Team sport affects personal development ... but how do the two concepts relate?
Written by Elena GarcĂa
Last update: December 14, 2021
Sport, if practiced with your head and frequently, is an infinite source of physical and mental health. Because team sport is not just an outlet for releasing energy in a controlled way, it is also a plan that can stimulate our personal development and teach us to work better as a team.
Team sport is of great value and is an extraordinary tool in any stage of life, especially in the early stages when the personality begins to form.
The milestones of childhood and adolescence, so crucial, represent the moment in which a person is most vulnerable and malleable. What happens in this period can positively or negatively affect the development and formation of the person.
In many cases, the field of sport is where the person begins to work for a common goal, sacrificing their own personal interests for this.
A child may want to play as a forward, but for the sake of the team he has to play sideways. This will prove to be an excuse to negotiate, to come up with assertiveness and appreciate the effects of generosity and sacrifice.
Today we want to talk to you about everything positive that can derive from practicing a team sport. To do this, let's start by learning more about personal development.
What is personal development?
Personal development is a process by which people discover or perfect their potentials and strengths. The idea is to achieve one's goals, desires, anxieties, yearnings ... motivated by the desire to overcome oneself, as well as by the need to give meaning to life (Dongil E. and Cano A., 2014).
This development depends on many factors, starting from the context closest to us as we grow up to our individual characteristics, as well as the society in which we find ourselves. It can be said that biological, individual and social processes intervene in personal development.
Erikson's epigenetic theory states that each living being has a basic development plan to which parts are added, each with its own timing, until their whole forms a functioning whole (Bordignon, 2005).
“No player is as good as everyone together”.
-Alfredo Di Stefano-
Team sports
Keeping in mind the definition of personal development and what is expressed in the introduction, we can understand the relationship between development and sporting activity.
Team sports are characterized by the presence of various companions who cooperate and collaborate to achieve the objectives of the game. The common goal must be achieved through a common strategy and approved by all team members.
It can therefore be deduced that to move this group of people is the achievement of previously specified objectives. It is important to understand that to be part of a team you have to follow explicit rules concerning respect for the game, for the opponent, for your team and for your person.
If they are not respected, you will incur a penalty from the referee, but also from the opposing team, from your own and even from yourself. This is the idea that induces players not to break the rules and to defend the sport above any individual goal.
Sport can be an educational method for the training and development of individuals, and team training offers further benefits. Among the skills and values ​​it stimulates:
- Sense of belonging.
- Teamwork.
- Respect:.
- Decision making.
- Loyalty.
- Overcoming.
- Discipline.
- Responsibility.
- Empathy.
- Support for equality and non-discrimination.
- Active listening.
- Positive use of one's free time.
How to play team sports
The most popular team sports are football and basketball, but there are also rugby, handball, water polo, synchronized swimming, volleyball, rafting… All activities that can teach us the same values ​​and improve our skills.
The important thing is to carry out an activity that allows us to grow and develop in all aspects of life. May it help us to be autonomous, independent and strong people.
