MORE THAN A GAME: The Transformation of Youth Basketball

Basketball season is among us across the country. Whether your kiddos make their teams on the first try or not, there are some important reasons why you may want to encourage them to keep trying and be active; whether it’s basketball or any other team sport.

The process of development is dynamic, and can be challenging, unpredictable and confusing at times especially when it comes to friendships and socialization. Not understanding that these challenges can be par for the course of life, children can often feel isolated and unsupported, but this is where family and basketball/sports can come in! As a psychotherapist, I’m not surprised to see that the kids who are involved in sports are generally demonstrating the ability to accept challenges and engage in coping strategies accordingly.

Team sports present unique opportunities to reconcile some of these confusing feelings, especially their sense of belonging. Basketball is where a team is created, every player with various skill levels, coming together to work on achieving that common goal of a win. This can be an amazing structure where people are challenged to overcome struggles, challenge negative thinking, work together, and encourage one another while being appreciated for their individual talents. An opportunity where a child can be praised for their rebounding skills, or their defense, or their decision-making and leadership skills. An opportunity to develop great pride and sense of identity, while working on additional skills they’d like to improve. I can assure you that children are not going to automatically approach playing a sport, in this way. It starts with all of us, the adults. Parents/caregivers, educators, coaches, mentors, healthcare providers and all other adults who have opportunities to influence our youth. It is upon us to shift the culture of youth basketball and operate/teach from a strengths-based perspective and think outside of the box. Where we can highlight our youths’ talents, tell them how important these attributes are to a team and how to use their talents to impact change. Our hopes are that they play sports walking away with skills, lessons and perspectives that they can use throughout their life journeys; that this is more than a sport. Jr. Celtics Program is committed to being a part of that shift in culture for youth sports.

Basketball/team sports can improve a child’s mental health. Mental health struggles can impact anyone regardless of their demographic. Kids who participate in sports have a better chance of being able to manage them with these transferrable sports skills or develop the ability to ask for support/help in managing them. In a study published in the Journal of Science and Medicine in Sport, “Positive effects were found for physical activity on executive functions, attention and academic performance in preadolescent children. Largest effects are expected for interventions that aim for continuous regular physical activity over several weeks.” (de Greeff et. al, 2017) Children are likely to perform well academically and complete academic goals, when engaging in sports; there are prolonged results if the activity can be maintained over longer periods of time. Playing a sport can improve their ability to concentrate and focus.

Basketball/team sports can help our children create and engage in friendships. Team sports promote teamwork which require communication and cooperation to achieve that common goal. Additionally, developing life skills such as discipline and goal setting, certainly go beyond basketball.

Basketball/team sports can also teach children about sportsmanship and how to play by the rules. Whenever we compete, a team must win and the other has lost. We can teach children to be happy about their wins, highlighting what they’ve accomplished as a team and individually. It’s important to celebrate these circumstances to help our children continue to develop their self-esteem. If they happen to be on the team who lost that day, normalizing that a team must lose but that they become greater, when they can use the experience as a lesson for the next game. It’s important to note that they still have the talents and skills they came into the competition with, despite the loss.

And lastly, playing basketball or a team sport is FUN! The experiences we have within playing a sport can be about how we relate to one another, to feel appreciated and confident about ourselves and gain a sense of belonging every time we show up for each other, for that win. We take these lessons and skills and utilize them throughout our lives, as we strive to excel as students, as athletes, as workers/entrepreneurs and most importantly, as humans. Please continue to encourage our youth to play sports or engage in team activities, even if they didn’t make the team the first time, don’t believe that they’re the most talented and never aspire to be a professional athlete. This is more than a game.

Tracey Taldon, LICSW

Founder/Owner of Wellness for Our Future, LLC

De Greeff, J., Bosker, R., Oosterlaan, J., Visscher, C., Hartman, E. (2017, October 17). Effects of physical activity on executive functions, attention and academic performance in preadolescent children; a meta-analysis. Jsams.org. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsams.2017.09.595