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Quality sport experiences can offer wellbeing benefits for young people above and beyond just moving their bodies.
Playing a variety of sports helps with skill development and decreases the chances of injury, burnout or specialising too early for young people. Research now shows it also leads to enhanced wellbeing.
This study examined how wellbeing is associated with the setting in which sport participation takes place, and the breadth of sport participation with youth aged 11 to 17 years in Aotearoa New Zealand.
The wellbeing benefit was measured in this study on a 10-point scale from very unhappy (1) to very happy (10), aligning with the OECD guidelines on measuring subjective wellbeing.
The key takeaways from the study back up the real value of multiple settings and multiple sports, and the wellbeing impact for young people, particularly when interactions with quality coaches and others occur.
- People who participate in sport have a higher level of wellbeing than those who do not participate in sport.
- A balanced approach to sport participation across three to five different settings or sports is associated with better wellbeing, compared to participation in a single setting or sport, respectively.
- Sports that are facilitated by quality coaches and involve positive interactions with other people may offer the largest wellbeing value.
Read the full article "Balance Is Better: The Wellbeing Benefits of Participating in a Breadth of Sports across a Variety of Settings during Adolescence" (International Journal of Enviromental Research and Public Health).