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Whether you have a super energetic kid wreaking havoc everywhere they go, or a quiet kid who’s always hiding behind you, sporty activities can work wonders in exhausting some of the children’s excessive energy and in encouraging the timid ones to get moving. Sports is different from just running around the playground with no direction; from discipline to teamwork, there are many things kids can pick up and start developing just from doing sports!
Putting your child on the playing field really builds up their self-esteem in unexpected ways. Small gestures that you may not pay much attention to, such as a pat on the back, a handshake when the match is over, or even just a high-five from a teammate, are all ways of building up a sense of recognition and confidence in children. When the coach or fellow teammates say words of encouragement or praise, it can help children to trust their own abilities and really go for their goals. Of course, this isn’t about winning or losing, but rather teaching children to enjoy the process.
Playing sports allows children from different ages, different schools, and different neighbourhoods to interact with each other. This gives them an invaluable opportunity to learn how to cooperate with others, as well as establish friendships. More friend groups can help children to improve their social and communication skills, which in turn has a positive effect in their future relationships, workplaces, and careers.
Children who spend time playing outdoors, especially organised sports, are reportedly less likely to develop eyesight problems when they grow up. The ones who are active, even after kindergarten or school, are also more likely to maintain a healthy weight. Also, playing any form of sports will help with their hand-eye coordination.
Not everything in life works out, and even though it is something we all know (though we may not readily accept it), playing sports is a good way to ease children into the concept of sportsmanship. Instead of feeling defeated, they can learn to accept losses and that sometimes it’s ok to lose. You simply enjoy the process and get back up to try again!
Any sport at any level will require some level of discipline, such as following a set of rules, learn to respect and take orders from the coach and referee. This ties in with sportsmanship and moral principles in the way that good discipline is appreciated in sports, and bad discipline will have repercussions. This important life skill and mindset will be key to your child’s early years development!
The one skill that everyone talks about because it is just that important, is teamwork. A team has to work together in order to succeed and playing sports gives children the perfect setting to understand how to work well in a team but coming together to achieve a goal. They can also help each other work out strengths and weakness, which is a key skill wherever you go in life.
There are so many places where you can play sports, so which is the most beneficial for young kids?
By signing up for just one fun program at Minisport, kids get to dabble in football, tennis, basketball and rugby! These four sports are some of the most common sports played around the world, and by introducing these sports to young children, it can help develop a life-long love for sports. In addition to learning these sports, it can also help establish ball skills that are essential for any sport. By training their hand-eye coordination in a fun and engaging environment, kids will be able to master skills such as handling, rolling, throwing, striking, dribbling, catching and much more besides!
A friendly well-trained coaching team is also key to leading the practices, and Minisport is all about providing the right support. Their coaches oversee all the fun activities to make sure the children are having maximum enjoyment in the most beneficial way, with as little injuries as possible too. Since there are multiple sports available in the program, coaches can help students try everything out and help them gravitate towards their favourite sport.
Whilst schools are out, Minisport is offering private coaching to small groups of children. This ensures that coaches are able to focus on each child to give them all the attention they need to master basic techniques and to understand the sports at hand. That said, they also do well with big classes and parties. From extravagant and hectic to laid back and simple, they have been to all types of kid parties. If you would like to use them for kid parties, they will bring their child-specific sports equipment, bright attitudes, and fun activities straight to you, whether it be a weekly sports program, private class, sporty birthday party, or a fun-filled public event.
Minisport’s four-day summer camps run for three months and will be an introduction on the four sports they usually cover; namely football, tennis, basketball and rugby. They will even level-up with beach trips, t-shirt designing, party games, and team building just to jazz things up. Kids from two-and-a-half years old to eight-years-old can sign up, and if they bring friends they also get a discount (we meant that for parents, wink wink)! The camps are available in multiple locations across Hong Kong. Watch the video below, and click here for more information.
Minisport is made up of an enthusiastic group of sports educators that teach children multiple sports through schools, clubs, and private residences around Hong Kong. Children aged one-and-a-half to five-years-old have been enjoying the many benefits of their program since they launched in 2012.
Minisport is now proud to coach sports to over 700 children per week in the city. They deliver holiday sports camps at five locations during school holidays, and help over 200 families per year to celebrate their child's birthday parties in style!
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