GR24 PSLL - Joy – Shining Faces

Fun increases your physical and psychological health. It boosts endorphins which decreases stress and improves our tolerance for pain. It increases our relationships, not only with the people you are having fun with but it helps us feel good about all of our relationships. Laughter releases serotonin which reduces stress and is good for memory, sleep, breathing, heart rate, and mood. Fun increases your life span because it’s positive. It also lifts energy levels. When you take the time to relax, to have fun and to enjoy yourself, you are more capable of dealing better with everything else in life.

When you engage in non-competitive sports, you’re signing up for a journey of self-improvement and joy. Personal growth is at the forefront, not the scoreboard. As someone who’s played sports with fierce competitiveness, you understand that not every activity on the field or court needs to end with a trophy. Sometimes, the real victory lies in the laughs shared with friends or the new skill you’ve just mastered.

These sports serve as a breeding ground for innate motivation—you’re there because you love it, and every step you take is a step toward a better you. You don’t need a packed stadium or a shiny medal to feel accomplished. Rather, setting personal goals, like improving your running time or mastering a new yoga pose, drives you to push forward. For kids, especially the ones you coach, non-competitive sports introduce them to a world of healthy habits and social skills without the sometimes overwhelming nature of cutthroat competition.

Our students gathered to the gym of our neighbor and played a match of basketball just for fun. No winners or losers, no referees, just classmates playing together. This was a very good exercise and everyone had fun.

Our students learnt to cooperate with peers. They developed a sense of fairness. They found their own pace in developing skills