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Teamwork is a big part of one’s life. It doesn’t necessarily mean you need to be in a physical matter, it can simply mean you are working with others and helping each other out, whether it is in school or at work. Teamwork is defined as cooperative or coordinated effort on the part of a group of persons acting together as a team or in the interests of a common cause. Getting involved with a sports team at a young age can benefit a person with their overall teamwork in a later stage of life. By participating in a sport the child “learns that you don’t have to like someone in order to work together on a common goal.” Child sports helps children understand that you don’t just need an individual goal you also need a team goal to become successful (Child athletes). In order to succeed with a team you need cooperation. Cooperation is similar to teamwork, meaning that cooperation is an act or instance of working or acting together for a common purpose or benefit. A child can cooperate in several different means. When at practice the children work together and cooperate with one another to try and make it a successful practice. By children being cooperative and paying attention to the coach’s instructions, it helps them with their listening skills, their teamwork skills by not being selfish and working with others, and deciding on goals as a team to achieve.
 * Intro **

Communication plays a huge role in the benefits of children participating in team sports. Children learn different ways of communicating when playing a sport either through physical movement whether it’s using their hands or eyes, or it’s simply by talking. Communication is defined as the imparting or interchange of thoughts, opinions, or information by speech, writing, or signs. This meaning that communication helps each player learn to work together in several different means, by practicing this on the field it can help boost the confidence in a child when presenting a project or talking to several other people. Children can gain the benefits of communication by talking with many of their teammates individually as well as their coach, so learn how everyone can talk differently to one another but can understand each other in different ways.

Competition helps build confidence in children. It teaches them how to be aggressive and that winning is not everything, and to fight for what they want. "When young people participate in sports, they have an opportunity to learn self-discipline, consideration of others, and how to handle disappointments. Sports provide opportunities for leadership and socialization as well as the development of skills for handling success and failure,” (Child athletes). These benefits go back to the fact that the competition in child sports helps build their confidence so that when they fail they don’t get emotional about it, they will pick themselves up and when with a team they can work together to pick each other up. Competition is defined as rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common. This is can be shown through any sport because the two teams are fighting over who will win. Children can use this competition not only in sports, but in almost anything when there is a goal that two or several people have in common.

Children who participate in child sports are at a lower risk for health issues. It isn’t a boring way to exercise for children, it is a way to use different parts of a child’s muscles and provides the children with a fun way to stay active and fit. In the 20th century, children didn’t have the same options that children have today. When children went to play sports or games with friends they weren’t organized by organizations, schools and so forth. A professor of pediatrics and medicine at the University of Colorado at Denver’s Health Sciences Center, James O. Hill said, “Nobody worked at being active; you had to be active” (Laydens). Hill, also said that it wasn’t the parents even who organized the games, “but by the children themselves, simply because it was fun” (Layden).
 * Health/Fitness **

“School-age children are becoming overweight at an alarming rate.” (Layden). Children who are involved in athletics tend to be less obese. “An estimated 15% of children ages six to nineteen were overweight in 2000” (Layden), according to a survey taken place at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Due to this increase in obese children, there has also been an increase in type two diabetes. There is an organization called P.E.4Life, which is a nonprofit group that is helping to reinvent the schools P.E. system and make it more enjoyable for the children. They are teaching children, “the importance of health and fitness for lifetime well-being” (Perry). Phil Lawler, the director of P.E.4Lif, said, “This is not about winning a game. This program is about competing to win back health for the rest of your life” (Perry).

