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Sports Extras
You don’t have to go for the gold to benefit from sports. For teens with ADHD, the payoffs can be immediate and long-lasting:
Achievement
The classroom is tough for many teens with ADHD. Shifting focus and hyperactivity rarely come in handy in school. On the athletic fields, though, those qualities are often assets, allowing a child to excel at a sport.
Focus
Exercise sharpens cognition. Physical activity helps the brain focus. According to , author of Spark, 30 minutes to an hour a day of physical activity helps kids manage ADHD symptoms. An after-school soccer practice will meet or exceed those recommendations.
Friendship
Children who are part of a team have a group to hang with and something in common to talk about.
Motivation
Being part of a school team provides incentive to do well academically. Kids have to maintain a certain GPA to be eligible to play.
Higher Education
Athletic talent and achievement in high school may help a teen get into college -- sometimes with a scholarship -- when his test scores and GPA are less than stellar.
Academic Support
When Jarryd entered college as a Division I athlete, he was required to put in 20 hours a week of study time — in the college athletic office. The office had a study area with on-site tutors and academic advisors to assist him.
Next: 4 Ways to Pick the Best Sports
This article appears in the Winter 2011 issue of ADDitude.
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