Best Sports for Teenage Girls

Sports, and maintaining a healthy lifestyle, begin from a young age.  Professional athletes, often at the peak of their games, begin training at a young age and continue to train throughout their adolescent years.  However, much of this training and experience is learned at a relatively young age and fully developed in their teenage years.

However, and particularly for young and teenage girls, choosing a sport to play either recreationally or professionally can be a tall order.  With a plethora of options, all-too-often, teenage girls may feel a tad bit insecure and unsure of the best sport for them.

That is why, below, we are going to discuss and review the best sports for teenage girls. 

However, as a caveat, it is important to understand and help your teenaged girl understand that any and all sports are appropriate for them.  From basketball to soccer, football to track-and-field, sports are the great equalizer and do not differentiate based on gender.

How we Determined the Best Sports for Teenage Girls?

As stated above, sports are the great equalizer and do not differentiate between gender.  However, when it comes to choosing the best sports for teenage girls, we looked at the most popular sports for girls.  Rather than attempt to differentiate the sports based on opinion, we looked at statistical data and have compiled that information to provide you with the best options for your teenaged daughter.

Soccer

Is it any wonder that the most popular sport in the world is also the best sport for teenage girls?  Soccer is one of the most cardio intensive sports, often requiring multiple miles of running throughout a full match.  And with so many different positions and strengths required, soccer will help your teenaged daughter reach her fullest potential.

In addition, as a both defensive and offensive minded sport, soccer will help any teenage girl learn new skills and work on learning how to attack offensively and defend against an incoming team.  A sport that requires grit, determination, and teamwork, soccer is one of the best sports for teenage girls.

Basketball

If you’ve read any of our previous posts, you’ll know that we love basketball.  And that love is nearly universal, with participants often describing their attachment to the game in romantic and intimate language.  A sport that challenges even the most athletic individuals, basketball is also one of the most popular sports in the world.

In addition, basketball is a great way to maintain a healthy lifestyle and has a slew of physical and emotional benefits.  Similarly, as a team sport, basketball is one of the best social sports, allowing for teenage girls to make new friends and form lifelong relationships.    

Tennis

Since the rise of both Venus and Serena Williams, tennis has seen a peak in popularity amongst girls and women of all ages.  Often played by two competing individuals, tennis can also be played as doubles, with two players competing against two opposing players.

A great way to maintain your health and fitness, tennis involves serving the ball over the net, rallies, which is when the ball is hit back and forth between opponents, and extremely fast movements and strategic plays to win the game.

Tennis, in particular, may be a great option for teenage girls looking for a non-contact, non-impact sport.  Suitable for nearly all ages, tennis can help to increase aerobic capacities and bone density and has shown to reduce body fat.

Volleyball

Volleyball is one of the most popular sports for girls and is a great sport to help encourage team spirit and teamwork.  Whereas many other sports can be played alone and without the assistance of others, volleyball requires proper teamwork, cooperation, and communication to be successful.

And in addition to the social benefits, volleyball helps to heighten the body’s metabolic rate and has been shown to reduce both mental and physical stress.  And while volleyball is often associated with players spiking the ball high above the net, many players can succeed with fast serves and accurate assists to help their team win.

Swimming

Perhaps the most intense cardiovascular activity, swimming has a slew of health benefits.  And whether done competitively or recreationally, swimming can help to maintain proper health and fitness for all individuals, regardless of age or gender.

To name a few benefits, swimming helps to build endurance, muscle strength, and cardiovascular fitness.  In addition, swimming helps to maintain a healthy weight, heart, and lungs, all of which are necessary to compete professionally.

And similarly, swimming is one of the only full body workouts that an individual can engage in.  From the legs pushing forward to the arms stroking the water past the body, swimming will push any athletic individual to their peak performance and will engage the entire body’s muscles to compete.

Lastly, swimming is also one of the best sports that can be utilized and engaged in recreationally.  From swimming in a backyard pool to taking a dip in a nearby lake, learning and knowing how to effectively swim is a useful life skill and one that can help to prevent and avoid injury near bodies of water.

Yoga

While technically not a professional sport, yoga is one of the best exercises for teenage girls.  The physical and mental benefits of yoga are well researched and published and continue to be updated with newer benefits.  Yoga has also gained a rapid following and level of popularity, particularly in the United States, in recent years. 

In simplest terms, yoga is an ancient practice that involves physical poses, deep breathing, and concentration.  A regular yoga practice should, ideally, promote endurance, strength, calmness, flexibility, and well-being.

https://2575f55968ba0fb0f2a0de5bbf3aef6b.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-38/html/container.html Yoga, surprisingly to many, can be traced back nearly 5,000 years.  In fact, the first mention of the word yoga appears in Rig Veda, which is a collection of ancient texts.

The word yoga is actually derived from the Sanskrit word, “yuj”, which essentially means, “union” or “to join”.

Within yoga, the overarching philosophy is about connecting the mind, body, and spirit.  This philosophy is echoed in all yoga branches, of which there are six.  And although each branch has a separate, unique focus, the underlying philosophy remains the same.

Some benefits of yoga include increased flexibility, muscle tone and strength, improves respiration, energy, and vitality, wight reduction, improved athletic performance, and an improved and more balanced metabolism.

And with the rise in popularity, many yoga specific apps have cropped up in recent years, allowing for athletes and individuals of all ages to engage in the practice from the comfort of their own homes.