September 19, 2024
Having raised five children, I have developed my own sort of model for how to engage them in sport activities. All five had various levels of intrinsic talent but I made certain that they all developed certain skills. I did this by enrolling my children in sports that emphasized different attributes of athleticism. For example, communication and collaboration is a primary skill needed for any team sport but it’s not as pronounced in individual sports (track, fencing, etc) since there are no teammates needed. Therefore, I encouraged each child to play on a team sport because I know the skill developed while playing team sports has a high degree of transferability into other aspects of their lives.
Of course each one trained at Zhang Sah.The two oldest earned their black belts, two have earned 1st kyu brown, and my youngest, who is now 12, is working on his orange belt. In my household, martial art practice is compulsory. This is not without reasons beyond “it’s because daddy is a martial art teacher”. It is because of the intrinsic and athletic traits developed by participating in martial arts at Zhang Sah. The intrinsic traits are attitudes promoted by our tenets: courtesy, humility, perseverance, self control, integrity, stewardship, benevolence, and indomitable spirit. Like teamwork, all of these traits are transferable outside of sports. So when we teach benevolence, stewardship, or courtesy as a sport based value I know this has reached deep into their lives. Also, developing flexibility, muscular strength and endurance, listening and concentration skills, and agility will be carried forward into whatever other activities or sports they are involved in.
There are few team sports that are as transformational as individual sports for young children. Running, gymnastics, dance, and martial arts are primary activities that can make a young athlete a good teammate in a team sport. Likewise, there are few opportunities to teach cooperation, collaboration, and open communication with these individual sports. Team sports and individual sports offer different opportunities to develop much needed skills. Each format has its own strength and weakness.
As a parent, I have made the analogy of this dynamic like yin and yang. You need both to be complete. This is why my kids do both. For example, my youngest son, Nexen, plays soccer, does Zhang Sah, runs cross country in the fall, wrestles in the winter, and does track and field in spring. He loves soccer and he likes the other sports but maybe not wrestling so much. He has three individual sports and one team sport as his mix. I guess he is a triple sport athlete at times during the year but not always. The one constant activity is his martial arts practice. He does it approximately one to two times a week. My older daughter Autumn ran cross country in the fall, crew in the spring, and took classes at Zhang Sah whenever she wasn’t running or rowing. She, like my son, had a two individual and one team sport mix.
It is my experience that we should use sport as a tool for developing our children. We should be mindful that all sports have limitations in what they can offer as personal benefits. It is wise of us, as parents, to use these tools and be sure to seek to develop our children into well rounded individuals. We should not over invest in one sport when children are young ; pairing a team sport with an individual sport can be a good strategy to achieve the best positive sports based outcomes for our children.
