The Benefits of Sports

Seven good reasons to start playing your favorite sport today!

Hitting a tennis ball, throwing a baseball or kicking a soccer ball bring hours of enjoyment. But did you know that participating in sports has lots of benefits, too?

The benefits include:

Greater confidence: Winning helps you feel a sense of accomplishment and feel good about yourself.

Becoming a good sport: 
Winning feels great, but losing teaches you how to deal with disappointments in life while still maintaining a positive attitude.

Improved math skills: 
Players use math skills as they calculate team scores, etc.

New friends: 
Playing on a team gives you the chance to meet people with the same interests.

Disease prevention : 
Playing sports helps prevent cancer, heart disease, depression and other diseases. Playing also helps to build healthy bones.

A healthy lifestyle: 
Kids who play sports are less likely to smoke or take drugs because of the negative effects on their performance.

Reduced stress:
Playing sports helps to reduce stress. Exercise releases a chemical ( endorphin ) in the brain that makes you feel happy and less anxious.

Whether playing competitive sports or just a social game, you should have fun. So get up and get active because there are lots of good reasons to go out and play!

Grammar Gym
"...losing teaches you how to deal with disappointments in life while still maintaining a positive attitude."
[Situation 1]+while still maintaining [Situation 2]
- Robert was able to compete in several tennis tournaments while still maintaining good grades in school.
- Miriam was able to attend classes during the day while still maintaining two jobs.

Info Cloud
Teaching Topic: Sport, the Verb

Now that you know all the benefits of playing sports, there is one more thing we'd like to talk about when it comes to the word "sport".

And that is "sport", the verb. Hey Steve, have you see the funky hat people are sporting these days.

Uhh... hahaha... yeah Ken. It looks really cool. I'd love to sport one of those.

Ok friends, did you catch that? "You can sport a hat."

Now, even though it's basically used as a noun, "sport" can be a verb. To "sport" means to display or show off. So, if you are sporting that funky hat, like Ken is, you're wearing it so that everyone can see it.

Some men like to sport a mustache, goatee, or a beard because they think they look good with it.

Hmm... Maybe I'll grow a goatee and sport it.

I'd like to see that.

Language Lab
good sport
a good sport
[countable usually singular] also good sport old-fashioned a helpful cheerful person who lets you enjoy yourself be a sport (=used when asking someone to help you);
used with good, bad, etc., to say if someone has behaved politely or not after losing a game or contest;
informal + old-fashioned : someone who is kind or generous;
informal + old-fashioned — used as a friendly way to address someone (especially a man)
- No one wants to play with a person who isn't a good sport.
- George is always a good sport while playing basketball.

calculate v.
to find out how much something will cost, how long something will take etc, by using numbers
- We need to calculate the sum of our total costs before giving you our estimate.
calculation n.
/ˌkælkjəˈleɪʃən/
a process or result of calculating something [count]
- We did a rough calculation of the profit we can get from this deal.

prevention n.
when something bad is stopped from happening
- The research team is working on cancer prevention.
prevent v.
to stop (something) from happening or existing
prevent somebody/something (from) doing something
- Exercise can prevent cardiovascular diseases.

competitive adj.
of or relating to a situation in which people or groups are trying to win a contest or be more successful than others : relating to or involving competition
- Claire is a very competitive tennis player.
compete v.
to try to get or win something (such as a prize or reward) that someone else is also trying to win : to try to be better or more successful than someone or something else
- You have to work hard to excel in this competitive environment.

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