Andrew Badham 2018-08-29 12:42:44
A lot is said for physical exercise and its mental health benefits. Whether you choose to lift weights or run on the treadmill is immaterial, so long as you’re working hard for a decent amount of time, you will see improvements in depressive and anxious symptoms. This is a concept I’m very familiar with and enthusiastically an advocate of. What I was less familiar with was how sports, or more specifically team sports, would have an impact.
So, when a student asked whether encouraging her daughter to find a team sport would increase her self-esteem or not, I had to say, “I don’t know.”
I certainly had my suspicions. I had seen the benefit in my own life through sports like rowing and rugby, which both rely heavily on team dynamics. Nevertheless, I had no data to back up these suspicions; I could have easily been an outlier. Naturally, my curiosity was piqued and I decided to dive into the research.
As I had guessed, team sports had an extremely positive effect. One study reported a 20% decrease in depressive symptoms, and that was after they accounted for age, gender, weight, substance abuse, and level of exercise. Other studies focused on self-esteem; they also found marked improvements in individuals who played team sports.
So what is happening here? If exercise in sports is not the only factor, what does the element of team dynamics have to offer?
It’s simple; self-esteem is a social value judgement. It’s not about how good or competent you think you are; that’s self-confidence. Your confidence can affect your self-esteem, but they are not intrinsically linked. There are many high performing individuals with low self-esteem. Esteem is more related to having group identities, social interactions and affirmation.
Thankfully, those are all things that playing sports provides. When you join a team, you identify with them, you spend a large amount of time with them working towards the same goal, and – if you have a good team – they affirm your actions.
Granted, not everyone has the same experience in team sports. If you were not particularly talented at a sport you were forced to play, your teammates might have downright disliked you. If that was the case, it’s safe to assume that wasn’t the most uplifting of experiences for you. In that case, the factor may be finding the right sport.
For me, that was rowing. I was fortunate enough to attend a school with a wide selection of sports, but I sucked at all of them. I even sucked at rowing for a while, but I stuck at it for a while because there was nothing else left for me to try. Thankfully, the perseverance paid off. The intense nature of the sport forced me to become fit, and as soon as I was fit, I was valuable. The best part of that value is it’s recognised by others, by your team mates, by the people you are now identifying with. It’s that crucial factor which has a marked impact on self-esteem.
So, in answer to the question of should children be encouraged towards team sports, the answer is yes. Just try to find them sports they will excel in that still have these team dynamics. This is not just for children either. As adults, we can and should try to find ways to boost our self-esteem. The answer may lie in joining a club or gathering friends together for a team event. It doesn’t matter what the sport or the occasion is, just enjoy yourself with others and feel the rewards rolling in.