National Sports Day: Significance of the day and benefits of team sports for children

National Sports Day is celebrated every year on 29th August. The day is also used to mark the birth anniversary of Major Dhyan Chand. In 2012, India announced its decision to celebrate 29th August as National Sports Day.

Dhyan Chand had led the Indian hockey team to victory, winning consecutive golds at the Summer Olympics in 1928, 1932, and 1936. He is popularly considered a history whiz because he had scored more than 400 goals in the span of 22 years. In 1956, Chand was also awarded the Padma Bhusan Award, India's third-highest civilian honour. He was given the name Chand by his fellow players because he spent a lot of time practicing at night.

The day is meant to commemorate the legend and create awareness on the importance of sports, fitness and health.


Children must take part in sports because it is essential for their fitness, health and positive overall development. When children participate in sporting activities, it has a positive impact on their overall growth. Moreover, playing team sports has many added benefits such as the following;

• Playing team sports enables children to learn about teamwork. When they play in a team, they learn to work with others to achieve a particular goal. This will have a positive impact on their overall growth and is beneficial for when they start working as adults in a team and not just as individual professionals.
• Team sports also help them to build stronger relationships. When children play sports, they learn how to conduct themselves in social situations. Along with that, they also learn how to bond with people and build relationships.
• It teaches them respect. When children play team sports, they learn to respect other people, the rules, authority as well as their opponents. They learn to respect the rules and understand the consequences of not following the rules.
• Finally, it also helps them learn about leadership skills. When children play team sports, they learn to be accountable and responsible for their actions. They understand that they are accountable for their actions and this instils in them leadership skills.