Role Of Sports In Building Life Skills

Decades worth of research shows that sports training can provide students with opportunities for building strong foundations in strength, flexibility, cardiovascular endurance and motor skills, among other key capabilities that are essential for being able to live active lifestyles today and in the future. But you probably already knew this, either intuitively or based on your own life experiences. So instead let’s discuss a less obvious connection that a growing body of evidence supports - the finding that sports education in schools helps students develop social, emotional and cognitive skills that are essential for success in the 21st century.

To begin with, studies show that students participating in effectively designed sports programs are empowered with self-esteem or self-confidence more successfully than students who don’t have similar opportunities. Such engagements also promote a sense of agency or assertiveness in students i.e., the ability to express their own desires and plans effectively, exercise their own ideas and rights and be respectful of the rights of others. This is important because it is a key contributor to life satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness. Further, well-designed sports programs can help students develop moral reasoning, sportsmanship, an appreciation for fair play, and a heightened sense of personal responsibility. Sports also provides opportunities for students from a variety of socio-economic and cultural backgrounds to have authentic interactions with others, thereby extending their social network and promoting civic sense and civic pride. 

Research shows that an additional benefit of regular sports activity is higher cognitive functioning, as manifested in improved academic performance and also increased levels of creativity and improved executive function - the ability to plan, stay on task and exercise inhibitory control, among other critical functions. This might be in part thanks to the direct effects that physical activity has on increased blood circulation and oxygen supply to the brain, efficient transportation of nutrients to the brain, and regulation of neurotransmitters like dopamine and serotonin. Dopamine influences drive, motivation, and focus, among other key functions. Serotonin supports mood and the management of anxiety and depression. There is substantial medical research to show that physical exercise can optimise the secretion and use of these chemicals by the body and mind. This might also be one of the reasons that studies have found improvements in the ability of students to understand and regulate their own emotions more effectively when they are engaged in sports activities, while also reducing their levels of stress and better managing anxiety and feelings of depression. 

One of the most powerful effects of sports is that it provides opportunities for learning - in a very concrete and tangible way - about attitudes and concepts that are otherwise rather abstract and difficult to understand. 

In addition to helping students build a 'growth mindset', engagement in sports can help them better understand and build important qualities like resilience and humility, among countless others. We tell our children about how these qualities are important and we explain what they entail using words and stories, but these abstract ideas are difficult for students to internalise and then exercise in their lives. They can be better understood through participation in sports. Resilience can be experienced and built when the body is exhausted and begging for a break, but you dig deep and gather every ounce of remaining energy to go on just a little longer than you thought possible. Feeling physical pain and pushing through it is a visceral experience like none other and can very effectively help children understand what being 'resilient' entails. Similarly, qualities like humility are tested in the sports arena like no other place. It’s easy to be humble when you’re always winning. But you can only develop humility when you have opportunities to lose. Sports are great in teaching humility, because the outcomes are too clear and apparent. You cannot fool yourself. It takes tremendous inhibitory control, emotional regulation and a fine-tuned moral compass, to respond graciously towards an opponent against whom you just lost. And it takes even deeper digging to go back to practice and come back for another shot.

Finally, it is very important to note that none of the research shows that any of the potential benefits discussed thus far can come to students merely because they participate in some type of sports programs. Instead, the research is pretty clear about the fact that only intentionally designed programs may have such positive effects. Effective programmes are broad based and focussed on exposure to a variety of sporting opportunities for younger age groups and provide some autonomy and voice to the students in shaping the learning experiences. Also, the nature of interactions between students, peers, coaches and parents must be consciously managed to be positive and encouraging rather than stressful and high stakes for the students. Well experienced and knowledgeable coaches play a key role in ensuring that these contextual factors are taken into account while designing sports programmes at school.

Dr Siamack Zahedi

Guest Author The author is Co-CEO and Director of Education & Research,at The Acres Foundation