How to find out whether my child is prepared for sports?

It is important for children of all age groups to have physical activity. For several kids, playing organized sports like taking gymnastic lessons or being a member of the soccer team keeps them energetic and occupied. If you wish your child to get complete benefit with any sport, it is important for them to obtain certain basic skills. Remember, certain skills would depend upon the age of the child. If they are not prepared for sports, they would not play or get frustrated.

Basic skills required for a child to indulge in organized sports

Certain learning skills such as jumping, running and throwing comes under normal process which every child would come across. Most children learn each and every skill slowly and in bits. Some children will acquire faster than their peers. When the time the child reaches in the category of three to five years, they would have acquired all these basic skills.

How the skills influence the child’s capacity to play sports?

When the child wants to play organized sports, they need to learn to utilize and combine these skills together. They should know how to throw and run at the same time. It is hard to achieve until they reach six years of age.
When the child is young, it is important to include sports activities in their schedule. It will help them to learn and play easily. Some of the ways you can help them are as follows:

• Make practices and games shorter
• Use smaller equipment
• Make the game interesting and fun so that the kid would love to keep playing
• Change positions or roles often like the catcher remains as a fielder for some time

At what age the child should indulge in organized sports?

It is possible for the child to indulge in organized sports when they obtain the skills necessary to play. It is best to encourage your child to play sports they enjoy or like. It is also good to encourage them to explore various sports whenever possible. This way, they can numerous skills at the same time.

How to find out whether the child is prepared to play a particular sport?

During the early childhood age that is between 3 and 5 years of age, they can throw, jump and run. They will also gain some balance. Their vision will not be matured at this age. So, it is difficult for them to follow the speed and direction of moving objects. When it comes to learning, they will not be able to concentrate on the same thing for a long time. They learn most of the things by seeing others. At this age, they learn important basic skills. They will have fun trying and playing various things instead of seeing others and competing. Some of the suggested activities for children of this age group are riding a tricycle, catching, throwing, tumbling and running.

Children who are between 6 and 9 years of age are referred to as middle childhood. At this stage, their basic skills like throwing, jumping, and running would be improved. Their balance would also be improved.