Best Sports for Developing Confidence

Disclosure: This post about the best sports for developing confidence is a sponsored post meant to bring you some great information from another source. 

Growing up, kids are often faced with many situations that can be both scary and uncomfortable. While this is a natural part of becoming adult person, there are certain activities, namely sports, that parents can put their children into to help develop confidence and leadership skills to combat some of these situations. Sports have been shown to not only improve confidence and develop leadership skills but also the importance of exercise, how to build strong relationships, how to respect others and set authority figures and how to work together as a team (for team sports).

While some sports are better for development of only some of the listed skills, most sports will instill and develop all of these skills into your child.

Check some of the popular sports are the most beneficial for a child’s confidence building.

Martial Arts

While Martial Arts are great for keeping kids healthy and active, it is also one of the best sports for helping establish confidence in both your child’s body movement as well as their interactions with others. It helps kids to understand how to stand up for themselves, which is a confidence boost if ever faced in the situation where they have bullies. It also teaches them that you don’t have to be big and strong to overpower your opponent, which is most often seen in sports like Jiu-Jitsu, where the more agile participant usually wins.

Your child will also develop both physical and mental toughness and show that even through the failure of losing a match, they will progress through to success. This can be seen in boxing and mixed martial arts, where one small mistake can lose a match, even if the losing fighter is better overall. This is an excellent example that the outcome will not always fall in your favour, even if you are prepared for it, which is a great lesson to teach kids at a young age.

Soccer

In soccer, the most significant way to develop confidence is to overcome fear. One of the early stages is not to be afraid to get hit by the ball, which happens regularly in this kind of sport. It might take a lot of hits, and might lead to a lot of tears, but it will instill confidence that if you get knocked down, you will always get back up, stronger than ever. There will also be fear of making a mistake and letting down your team, which will happen as well. But with proper coaching and supportive parenting, these fears are a great opportunity to instill confidence.

Kids need to learn to make mistakes, and that the world won’t end.

It’s through this experience they will get better. Soccer gives ample room for these mistakes and confidence boosting because there is a lot of individual opportunities, the games are long, and the goal scoring is low. Soccer is also a great way to teach kids about their  weaknesses to overcome and how to develop towards progress in those areas.

Swimming

Teaching kids to swim at an early age is very important for instilling confidence and reducing the opportunity to develop an intense fear that a lot of people have. Adding to that the sport of swimming competitively will ensure your child is confident in the water while offering a low impact sport that is non-contact. Your child needs to develop proper coordination to swim well and develop muscles properly at the same time. Practicing this sport will ensure your child always feels confident at pool parties and family trips to the beach, and you can feel relieved knowing they know how to swim if there is ever an accident with them falling into the water. Aside from confidence, muscle and coordination, swimming is also competitive and teaches kids how to handle failure and defeat, while still having something exciting to train for and competition wins.

Basketball

Basketball is one of the most accessible sports for kids since it only requires a ball and a basket, and most parks have this facilities. There are lots of youth basketball leagues, and it’s fun for kids to watch professional sports they play as well, where basketball is one of the more popular choices. Basketball teaches confidence in a similar way as soccer since this is a team sport with individual stat tracking and attention. With fewer players on the court, there is much more focus on each one, and there is constant movement for kids that have the energy to burn. Basketball helps kids develop confidence with every pass, shot and attempt to rebound or block since they are putting themselves right up against each player with a chance of failure.

While each sport offers unique skills and development for kids, the most important takeaway is that your child is physically involved into the sport activity. Whether it’s soccer, swimming or even individual sports like tennis and martial arts, your child will develop skills that will inherently make them more confident and build leadership skills and both physical and mental toughness.

Make sure to do some research for the benefits and negatives of each sport you are considering, and make sure it is something that sounds fun to your child and they would want to do as well. For these skills to develop, your child needs to enjoy the activity, so make sure to consider their preferences.