Sports is undoubtedly considered as an activity embracing fun and joy. However did you know that playing sports can act as a best activity in enhancing your personality traits , promoting your mental health besides keeping you physically fit. Playing sports instills positive attitude, will- power , courage, competence and confidence. Sportsmanship is never considered true unless its worth is imbibed very enthusiastically and positively. It is actually a positive team dynamics, culture and patriotic unison that determines the worth outcome of true sportsmanship. Respect and understanding between teammates, coaches and captains, handling authorities and selection committees – is the crucial unique character that holds sportsmanship with true spirit.
Benefits Of Sports
•Improved self-esteem: It has been observed that sports can help people improve their self-esteem. Individuals feel a sense of accomplishment and success when they compete with others and do well. This contributes to their overall personality development which helps them face other challenges of life.
•Motivation: Individuals that get involved in sports are motivated to accomplish their goals especially when they are to compete with others. Sports influences and enables them cultivate and groom this trait. Staying motivated helps one face up to the challenges of daily life and it helps to build this personality trait in individuals.
•Determination: If anyone wants to succeed in sports, he or she must be determined and willing to make the right effort. It takes practice and commitment to be a good sports person. This personality trait when developed in an individual will help them succeed in anything they do whether in career, business or relationship.
•Goal-setting: Sports helps people set and accomplish their goals. For you to do well in sports, you must set goals and ensure that you religiously follow them if you will ever reap the benefits from the exercises you have done. This is a good personality trait. It helps people learn how to set goals and builds the endurance required to make those goals come to pass.
•Training: Every serious sports person must train regularly if he or she desires to do well. It teaches people how to exercise themselves in anything they do in life. Training is an important part of the process of self development. Without disciplining yourself to train in whatever you want to do, you may never achieve it.
•Social skills: Sports helps you develop good social skills, that is, it enables you learn how to relate with people. It has been observed that people who play sports have better social skills. This is because playing sports requires cooperating with someone else, playing fair and having fun with others while at the same time pursuing a common goal. It also helps to develop in people a healthy sense of competition with each another.
•Leadership skills: Sports helps to teach young people and even adults leadership. Through sports, individuals are able to learn and practise these skills at the same time. This personality trait is not easily learned and sport is a fun way for young people to learn and inculcate this skill.
•Resilience: Another personality trait that can be developed through sport is the ability to remain resilient even in the face of tough challenges. Knowing how to cope with the high times and lows in life is resilience. Mathematical skills: It has been observed through research that sports like tennis, cricket and baseball help in developing mathematical skills in young people.
•Sympathy and Empathy : Playing a Sports instills Empathy besides Sympathy. It gives a realisation of kindness, peace , prosperity and happiness. You become caring and encourage love for each other thus ignoring hatred and biasness.
•Time Management and Concentration Skills: Playing a sport also helps in helping people learn how to manage their time efficiently.
•Improving Your Communication Skills: Awareness of your own interaction with other people is the first step in improving your communication skills. Playing Sports poses you as a great opportunity to interact with people and thus improve your communication skills. You must accept responsibility for your own behavior and do not fear apologizing for errors in judgment or insensitive actions. Your non-verbal communication is equally as important as the things that you say. Positive body language is extremely important in your interactions with other people. Sports is a best way to develop positive body language.
•Stepping outside the comfort zone: Ask yourself the question what it is that prevents you from developing the character traits you always wanted to have. What is it that stands between the person you want to be and the person that you are at the moment? Let’s say you would like to become more adventurous and outgoing. Would it really help you to accomplish your goal by remaining in the coziness of your comfort zone? I guess not! If you want more action in your life, get out and seek that action. Playing Sports can be a best way to let you out of your comfort zone and make a move to your effort zone. You will overcome all laziness by actively participating in Sports events.
•Personal Grooming: Grooming is the part of Personality Development .By personality grooming one can learn how to keep positive thoughts even in worst conditions also .It helps us to establish our self in corporate world successfully. It’s really very important for a professional guy because a professional must know that ,how to communicate ,sit ,eat ,dress-up, and how to manage self also. Grooming basically focuses on appearance and maintenance. We can say presentation. Presentation should be always best because it is the first impression by which one can get impressed . Sports is I think a best way to groom your personality.
•Staying calm in tense situations : A lot of people seem like they have a good personality until you see them in an emergency or tense situation. Then they lose their cool. Don’t be this person! If you are in a tense situation, try to remain relaxed and see what you can do to resolve the situation. By moving outside and having a fun in the form of playing any sport will help you to feel relaxed and calm in tense situations.
•Anger Management : Involving yourself in some physical activity like Sports is a good way to managing your anger. You would feel physically and mentally relaxed. Your energy would be utilized in this way and you would end up feeling happier, cool and productive.
•Sports improve sleep habits : Sports and some other forms of regular physical activities improve the quality of sleep. Sleeping better can improve our mental outlook for the next day, as well as improve our mood because a relaxed mind is a rejuvenated one.
Tail Piece : In conclusion, I would say that Sports should be encouraged at all levels of community development. There is a need to inculcate Sports in all schools, colleges and universities with complete sincerity to acknowledge and help student community in developing their overall Personality. A healthy and strong body is not possible without sports and physical activities. There is a famous saying that “All work and no play make jack a dull boy”, so make sure that our students should be provided a platform to help them freely in playing sports and preventing them from evolving a dull Personality.
(The author a Medical Practioner at SMVD Narayana Super Specialty Hospital, Jammu is also a motivational speaker, activist, columnist and a top educator awardee. Views are his own [email protected])
