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Developing life skills through sports

6-minute read

Key facts

  • Organised sport has many physical, developmental, psychological and social benefits for children.
  • Playing sport helps children build resilience and have improved mental health.
  • Showing support for your child can help keep them interested and involved with their sport.
  • You can help make sport a positive experience — focus on their enjoyment and effort, rather than on winning.
  • You can also talk to your child about keeping safe when playing sport and teach them to set boundaries.

How will my child's development benefit from sport?

Sport is a way for your child to participate in physical activity and learn different physical skills. Playing organised sport can also be fun for your child, and can provide them with many benefits beyond physical fitness.

Organised sport has many benefits for your child's social, emotional and psychological wellbeing. It can help your child develop better ways to cope with the highs and lows of life.

Emotional and psychological benefits

Physical activity has been shown to change the release of brain chemicals (called neurotransmitters). This can make you feel better. So, playing sport supports children's emotional and mental wellbeing.

Sport can also help build your child's self-esteem. Your child can feel valued and build confidence through:

Good self-esteem can help your child achieve their personal best in their sport and elsewhere in life.

When your child plays sport, sometimes they will win, and other times they will lose. Being a good loser takes maturity and practice. Losing teaches children to:

Playing sport also helps children:

These learnings can be applied in other areas of your child's life, including at school and with other hobbies.

Social benefits

Playing in a team helps children to develop many of the social skills they will need for life. It teaches them about teamwork and skills like:

Sport also gives children a sense of belonging. It helps them make new friends and builds their social circle outside of school.

Playing a sport also helps your child to learn:

What role do parents play in children's sports?

Parents play an important role in children's sport. You can help your child engage with sport:

Supporting your child

To keep your child interested and enjoying sport, try to make it a positive experience for them. Focus on having fun, giving it a try and being active, rather than winning or losing.

You can play a positive role in your child's sport and encourage good sportsmanship, by:

Make sure comments from the sidelines are positive. Don't criticise children who make mistakes. Never abuse a player, coach, umpire or the other team.

Talking to your child about their safety

You can help to ensure that your child is playing sport in a safe environment. This will help to protect them from injury or harm. Teaching your child to be safe can help them throughout their life.

When playing sport, your child should feel safe, happy and included. It's a good idea to talk to your child about what to do if they feel unsafe. Feeling unsafe might also mean feeling:

It's important that your child knows that they can set boundaries for the people around them. You can teach them:

If your child is feeling unsafe, it's important that they know:

Resources and support

The Play by the Rules website has a suite of resources to promote awareness of poor sideline behaviour. These resources are part of Let Kids be Kids, a national campaign that addresses poor sideline behaviour in junior sport.

They also have tips for parents on creating a positive sporting environment for your child.

You can read more about child safety on the Sport Integrity Australia website.

You can also call the healthdirect helpline on 1800 022 222 (known as NURSE-ON-CALL in Victoria). A registered nurse is available to speak with 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

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