Children involved in sports are engaging in a social activity that requires cooperation between teammates and healthy competition between teams. Teenage boys learn how to negotiate strategies as well as how to accept failure and losses.
Most notably, sports provide opportunities for recognition and achievement in a healthy setting, focusing time on self-improvement for the sake of becoming a valued part of a team. We've all heard of kids who fall in with the wrong crowd, engaging in antisocial behavior for the attention of antisocial peers. Sports provides the right crowd, and a supportive audience and support system in the coaches, peers and other spectators for a game. This focus on healthy self-improvement is the antidote to negative peer pressure, which can drive well-meaning teens to act recklessly for the sake of acceptance.
Furthermore, sports require a healthy, active body. Exercise can release endorphins, which are stress-relieving chemicals, to the brain. Studies have suggested that after a game or training, a teenage boy will be more relaxed, leading to less anxiety and a healthier state of mind. Since healthy workouts can relieve anxiety, teenage boys involved in sports are less likely to act out or grow restless and bored, which can lead to aggressive behaviors.
Teens who have aggressive tendencies can also find an outlet in sports. Because of their rule structures and the presence of coaches, umpires and referees, these aggressive outlets are punished in ways that reduce the player's ability to compete, setting meaningful precedent for youth to follow for the rest of their lives.
All of these factors make sports a great deterrent to delinquency and antisocial behavior for teenage boys.