Playing Basketball – Benefits for Adults

A lot of group sports are associated with young children and professional athletes, but they can also be a great source of exercise, socialization, and stress-relief for working adults. In this article, we will discuss basketball as a particularly great group sports option that can bring forth numerous benefits for adults playing it as a form of recreation. So let’s start.

But first just a few words about basketball

Basketball is a popular team sport played all around the world. The premise is simple, two teams of five players each try to score by shooting a ball through a hoop. The hoop is elevated 10 feet above the ground. The game is played on a rectangular floor called the court, and there is a hoop at each end. It is important to note that the court is divided into two main sections by the mid-court line. The game is divided into 4 quarters after each quarter there is a short break. Another option of playing, far more popular with those who play basketball as a form of recreation is playing a small team, usually three on three and at only one hoop. Finally, there is also competition in free throws from large distances.

And now on to benefits!

It is a great form of exercise

Basketball definitely gets your blood pumping. There is a lot of continuous sunning involved as well as endurance building due to the light of the game. So movement gets your blood pumping and your whole body burns calories while increasing its stamina. What can be better than that? And if you have the opportunity to play it outside, the oxygen level in your body gets to increase and you are bound to feel great after a game.

It promotes socialization

Between work and home we, as adults tend to put our social life on hold, and that is not a good thing. So finding an activity that can bring us closer together to our friends and that involves spending time with them is truly a great option. And this is what basketball does. For example, in a country like Australia, there are a lot of small local teams that inspire others to play this sport. So you will often see amateur teams procuring basketball uniforms in Australia in order for their players to feel like they belong and to promote local neighborhoods and the community. This helps with the socialization aspect of the matter, especially for adults.

It helps keep self-discipline at a high rate

Doing any sport, but especially a team sport really helps with our self-discipline because we don’t want to let our team down. This in return gets us to practice on a regular basis. Otherwise, if it is just up to us we might skip training or two now and again, and that is never a good thing. Like any group, sports basketball helps us develop the self-discipline that is important as it encourages us to be more competitive and fair at the same time. It also keeps our mind focused as well as alert. And not to mention that learning how to abide by the rules of the game and still win is always a valuable life lesson.

So get your gear ready and call up your friends, it is time to shoot some hoops. And if you are good enough you can join a competition and maybe even win a prize or two for additional motivation. But most importantly, have a lot of fun and enjoy it, that is the biggest benefit of them all.