As children grow into adulthood, the benefits of these physical activity categories continue to play a pivotal role in shaping their lives. The positive habits and attitudes towards exercise fostered during youth translate into a more active and health-conscious adult life. Maintaining physical fitness becomes integral to their well-being, enabling them to better manage the demands of their careers. Moreover, the enduring enjoyment of exercise facilitates work-life balance, providing a healthy outlet for stress and mental clarity. The sense of community and camaraderie built through sports and group activities supports the development of meaningful relationships and networks throughout adulthood. Additionally, these lifelong exercise habits lay a strong foundation for future family life, promoting overall health, and setting a positive example for children, thereby perpetuating the cycle of well-being across generations.
What is the Process for Instilling a Love for Exercise Through Youth Sports?
For those of you that are very process-oriented, here is a logical progression model that illustrates how kids can develop intrinsic habits that are the foundation for maximizing success throughout life.
Winning Creates a Frame of Reference: Whether it's winning a game, a tournament, or aiming for a winning record throughout the season, victory serves as a straightforward benchmark that children readily comprehend and aspire to attain. "Kids, we'll give it our best to win as much as possible. How does that sound?"
Break Winning into Pieces: In order to pursue winning, kids need to do things like run hard, run through exhaustion, reach exhaustion, help teammates to push through exhaustion, increase strength, etc... "Kids, by running past the point of exhaustion, we'll have a much better chance of winning."
Cultivate these Pieces: This will take time, spanning multiple seasons, but it'll gradually become ingrained if you're deliberate in nurturing it. Concentrate on one aspect at a time. Perhaps each practice can have a specific focus. Encourage kids to experience exhaustion and keep going or to create contact and get back up or to do extra push-ups. Celebrate their accomplishments in these areas and encourage mutual recognition. The objective is for them to prioritize these aspects over winning the game, while winning moves further away as a motivator in the background.
The Exercise starts to Have Impact: The kids start experiencing improved plays, games, and seasons. The objective is for them to distinguish between two factors contributing to victory or defeat: (1) Exercise habits and (2) Skills. While they can work on skill development, they cannot always control having superior skills in a given moment. What they can control is their effort to improve their performance through exercise. By enhancing their practice of these habits, they'll notice increased chances of winning and improved results.
Exercise becomes a Passion: As the benefits of exercise take effect, several things unfold. Behaviors tied to exercise receive rewards, such as pushing past exhaustion. This fosters consistent and habitual enjoyment of the exercise experience, leading to a growing intrinsic joy. Ultimately, the experience of exercise shifts from being about its impact on winning to becoming a reward just for exercising. It's akin to individuals who love working out not just for how they look but for the effort they invest.
How Can General Approaches Foster Development of the Thrill for Exercise?
Think about where your love for things comes from. Let's look at some general ways that extrinsic motivation can play a role in youth sports experiences to instill the intrinsic love for exercise. In the context of youth sports, fostering a genuine love and passion for exercise can be achieved through positive coaching, goal setting, a focus on effort, open communication, diverse roles, and an emphasis on the fun and enjoyment of physical activity.
Positive Coaching: Cultivate a supportive and inclusive environment where athletes feel valued and motivated. Provide constructive feedback that focuses on effort, dedication, and perseverance, rather than solely on outcomes.
Goal Setting: Help young athletes set achievable, short-term, and long-term goals. Encourage breaking larger goals into manageable steps to maintain motivation and a sense of accomplishment around anything related to a love for exercise.
Focus on Effort: Emphasize the value of hard work and dedication in personal improvement. Celebrate individual and team efforts, highlighting instances where athletes pushed through challenges in exercise and physical strength, and how it made them feel.
Ask Questions: Promote open communication by asking for athletes' input and feedback. Encourage reflection on their experiences, goals, and areas for improvement through thoughtful questions about their exercise.
Variety of Roles: Offer opportunities for athletes to explore various positions or roles within the sport, and point out the elements of exercise. Rotate leadership roles and responsibilities to promote a love for exercise from different vantage points.
Comment on Fun: Highlight the enjoyable aspects of exercising during sports. Create an atmosphere where laughter and enjoyment are encouraged alongside the elements of exercise.
Top 7 Specific Tips and Tricks to Guide Development of a Love for Exercise
Personalized Challenge Flags: Provide athletes with colored flags or wristbands during practice or games. Assign different colors to various levels of effort, and encourage athletes to push themselves to earn higher-level flags for things like when they make that extra run or extra push.
Storytelling Sessions: After practice or games, hold storytelling sessions where athletes take turns sharing a moment during the practice or game where they almost quit, then they pushed harder and how it felt.
Secret Motivation Messages: Hide motivating messages or quotes in different spots on the field or court before practice. Challenge athletes to find these messages during warm-ups or drills, turning the activity into a treasure hunt.
Obstacle Course Challenges: Create obstacle courses within the practice area and have athletes compete in teams to complete them. Incorporate elements that emphasize pushing through pain, e.g. setup a cone at the last 10 yards and tell them that is where they will feel tired and they must dig deep to sprint hard at the end.
Celebrate Exercise: Do not miss an opportunity. Every time a kid endures exhaustion and keeps pushing, or gets bumped and gets up or they stretch with intent, celebrate how that effort will lead to improvement towards achieving their goals and how great it feels after.
Challenge of the Day: Announce a daily or weekly "Challenge of the Day" during practices or games. Recognize the athletes that do the best at leaning into the things that promote a love for exercise. Whoever ran the most, strengthened the most, endured the most.
Fitness Bingo: Create fitness bingo cards with various exercises and activities. Athletes can complete squares during warm-ups or as a fun post-practice or post-game activity. As they fill their cards, reward them with small prizes or recognition for their dedication to exercise.
In closing, a passion for exercise not only enriches our present but lays the foundation for a future filled with vitality, well-being, and lifelong enjoyment of physical activity. Embrace these loves, nurture them through sports and positive practices, and embark on a journey toward a more vibrant and fulfilling life.
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