Positive influences of sport

Both Elena and I would often talk about how much sport had affected our lives, and gave us both ultimately the opportunity to travel the world doing the job we both loved. We knew that sport can work on many levels in a very positive way:

• Through early years programme, parents and children can come together in a session environment and add to the bonding process of parent and child. We now know that there are many benefits for very young children to see their parents involved in exercise.
• Exercise at any age, stimulates and develops the body and the mind in so many, many ways, this all affects the adult the child will ultimately become.
• Play and fitness can be fun and a positive part of young children’s lives, but we wanted it to be a pathway journey to a chosen sport.
• If a child stays with a long term programme and finds a sport to join and commit to, this can bring a multitude of benefits.

We know that the modern day child is exposed to many negative aspects of lives, from too much time on a screen all the way through to influences of drugs and other very dangerous habits and addictions. We both believed that children who were committed to a sport, were generally, more respectful to others, disciplined and focused on their sporting goals, which ultimately could counter act and nullify any negative temptations.

Long Term Pathway

Here are some of the benefits that Elena and I discussed when we were planning the long term pathway:

• Develops commitment
• Offers structure
• An opportunity to socialise
• The opportunity to develop a sporting skill
• Self confidence
• Self-pride
• A sense of belonging to a sporting family
• A focus on a positive structured lifestyle, nullifying the many negatives that are on offer in our modern world.

The above list are just a few valuable aspects that sport brings to children’s lives, there are many, many more.

Both of us experienced how sport could affect young children’s lives, children like Lewis, Haquim, Yasmina and Tawana who are now well on their way to becoming National tennis players. We offered them the opportunity to enter a quality early years programme, they have both  stayed with us and through the long term pathway they discovered a life in tennis that keeps them healthy and focused in a very positive way.