Competitive sports allow kids time to relax, socialize, exercise, and forget about that one hard math problem. Although some parents think traveling sports is a hassle of driving in and out of town for games, but those games allow a child to take a break and have downtime for a while. Competitive sports are a healthy way to release stress and have fun.

It is important for a tween child to stay exercised. As stated on website healthline, “Get involved in physical activity. Whether you are playing sports, working out at a gym, or taking a brisk walk, physical activity triggers brain chemicals that make  you feel happier and more relaxed. Team sports in particular provide a chance to unwind and engage in a satisfying challenge that improves your fitness. They also provide social benefits by allowing you to connect with teammates and friends in a recreational setting.” In other words physical activity may make a person more happy and help keep people staying in shape and fit. I do track and travelling soccer and it always feels good to run off the stress from the day and it’s always fun to hangout with my friends on the team during water breaks.

According to healthline, “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention(CDC) recommend sports participation as a healthy way to maintain weight. Individual sports, such as running, cycling, and weight lifting, are all particularly effective ways to burn calories and/or build muscle. Staying within a recommended weight range reduces the likelihood of developing diabetes, high cholesterol, and hypertension.” I agree with CDC that exercise can keep weight from getting out of hand. What also helps control a person’s weight is eating healthy and having a good sleeping routine; this also helps when playing sports, especially since without eating something healthy, a person’s blood sugar could drop while she is on the court or field.

The Social Benefits of Children’s Team Sports researchers, view, “Playing on a team can teach two types of problem solving skills: strategizing to beat the opponent and solving conflicts among teammates. A strategic child might discuss making player substitutions to math the strengths of opposing teams. An effective problem solver learns to compromise when disagreements with teammates arise. He learns to communicate with children from a variety of backgrounds including kids who are loud and bossy or shy and submissive.”Competitive sports can teach children’s strategizing and problem solving and helps in the future for social skills in different environments like being patient in a job interview or keeping calm when talking to your boss.

Kids sometimes have a hard time playing sports because of how much pressure their parents put on them. Kidshealth state, “Playing sports can teach many wonderful life lessons- valuing teamwork, overcoming challenges, controlling emotions, taking pride in accomplishments- but only of you stay of the way and let your kids learn them. In fact, by taking a step back, you're showing your kids that you trust them to handle situations on their own.” In other words, kidshealth helps explain that kids can learn many things from competitive sports, but parents cannot always control their kids all of the time and scream at the referee. Expecting too much from a child and discussing bad things about the coaches teaches kids that it is alright to bad mouth adults.
The Social Benefits of Children's Team Sports researchers, view, “Team sports promote a teams’ attitude. Coaches often say ‘There’s no I in team,’ which means one person doesn’t win or lose the game. Children work cooperatively to achieve a common goal. Having a team attitude teaches a child that while he can’t always control the outcome of a game, he can always try his best and support his teammates. He should strive to display good sportsmanship because bad attitude reflects negatively on the whole team.” I agree with Social Benefits Team Sports that competitive sports teach children to be good sports. And also to learn they can’t control everything. Sportsmanship can not only help in games but in school or generally anywhere! For example if someone dropped their books in the hallway they can help pick them up.

Some facts from the Top Seven Mental Health Benefits of Sports state, “When you are physically active, your mind is distracted from daily stressors. This can help you avoid getting bogged down by negative thoughts. Exercise reduces the levels of stress hormones in your body. At the same time, it stimulates products of endorphins may even leave you feeling more relaxed and optimistic after a hard workout. Experts agree that more quality research is needed to determine the relationship between sports and depression.” I agree with the Top 7 Mental Health Benefits of Sports that sports or exercise in general, relaxes your body and clears a person’s mind; also that exercise can help with serious stress.

Even though competitive sports can be hard on parents, kids will enjoy the exercise and the fun. I believe that children ages ten through fourteen are too stressed. Competitive sports can help all the stressors of life float away.