Team sports are particularly good for building social prowess.

 Team sports are particularly good for building social prowess. Whether you are a socially awkward adult or want your child to improve their interpersonal skills, team games are one of the best tools for achieving this. Firstly, they require a deeper level of communication. You cannot pass a soccer ball through to a player without knowing where they plan to run. Being able to communicate this maneuver in the few seconds available requires active listening and the ability to read body language. This is a skill that is useful in everyday life but best learned on the sports field. From the moment they start school, a child should be exposed to sport. This will begin as play for a young child in elementary school. By college, however, this can be a serious and vital component of a young person’s life. For college athletes, sport provides meaning and a potential career path. It should therefore be fostered and encouraged, with gym class given the importance it deserves.

In addition to healthy children performing better at school, athletic children are great problem solvers. That is essentially what a sports game is! Kids must find a way to outwit the opposition to win the match. For the duration of the game, players are solving problems. They must decide whether to shoot or pass, whether to play an offside trap or defend the goal line, or whether to play it safe or take a risk. The more they play, the more they will have learned from their mistakes to be better problem solvers. These skills can then be taken into algebra, chemistry, and literature classes. The importance of sports does not end in high school. Sporting events are often the center of communities, bringing people together. Every city in the world has its share of sports teams who compete for the entertainment of thousands of spectators. For many, watching your team come rain or shine is the most important part of the week. Like Sunday church, a trip to the stadium at the weekend brings meaning to the lives of millions. Because of their popularity, sports teams are also crucial to local economies. Dallas Cowboys, for instance, employs over a thousand people, bringing in a revenue of $950. This is money that goes back into society via taxes and charity work. Every town and city across America have their own sports teams raising money, providing jobs, and keeping the local economy afloat. Towns require their own sense of identity in the same way that members of a state or nation feel a sense of belonging and connection. Sports teams help to create this identity. From their colors to the mascots and cheerleaders, communities are bonded over their shared commitment to a particular sport. In international events, there is a sense of unity as countries come together to back their team on the world stage. This can lead to a wave of optimism, for instance during the Women’s Soccer World Cup 2019 when the USA team was victorious. Women’s soccer may not be a major event in the USA, but many felt