Sports are one of the greatest ways to get your child off the couch and include some physical activity in their daily routines. Basketball is one of the most beneficial examples of a good physical activity for children, teaching them basic coordination and team-building skills, it also comes packed with a lot of fun. Starting basketball at a young age builds a base structure for a healthy adulthood in the future. It also provides a way for your children to take out their pent up energy on a healthy activity.
What’s the perfect age for your child to begin basketball?
Good news! They can start basketball off at a young age. There are basketball training programs which enroll children as young as five years old. Young children around this age are very impressionable and easily understand and get a hang of the sport and usually use smaller 6-foot rims. Rule-based training is however started at the age’s seven to nine, and by the time a child turns ten, they get to play against rival teams and are fully devoted to their team.
Skill development
Basketball is a complex sport including the use of various major muscles groups and improves their endurance as well as their flexibility. It improves hand to eye coordination, teaching children how to pay attention to detail social skills as it makes your child interact with new children and also helps with teamwork and fundamental mental communication and understanding skills. These skills not only help children with sports but are later used in other activities of their daily life.
Psychological and mental development
Being a team sport, basketball helps with too many psychological and emotional developments of a child. Basketball also helps with making new friends, which could sometimes last a lifetime. Team games help a child communicate with their teammates for a positive game outcome but not every game is a win and not every game is a loss, this helps children gain the understanding of healthy completion and encourages them to bounce back after losing a game, which develops a coping strategy that will be useful in many ways later on in life.
Physical fitness
With the addiction children have to screens nowadays, child obesity has become a serious problem. Many types of research show that children between the ages of six to seventeen require up to a minimum of one hour of intense physical activity per day. Upliftinging children to take part in physical activity such as basketball will help your child with speed, agility, and strength. These skills not only promote a healthy body weight, but it also helps children with self-esteem.
Conclusion
Being a sport you can easily pay all year round, there are endless benefits of basketball. The number of health benefits it gives to children is amazing, not only that, but it is also an extremely fun and fulfilling sport it educates children on multiple lessons that translate extremely well outside a basketball court as well.
