Social Benefits of Sport

Sports are a giant social event for both parents and kids to hang out and have a ton of fun. As an athlete having a team can be a great feeling, for some athletes having a team adds a sense of worth, some people gain more friends and some feel like being on a team is just a chance to have fun with peers. one of the interesting thing about sports is the dynamic of athletes, it becomes its own social ecosystem. These kids from different socioeconomic backgrounds come together and become friends despite having totally different upbringing and maybe different home dynamics. Now team dynamics are not just what parent brings good treats and if Timmy makes friends, the social benefits of sport are reaped by teams that create team cohesion.

Cohesion differs team to team and really starts to have a lot more value the older the students get and the more successful they become in their sport. Dr. Stankovich has a brief video on the different types of Cohesion.

The journal Science direct has been very interested in the growth of team cohesion and its affects on the athletes and their hapiness and sucess. If athletes are happy and have a team that they trust they will be given more social oppurtunites. Science direct concludes that,

"The most important findings of this study is that it has provided evidence of the effects of team cohesion, intra team communication and team norms on team member satisfaction and intent to remain of team players. For team member satisfaction, each variable increased the explained variance when they were added to the regression model" [4]

This essentially says that team cohesion does effect many of the pieces of the athlete and their happiness and how they interact. Social oppurtunites are good for all students.

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Reference:

[4] Onağ, & Tepeci. (2014). Team Effectiveness in Sport Teams: The Effects of Team Cohesion, Intra Team Communication and Team Norms on Team Member Satisfaction and Intent to Remain. Procedia - Social and Behavioral Sciences, 150, 420-428.