When I think back to my childhood there is one thing that always stands out – my parents unwavering patience, as I tried what must have felt like every sport under the sun: Tennis, Netball, Hockey, Swimming, Fencing, Ballet the list goes on.
And with such a clear investment of time and energy you might think that I ended up the next Jessica Ennis. Alas not. It is well known amongst my friends that I am a squarely below average tennis player despite having 14 (yes, 14!) years of weekly lessons growing up.
It wasn’t until university, when I discovered the Boat Club, that I really started to find my stride in a sport that I truly loved. Those early mornings on the water taught me lessons that no classroom could – the value of perseverance and teamwork, the progress that is made simply by showing up day after day.
A recent study underlines this point. Girls who play afterschool sport are 50% more likely to go onto top jobs.
Why? Because sport helps build the skills employers consistently say they are looking for – resilience, confidence, adaptability and the ability to perform under pressure.
Since we understand the benefits of sport participation, why do relatively few girls participate in team or after school sports when the opportunities exist? Even in independent schools, where timetables often include clubs and matches, participation can be patchy. Access is only one part of the story – confidence, body image and social pressures can still influence whether a child chooses to get involved.
This is why parental support is so important. Encouraging children to find an activity they enjoy, helping them to stick with it and celebrating effort over performance are all crucial. The activity itself matters less than the habit of showing up, persevering and taking pride in progress over perfection. We are not suggesting that all children must become sports scholars, rather, we are championing regular sports participation as a useful tool in developing resilience, teamwork and self belief.
So while my sporting prowess (or lack of) is now reserved for the running track and attempting to learn the craze that is padel I do genuinely believe that the skills I learnt through sport have been just as formative as any academic qualification. For parents, the takeaway is clear the value of sport lies not just in the hope of becoming England’s next opening batsman but in the lifelong skills it cultivates, ones that last far beyond their school days.