When playing a sport, game or just doing something to be active you use several different muscles. As the P.E.4Life program was built, “it was based on cardiovascular fitness, with the ultimate goal to get every kid moving all the time. We have since learned some new dimensions” (Perry). Aerobics, invented by Dr. Kenneth Cooper, said, “when he invented aerobics, he was convinced that aerobics was all that was necessary to remain healthy. We want aerobic fitness and strength training” (Perry). Aerobics is defined as “A system of physical conditioning designed to enhance circulatory and respiratory efficiency that involves vigorous sustained exercise, such as jogging, swimming, or cycling” (Dictionary). Lawler said, “We train children in team-building skills and on how to become better leaders. We are developing lifetime skills that will make these kids more effective workers, communicators, and better human beings” (Perry). “Rather than having a program with monotonous excersises aimed at strength or discipline, modern physical education programs are designed to provide students with the opportunity to learn those natural activities that contribute to their personal development” (health edu.). When Lawler was giving a Congressional testimony, he had some stated some quotes that took surprise to him, the listeners and the readers. The one quote Lawler stated, from Dr William J. Klish said that “Children today have a shorter life expectancy that their parents for the first time in 100 years” (Lawler). Dr. K.M. Venkat Narayan had stated that, “One in every three U.S. children born after 2000 will become diabetic unless many more people start eating less and excising more” (Lawler). These two quotes show a significant impact on why children now should take into consideration why it is important to play sports and be active. “Physical education can be a key part of the solution to that threat, maybe the most important part of the solution” (Lawler). By participating in competitive sports children will not only be able to reduce obesity but also reduce the diseases that can occur from being obese.

** Learn Cooperation **  Cooperation to children playing competitive team sports is learning from mistakes, learning from your teammates, learning as a team and the coach. While mistakes can be made, working as a team, provides knowledge on improvement. Disagreements among teammates cause tension on and off the field which can cause poor team performance and indifference to the team. Cooperation helps children gain different skills. They learn that they need to listen to the coach and work with teammates to gain knowledge on different drills so the child can use them in a game.

Children can learn different cooperation techniques through competitive sports by the rules they need to follow. The rules are not only the game rules but the coach’s rules. As children get older and play in school, they must also follow the school rules. The rules can be frustrating but by learning cooperation, success can be achieved. Cooperation helps build team-building, there are activities which allow the children to get physical, and do emotional problem-solving tasks, while all focusing on teamwork, organization and communication (Bloom).

Cooperation doesn’t just stick with a child in their childhood years, it will stick with them for a lifetime. Parents have agreed with the benefits a sport gives a child. Children gain better health, physical fitness and nutrition (Davis). Doctors and parents also agree that cooperation gives their child, improved social skills, learning teamwork and discipline and they learn how to set priorities (Davis). Dr. Branche states that “the structure of sports gives children transcends into life,” meaning that without sports children may not know how to use certain skills that can help benefit them when they get older (Davis).

Through competitive sports children gain the skills of communication. By playing sports they gain relationships with their teammates and for boys the sports become the sole way of socialization (Child Athletes). By communicating with their teammates there is a sense of belonging and inclusion into a group. Each teammate learns from one another and is able to communicate their frustrations and fears as they continue to play as a team. With the coach’s and other adults the children learn to communicate to adults and learn there are many different cultures in team sports (Child Athletes). By being exposed to different cultures the children become comfortable in different social situations.
 * Communication **

By being a child athlete, there are two techniques a child might learn, they are verbal communication and nonverbal communication. The verbal communication skills are gained by certain team-building activities and basic learning of communication as a team. When in a competitive sports game the children need to call out their player’s number, a child’s teammates name, etc. Verbal communication skills help a child when trying to communicate with their coach whether its about a personal problem or a tip that will help benefit the team in the next game.

Besides verbal communication skills there are also nonverbal communication skills. These skills come into consideration when playing in a game because child athletes need to learn that they don’t just need their mouths to communicate with each other but teammates can use hand jesters and eye contact. Eye contact is probably one of the most important nonverbal techniques a child can learn because teammates can use their eyes to direct where they want the ball placed.

Children who participate in sports are provided opportunities for leadership and socialization, as well as learning skills for handling success and failure (Child Athletes). Competition is defined a rivalry between two or more persons or groups for an object desired in common. With sports, children learn how rules work; that rules are needed to keep order and an individual must follow the rules for the benefit of the team (Child Athletes). The learning of rules will assist with competition, which will assist with winning and losing.
 * Learning Healthy Competition **

Learning healthy competition provides a healthy outlook on life. “Athletes’ expect personal outcomes of sport participation may be better understood in light of their motivational perspective” (Ryska). Children that learn to play team sports, experience cooperation, new skills, and the pursuit of goals, benefit more than a child playing for themselves or are playing for popularity and getting ahead of themselves in life (Ryska).

