Unlike many other hobbies and pastimes, sports can involve intense physical activity. Players exert a lot of physical energy, sweat, and reach exhaustion in their competitions. Besides physical exertion, the sport helps improve a person’s body parts. A person can improve their agility, coordination, balance, and reflexes by participating in sports. This can enhance one’s self-esteem and confidence in their future endeavors.
Participation in sports provides benefits that are not only fun, but also good for your mental health. Youngsters can learn valuable life skills through sports participation, from how to interact with others to how to work well as a team. Youth can grow up to be more independent, and they will feel good about themselves. Positive self-esteem will translate into later success and happiness. Sports participation should be encouraged as an opportunity to improve physical fitness. The benefits of participation are too numerous to list.
While European conquests brought modern sports to Africa, they also marginalized native customs. In addition, conversion to Islam tended to undermine the religious role of African sports. However, some of the elements of pre-Christian magical cults continued into postcolonial times. For example, in Rwanda, the Tutsi and Hutu staged competitions among females. Wrestling was a way to celebrate fertility. Nowadays, motorised sports have become popular.
Football is the world’s most popular spectator sport, with millions of players, from professional football teams to local 5-a-side leagues. Even amateur teams play the sport, and its popularity has grown tremendously. The FIFA recently conducted a census on the global level and found that there are now 265 million soccer players and five million referees. That equates to around 4% of the population. And with all of this popularity, the sport has become a popular social ritual.
