It Encourages a Healthy Lifestyle

Making exercise a part of a young lady’s life teaches her the importance of fitness and contributes to positive lifelong fitness habits. Exercise, along with proper nutrition, plays a vital role in maintaining overall health. Children actually need physical activity every day and participation in sports, like softball, helps fill this need. In today’s world of video games and increasing computer literacy, daily physical activity is often times forgotten. Getting young women involved with softball helps them make exercise a part of their lifestyle and increases their chance of a being a healthier adult.

Learn Goal Setting

I’m sure you’ll agree goal setting and success go hand in hand. Participation in softball gives young ladies a fun, practical way to learn about goal setting. They’ll see, experience, and learn about how goal setting works. Even if the coaches don’t cover goal setting, that’s okay! Players and parents can also sit down together and set goals. Giving young ladies a chance to learn this skill provides them with a better chance at succeeding, not only on the field, but in life.

Develop Time Management Skills

Extracurricular activities encourages development of and time management and prioritization skills.  Often times players will need to find an effective way to balance school, family, and softball (and in some cases, even more than that).  With the help of the adults in their lives, they will have the opportunity to formulate a plan which enables them to efficiently handle responsibilities while still leaving time for development in other areas such as athletics.

It Promotes Self Esteem

When softball players realize they are improving their skills and getting better and better at their sport, they can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. When young ladies are given the opportunity to participate in a sport where they can grow and improve it gives them a unique and fun way to build self-esteem. Together, with positive reinforcement from the adults in their lives (coaches and parents), they will gain confidence and develop a more positive view of themselves.

Learn About and Experience Teamwork

How often have you read a help wanted ad where the employer wants a “team player” or a candidate that “works well with others”? I see it all the time. How much more valuable are you as an employee when you can put differences aside and get the job done? Team sports, like softball, teach valuable lessons about teamwork and about how your actions affect other people.  After all, if you can’t learn to work together with teammates while playing a sport you enjoy, how will they be able to work with co-workers they may or may not like while performing a job you may or may not enjoy? This is an important lesson for any young adult to learn! Softball provides a “hands on” environment in which young ladies can learn about and practice this valuable skill that will continue to benefit them long after they play their last out.

Learn About Dealing with Adversity

As we all know, everyone makes mistakes. Everyone has problems. How well you handle these mistakes and problems directly affects your level of happiness and quality of life. Many people “get in a slump” and can’t get out of it. Others continue making the same mistakes over and over again. In softball, we always try to minimize errors, but we’re human. Mistakes happen. Even professional players make bad choices and make bad plays, but, ultimately, it’s not the mistake that counts. What you do from that point forward carries far more significance. If young ladies learn how to deal with adversity, errors, and challenges when they happen on the field, chances are, they’ll be able to translate that skill to real life and effectively minimize mistakes and/or bad decisions as well as competently recover from set backs.

Have Fun !

Positive experiences play an essential role in nurturing and developing a happy, healthy human being. Softball provides numerous opportunities for positive and memorable experiences.  Not the mention the fact that often times, softball provides a much needed break from school, chores, and other “real life” responsibilities.   Softball players are blessed with the opportunity to have fun while learning and developing as an athlete and as a human being.