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How Youth Sports Can Help Shield Every Kid—for Life

By Helen Durkin, Psych Central, 09/18/19, 2:00PM PDT

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We need to rethink how we can use team sports to bolster the mental health and well-being of our children. The greatest benefit that team sports offer is their capacity to help prepare our youth for managing all that life will throw their way.

A National Youth Sports Strategy to increase physical activity among America’s kids is slated to come out of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) this month—and it can’t come too soon.

The reasons that our kids should participate in sports are many—from boosting cardiovascular health, to  helping them develop self-control, to the positive impact that exercise has on academic performance

But today, the most pressing reason to encourage sports participation among our youth is their mental health.

Our kids are struggling—and the data isn’t looking good.