Games and sports are an important means of recreation. “All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy” is a well known proverb. After their studies during the day, students require some rest and recreation in the evening Games and sports, specially the outdoor ones, are most suitable for them. They refresh them and enable them to regain their lost energy. The only can they work harder and with greater interest in the night.
Image Source: inivelul2.lab501.ro/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/sports-games-E3-2015.jpg
Games ad sports are also very useful from the point of view of health. They take students into the company of nature where they breathe fresh and pure air. They have to run and jump a lot. This physical activity is very useful for digestion. In this way, games and sports not only refresh the mind, they also improve digestion, fill the lungs with pure air, and so make the students more active and healthy.
They teach students the value of discipline. Every game has its own rules and regulations and all have to obey them. Every player has to bow down before the judgment of the referee. This teaches the players to respect the laws even if they do not like them. That is why we find that sportsmen are more disciplined persons than others.
ADVERTISEMENTS:
Games and sports also teach students to lead a corporate life. They teach them the importance of team work. While playing, every player is the member of a team and he has to play not for his own good but for the good of the whole team. Thus he learns to co-operate with others for the common good. In this way, when he enters life, he proves to be a good citizen. Games and sports have already taught him how to sacrifice his own desires and his own good for the good of society. Sportsmen are more social and more self-sacrificing than those who have never participated in sports.
Games also provide an outlet for the surplus energy of youth. Young people are full of energy, all of which cannot be used in their studies. If no healthy outlet is provide for it, it expresses itself in the form of mischief, hooliganism and other undesirable activities. Games and sports are the best means for the use of this excess energy. They occupy all their leisure time and so leave them with no time and energy to loiter about in evil company.
There are certain other advantages as well. Good sportsmen are popular in society. They are able to earn name and fame for themselves as well as for their institutions. They are respected, wherever they go. They get many opportunities for traveling and so are able to meet new people and see new sights. They get jobs easily because in services as well, sportsmen are given preference over others.
It is, therefore, clear that games and sports have a great value in life. But they can also do much harm to students, it they come in the way of their studies. They should be enjoyed only as a means of recreation for a limited time. Excess of everything is bad and it would be misuse of games, if they are played at the cost of studies. Then they shall no longer remain a blessing but shall become a curse. Also, sportsmanship is the essence of sports. A game should be played in the spirit of the game. The nobility of a game should not be lost. Victory is not all that matters, the main thing is the participation in an event. Thus a game should not become a cut-throat event. Losing a game gives an opportunity to show real sportsmanship grace, dignity, generosity and nobility.