To play a competitive sport and to have the role of sportsmanship, you need to have support from and for your team. A team’s ability to succeed on the field isn’t about the skills but the teams “atmosphere” (Bloom). It is key to have team cohesion, this can also be called “team chemistry,” this helps a group of athletes achieve a common goal (Bloom). When children only thinking of winning a game, they may get so pumped they are only thinking of themselves and they may not pass the ball as often, they might just dribble it down the field. “When winning is everything, the competitive environment can become stressful” (Child Athletes). Children shouldn’t take winning so seriously, they should care more about having fun. Teammates need to be both physically and mentally involved to work on team-bonding (Glover).

When a child loses a game, they shouldn’t become so upset. They should learn from their loss, they should think about what they did wrong and the next time in a game they will correct their mistakes. Children should learn from their mistakes and as they get older they will simply get better (Child Athletes). Team sports help children build character when they lose a game (Cook). Children learning form losing gain more from a child who takes losing the wrong way. The child gains more healthy competition, and they become a stronger athlete, teammate and overall a better person. The competition in sports provides children with knowledge of life. Sports not only help the children in the physical aspect but also socially, cognitive and psychological. When playing sports it provides the children with a sense of community (Child Athletes). Children become aquatinted with other teammates that may go to a different school. Playing a team sport, children learn each others strengths and weaknesses learn risk vs. reward (Child Athletes). When being criticized or corrected an athlete learns to improve and be better prepared. A team is a natural environment in which to learn responsibility to others (Child Athletes). Children will perform best when they feel good about themselves and when they receive positive comments from another teammate, coach or parent. The young athletes will be more motivated when playing in the game and will play more confidently, try harder, and they will take more chances with winning the ball (Cary).

Football legend Vince Lombardi once stated, “Winning isn’t everything – but wanting is” (Child Athletes). To win is wonderful but sometimes we need to lose to reassess ourselves. "When you are going through it your first loss is OK, your second, third are OK, but when you get to five or more it starts eating at you. You are getting upset and you don't really want to play" (Fuller). A team can experience both the good and the bad of winning and losing, and not forget our true selves (Child Athletes). With losing a lesson can be learned and a person and team can grow to get better. Winning isn’t everything – it’s loving what you do that means everything (Child Athletes).

** Problems with participating in competitive sports **  Having a busy schedule with children can really be a lot and their sometimes never seems to be enough time. That is the problem with most families and the children who play in competitive sports. The parents seem to have a lot going on, with having other children, and other obligations. Competitive sports games, can take a great deal of time especially, if the child is on a travel team and the game is from a half-hour to an hour away. “For many parents the demands of toting kids to practice, travel games, and tournaments are taking a big toll on what used to be called family life” (Cary). One way that some parents deal with this, time management issue is car-pooling their children with teammates, so their children can make it to the game while they do other obligations.

Injuries, is one of the biggest issues in playing a competitive sport. Physicians are now worried that the stress injuries from playing sports will continue to rise (Cary). Each year, at least 5 million children go to the emergency room for an injury from a sport (Davis). Some of the most common injuries that children get from sports are bruises, fractures, and sprains (Davis). The reason that most children receive these injuries is because they have not completed growing and their motor skills and coordination have not fully developed (Child Athletes). The emotional injuries children face such as sports burnout are as damaging as the physical injuries. When the children are just playing one sport competitively at a time, emotional exhaustion as well as physical exhaustion can occur which will lead to a burnout (Davis). This may lead the child to not wanting to play sports at all. When focusing on one sport, burnout can occur because the emphasis is on winning.

Children are either focusing on only one sport or they are playing to many competitive sports. Dr. George C. Branche says, “If you are playing different sports, you learn to exercise muscles differently, you get a different training regimen, and less likely to happen” (Davis). Children aren’t playing as many multiple sports as children use to in the past. Children are now playing on elite teams and usually play that same sport for two or three more seasons (Cary). Even children playing on that elite team may also play other sports, but then that comes down to time management (Cary). Children should have other outside interests from their sport, so they are not always focused on the next game or tournament (Davis). Sometimes a distraction can provide a positive aspect to the athlete.