Biggest Benefits of Playing Basketball for Students
For many school-aged children and young adults, days typically consist of classes and homework, with little variation from the daily routine. However, for this reason, many students opt to partake in extracurricular activities, including band, astronomy, baseball, and football, and even basketball.
And whether you’re a school-aged child or a parent of one, you may be wondering which extracurricular activity to pursue. That is why, below, we are going to discuss some of the biggest benefits of playing basketball for students and will do a deep dive into these benefits, and some issues that you could face.
The Importance of Extracurriculars to Students
Before jumping into the benefits of playing basketball for students, it’s important to qualify just why extracurricular activities are so important.
Firstly, an extracurricular activity, for students, is a cultural activity, meeting, or team performed by students. Typically, extracurricular activities are performed outside the realm of normal curriculum of school and generally extracurricular activities are voluntary.
But just why are extracurricular activities so important for students?
The reason is because most extracurricular activities provide a channel for reinforcing lessons which students learn in the classroom, offering them the opportunity to apply those academic principles in the real world. Similarly, extracurricular activities provide students with a safe, healthy environment for students to express themselves and form close social groups.
And lastly, extracurricular activities can help students to feel more included within the overall school system and culture. Students who feel connected to their school and the schooling system are more likely to graduate and less likely to drop out.
Playing Basketball in School Encourages Socialization
For students, socialization and feeling part of an overall group are vitally important. And basketball is, by far, one of the best forms of socialization. Within a basketball team, teammates build and develop lifelong friendships and bonds.
Basketball, a highly competitive team sport, relies heavily on communication, trust, and mutual respect and understanding. For students looking to build a larger social group, joining the varsity or junior varsity basketball team can be one of the best ways to do so.
Helps to Strengthen Muscles and Heart Health
The game of basketball requires agility, strength, and endurance. During the game, students will need to move quickly and change directions within a short duration of time. These movements require muscular endurance, which is the ability for muscles to apply repeated force for an extended period of time.
For students who play basketball, they can expect to gain significant strength and muscular toneage. In addition, basketball is one of the best ways for students to maintain a healthy, athletic body and can help many students to lose weight and live healthier.
Furthermore, basketball is great for overall heart health. As basketball requires constant cardiovascular exertion, your young student’s heart will remain healthy and pumping. In general, all and any cardiovascular activities are good for heart health and basketball is able to combine both heart and muscular health in one.
Increase in a Student’s Confidence
It’s a well-known fact that playing on a varsity team can significantly increase a student’s popularity within their school. And with that added popularity, comes a new level of confidence and an increase in self-confidence. Students who opt to partake in basketball as an extracurricular of choice often feel more confident and more belonging at the school.
This confidence can extend to other facets of a student’s life, from how they interact with other students to the level of effort they put into their schoolwork. Similarly, this added confidence can help many students to broaden their friend’s group and develop deeper and further friendships.
Develops a Student’s Concentration and Self-Discipline
Basketball is a game of seconds and one in which the course of the game can change quickly and rapidly. This means that a basketball player, particularly student athletes, needs to develop concentration and focus whilst playing the game in order to succeed and play both effective offense and defense.
In addition, playing basketball helps a student to develop self-discipline. This self-discipline is achieved both on and off the court. On the court, a player must play within the rules, engage in sportsmanlike conduct, and uphold themselves in a professional manner. Off the court, a player must engage in grueling workouts, maintain a healthy diet, and ensure they are drinking plenty of water and fluids.
Ensures Proper Grades
For many schools, participating in extracurricular sporting events and activities requires a minimum grade point average or GPA. Generally, most schools require their student athletes to maintain a minimum grade point average of 3.0, meaning that no student athlete is able to compete or practice on the team without maintaining a minimum grade point.
Due to these strict and rather inflexible rules, many student athletes will ensure that their grades maintain the minimum threshold. Due to these minimums, student athletes oftentimes push themselves to maintain their grades and will be stricter and more diligent on themselves to ensure eligibility on the team.
Can Lead to Future Opportunities
While there are a plethora of available extracurricular activities available to students, perhaps none other have as much earnings potential as basketball. With an average NBA player earning upwards of $7.5 million annually, basketball can be an extremely lucrative career.
And while making it to the NBA is extremely difficult, many high school basketball players may be able to play at the collegiate level or for an international team overseas. While not as lucrative as the NBA, those leagues do pay well and allow for athletes to play the game they love full-time.