TYLER, Texas — From the pros to pee-wee: millions of people play sports every day.
Research shows (International Journal of Obesity, Stanford Children's Health, American Academy of Pediatrics) time and again that active, athletic lifestyles have a physical benefit to your child.
In addition, UT Health Psychiatrist Ushimbra Buford says sports can benefit your child mentally as well.
"The health gains from sports kind of last throughout their lifetime, say individual sports, we talk about increasing self-confidence but also it helps with their determination," Buford said. "They learn that they can set goals and achieve those goals."
"When we talk about team sports, now we get into character building in regards to all of us when you go forth in life," Buford said. "And you learn to work well you learn to play your position, you learn to not seek all of the credit at times that you want to more that we want to achieve a goal."
Buford believes in the positive aspects of sports so much, that he even looks for athletic history in people he hires.
"I felt that the individuals who kind of done who did well in our program, or individuals who had that type of experience, not to say that if you didn't have it, you won't do well, far from it," Buford said. "But if you really want to give your child the greatest advantage as possible, this is one easy thing that you can kind of facilitate and help with them."
When it comes to parenting an athlete, Buford says to ease off the throttle.
"If you feel yourself that it's become an emotional for you what’s happening, you got to pull back a second," Buford said. You're not the one out there competing, you know, it should be fun for your kids, you want them to, to take it serious to not want to lose, you know, but when they do lose, learn the lessons from those losses and try to get better so that when victory, they can understand and appreciate victory better."
Outside of the pressures, you can put on a child who competes for a pitfall to watch out for is sports specialization, playing only one sport year round.
Tony Bush is the Lead Coach at APEC, a sports training and physical therapy company with an office in Tyler, who have an impressive roster of professional athletes such as Whitehouse native Patrick Mahomes.
"We train athletes from all ages, from kindergarten all the way up to college in the pros," Bush said. "When you don't focus on development young, the body creates bad habits, those bad habits create stressors, stress fractures, and different things and it's just a train wreck waiting to happen."
Bush says the diversity of movements and sports is the way to go and specialization could end in serious injury.
"Oftentimes, the people that specialize early, a kid could be a phenom at five years old. But then when they get to when it really counts, and they get up to being seniors in high school, in college, all of a sudden the body breaks," Bush said. "You know, it's kind of like a car. You continue to put miles on an engine, and eventually, you're gonna have to get a new engine or a new car. But unfortunately, our body, we only have one engine, we can't get a new one."
In the long run, Buford hopes more people will get involved in athletics.
"Overtime getting more children involved in sports will create better leaders, better citizens, and better people, humanity for all of us," Buford said.