Participation

One of the greatest benefits of Martial Arts training over team sports is the fact that EVERYONE gets to "play" and no one sits on the bench. We hear parents complain constantly that their child never gets to play or play enough. Some of the reasons are very simple. First it is just a numbers game. Most team sports are so cheap to get into, that they get a huge influx of kids and they have only so many positions to fill and only so much game time. Second, and this is a tough one for people to accept, your child is most likely there to support the superstars of the given sport unless they really are a superstar. Think about who gets to play more often, the more talented players. Why, because they win games. Many times winning becomes the focus more than what they are learning in the process. In the real world, we learn more from losing. We learn from mistakes made so that we can perform better in the future. Winning all the time can make us complacent. A overwhelming desire to always win is very unhealthy, especially to a child. In team sports, someone has to lose. In Martial Arts, everyone can win while they are competing with themselves to constantly improve. Oneself is the greatest competitor.
Martial Arts is also year round and does not have to end after the seasons is over. What are the kids supposed to do for their team sport during the off season? If skills are not used, they get lost.