Guest post by Lily Jolie, www.baseballeagle.com. 

Most kids who start playing fastpitch softball do so because it looks like fun – and often it is. But there is more to it than that. In fact, it can be life-changing as this guest post points out. 

Playing sports and games benefit players in a greater way than most of the players presume. In fact, fastpitch softball can be beneficial in a lot of ways, from your personal life to interacting with other players and forming networks.

For instance, softball players know that there are times that they will lose while other times, they will win. This comprehension of success and failure makes it possible for the players to handle developments and challenges in their lives positively. Here are some of the ways that softball can change your life:

Travel 

Playing softball competitively provides you with opportunities to travel far and wide for competitions, tournaments, leagues, and friendly matches. What is more amazing about playing softball is that you also get a chance to travel to different states, countries, and even continents. This in turn provides you with mind blowing travel experiences and enables you to explore the world to learn more about people and different cultures. 

Great for body development 

Softball players often have better well-developed upper bodies than the ladies who do not play the sport. This is because when playing softball, players engage different muscles in their upper body to swing the bat and hit the ball. Additionally, it is a known fact that softball players have stronger and leaner hand and shoulder muscles than those who do not play the game. When playing softball, the whole body is usually active and as such, it becomes easy to burn fat deposits all over the body. This helps in maintaining a fat-free body hence removing the risk of developing obesity and other lifestyle diseases. 

Kills stress 

 Life is generally very stressful from family members, colleagues, studies and other responsibilities. Softball helps players to remain stress-free as the sport triggers the body to produce high amounts of stress-relieving hormones adrenaline and cortisol. In addition to this, when playing, the players feel relaxed and relieved thereby developing an optimistic feeling that helps them to overcome stress. By extension, the game is also very effective in fighting depression, especially among young players. This is because depression frequently comes about as a result of over-accumulated stress. 

Teamwork- How to manage relationships on a team 

Softball is a team sport that requires the input of all players if you hope to win. This teamwork helps players outside the sport as they go on with their daily routines at school or at work and become successful in whatever they are working on. This is achieved through collaborating with different people, workmates or students and eventually becoming successful. Working as team brings together different resources and skills thereby making the task easy to accomplish. 

Failure and Winning: To never give up 

Softball is a very dynamic sport. Failure in softball is inevitable, which makes winning that much sweeter. When players realize this, they are able to cope with loses and work toward triumphing over their opponents. The outcomes in softball translate to what goes on in real life. There are times in life when you will achieve something while you will fail at other times. This realization helps softball players to remain focused on their targets and goals without giving up. The same enthusiasm is very important in life is crucial in enabling people to remain focused on their targets regardless of the challenges and downfalls they experience on the way. 

Gives a way for communication 

Communication is the pillar of every relationship. Yet how you communicate depends on the situation and those you are communicating with. In softball, players communicate with different people including the coach, teammates, and their fans. To all of these classes of people, the players know the best language and terms to use; those that will easily be understandable to the other party. Likewise, communication is critical in real life and helps strengthen and bind relations. Since communication is a two-way affair, softball helps players to understand the feelings of the other party and hence know how to address them. This is a very important skill in real life as it helps in eliminating conflicts and misunderstandings. 

Time management 

Time management is a vital skill for everyone; the young and the old alike. When you have loads of tasks to accomplish within a specified time frame, time management skills will help you plan your schedule accordingly. When playing softball, you know how to balance time so that you have time for work/school, family, personal time, and playing softball. With good time management skills, it becomes easy to live a well-organized life with very little time wastage if any. 

Learn to live with your mistakes 

Most people find it hard to accept their mistakes and end up living in self-denial. This prevents them from collecting themselves after the mistakes and believing in their abilities again. In softball, mistakes constitute a definite aspect of the sport but even so, they do not prevent players from realizing success and winning their games. This enables the players to learn their mistakes quickly, learn not to judge others, and focus on what is at stake; winning. This skill when applied in real life leads to a successful and happy life without any regrets whatsoever. 

Improve your interpersonal skills 

When playing softball, you get to interact with different kinds of people with different characters and personalities. As such, players need to know how to interact with each player and understand them and handle each of them depending on their personalities. These interpersonal skills also come in handy in life as you interact with different people in the course of your work or studies. 

Creative thinking and decisions 

Winning in softball like in any other sport requires players to make decisions within split seconds. The game also requires creative thinking to identify the areas you can outshine your opponents in. This decisiveness is a very important aspect of life as it makes it possible to identify what you want and the means for achieving it. Likewise, creative thinking will help you identify opportunities and know how you can use them to your advantage. 

Generally, sports influence nearly all aspects of life and make it possible to live a well-balanced life. With softball, you get to enjoy a lot more benefits than in most other sports since the sport is fairly safe to play. The risk of injury or accidents in softball is quite minimal. Whether you are playing softball for recreation or as a career, you should be guaranteed to enjoy a well-balanced life that is success oriented. 

Photo credit: Foter.com