likely to lead to a better result

postpone it until after a swimming lesson or a kick around at the park with friends? It is likely to lead to a better result. For many people around the world, sport and play are immediately and inextricably tied to the notion of childhood. Through play children explore, invent and create. They also develop social skills, learn to express their emotions, and gain confidence about their own capabilities. For many children, however, the chance to learn and grow through sport and play is unavailable, robbing them of some of the most important experiences of childhood. Play in all its forms is the right of every child. Activities that employ and teach safe and inclusive play and sport are tools to improve children’s lives. Children throughout the world are naturally drawn to sport and play, and they can engage all children, even the poorest and most marginalized, to have fun and enjoy their childhood! Early childhood marks a critical period in the life of a child and can set the foundation for healthy development and life-long learning. Research shows that early childhood is the most critical period for brain development, and that experiences in the first years of life have more lasting impact on mental health and development than any others. In the last generations, we can see problems of unhealthy lifestyle. We sit more and more on the couch, surrounded by modern technologies, but we do not realize, that sport and physical activities are necessary. In many civilized countries people rather play computer games or live today's modern lifestyle and they watch sport only on TV. Then, of course, it is no wonder, that these young people are obese or otherwise sick or have psychological problems. Insufficient physical activity not only leads to obesity, but to many other health problems such as heart diseases and so. It is well known that exercise and sports participation is good for the body in a myriad of ways. Sports also benefits the brain by stimulating the brain’s reward pathways and heightening mood-boosting neurochemicals like dopamine. Increase in dopamine and other neurochemicals produces a feeling of wellbeing and decreases risk for anxiety and depression which are two of the most common mental health disorders found in teens. In recent years our nation has been in the grips of an opioid epidemic, and it has been particularly devastating amongst young people. Teens may be at risk after being prescribed opioid medications as a result of a sports injury. Some teenage athletes who receive painkillers through a prescription may get into trouble by unintentionally or thoughtlessly misusing them. They may begin taking more pills than their

doctor recommends in order to increase the effects of the drugs

. They may continue taking the painkillers longer than they have been advised to in order to treat minor pains that do not require such strong medications. Teenage athletes are among the most vulnerable to sports injuries, and this can open the door to abuse of pain medications such as Vicodin and Percocet (either prescribed or unprescribed). Use of these drugs in turn makes teens more vulnerable to addiction. Some teenage athletes who receive