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The mission of Westchester County Youth Bureau is to ensure equity and access to formal and informal services, supports, and opportunities for children, youth, and families to thrive. Part of this entails curating sports programs for children to enjoy and be a part of. Youth sports are an instrumental part of children's development, helping to grow life skills, form meaningful relationships, and to stay healthy physically. The benefits of these programs are multifaceted, and can even be part of the core foundation of what the child will be like when they are older.
The most obvious benefit of youth sport programs is the betterment of physical health. In a country with rising obesity rates, having your children in youth sports can be the difference between a healthy lifestyle and a poor one, but beyond that, these programs can improve children and adolescents strength, coordination, and endurance, all important aspects of a long and healthy life. In addition, the early dedication to physical activities can imprint long term habits of exercise and healthy living, therefore helping in adulthood as well.
Youth sports programs also help build social skills. A friend made here can last a lifetime, especially by going through trials and tribulations together. Building these relationships also build important interpersonal skills essential to both professional and personal settings. However, beyond making friends and learning to work with others, it also builds competitive spirit, even in sports that do not directly compete with each other. Westchester County Youth Bureau is also looking to provide organized activities with any kind of movement, including yoga and hiking. Both do not necessarily have competition in them, but being in programs such as these will help children build friendly competition not only with other kids, but within themselves. Activities like yoga and hiking are usually done in group settings, but they foster the most important kind of competition: the one within yourself. These sorts of sports push you to be better than where you were, even before the last session or at the beginning of the current one, just to see how far you can go now. Having this kind of drive is an essential life skill and can push children to be more successful, even without the push of external competitors.
However, the greatest benefit to youth sports programs is the benefit it can have on the emotional and psychological stage. Being on a team or in a program like this can do wonders for a child's self-esteem, helping them realize that they can do amazing things if they put their mind to it. Having the respect of teammates, coaches and other parents is a magical feeling, and can seriously improve the lives of anyone that joins. Even the negatives are not so bad. Learning how to cope with failure is just as important as celebrating success, and the earlier they know how to do it the better prepared they will be. Being in youth sports programs teaches cooperation, communication, and confidence, but it also teaches resilience, self control, and the value of hard work. Learning these from a young age can carry you far in life, hence why the Youth Bureau of Westchester County is inviting local nonprofit organizations, municipalities, and/or local youth bureaus to apply for funding to provide sports programs, or organized activities with movement, including physical fitness activities such as yoga, hiking, dance, and active outdoor pursuits for underserved youths ages 6-17. If interested in helping, click here to learn more. The bid closes September 20, 2024 at 3:00 PM EDT.
