Nothing beats the cardiovascular workout you get playing soccer, football, basketball or hockey. These sports require your constant movement and alertness, and most positions require you to traverse the entire field of play during a game. The rules call for a lot of running, or in the case of hockey, skating. You will therefore develop plenty of stamina and endurance.
Soccer, football, basketball and hockey are also great sports to play because they are true team sports. Sure, you may score a goal or make a basket in an individual moment of success, but goals and baskets are impossible without teamwork. On your way to success in these sports, you will learn to communicate wordlessly and instantaneously with your coaches and teammates. The camaraderie you will build with your team will make victory sweeter to celebrate and defeat easier to bear.
Team sports, though, are not the only sports that physically and socially benefit teenage boys. For building self-confidence and learning self-reliance, individual sports like golf, tennis, track and field, boxing, swimming and wrestling are good options.
Both boxing and wrestling are high-powered sports that will rely on your own grit and determination to dominate and out-skill your opponent. The strength training you will do to succeed in these sports will turn your body into a formidable force. In contrast, individual sports like golf, tennis and swimming are good for developing agility, flexibility, balance and aim. While you might compete as part of a team doing these sports, you alone will be responsible for your scores and win-loss records. Success will bring you a great deal of personal pride.
Perhaps the best of both worlds can be found in baseball. Most plays, whether on offense or defense, fall squarely on one individual’s shoulders. Victory and defeat, however, are shared as a team.