Benefits of Team Activities and Getting Organized with Spond

As a mom of two active, athletic, and social children, I couldn’t be more thrilled that team sports are back! After a pandemic hiatus, I am happy to see that children are spending time outside and playing sports in group settings again. As a child therapist, sports and outdoor play is so vital to a child’s mental wellbeing. And when I am working with a child who has some separation anxiety, social phobias, anger management issues, depression, anxiety, hyperactivity, or are lacking social and or communication skills, the first thing I always recommend is playing group sports. There is so much children can learn by playing sports and I couldn’t recommend it more for kids of all ages!

 

 

 

 

I also recommend that parents be involved in their children’s passions, which includes sports. Not only does this increase parent child attachment bonds, it helps parents keep a pulse on their children, their behaviors, their emotions, what their talents are, and who their friends are! As a very involved mom, I love being in the middle of the action with my kids whether that means being a room mom at school or coach when they are playing a sport.

 

 

 

And, as a busy working mom, I often need my involvement to be quick, easy, and effortless. Oh, and I like everything to be organized, too. When I talk to other parents about volunteering and getting involved, I often hear that they don’t know where to start and they worry that it will take up too much time. They wonder how they can start a group activity and then communicate effectively with other parents about game practices, games, last minute cancellations, who’s turn it is to bring snacks, etc. It seems daunting to get it all done, but I just found out about Spond  to wash all these worries away!

 

 

What is Spond?

 

Spond makes it easy for parents to start a team sport or group activity, coach their children’s teams, communicate with other parents, share photos and files, collect money, and organize everything in between! Plus, Spond is free, secure and private! And it’s not just for sports, you can organize music groups, scout meetings, social play dates or meet-ups, homeschool activity groups, field trips, volunteer events, academic clubs, and so much more! And, guess what! It’s quick, easy, and effortless!

 

Group administrators report that Spond saves them, on average, 2.2 hours of administrative work each week.

 

You can utilize Spond through the app, website, and even via email. They do not share your private information with anyone. The only cost is a transaction fee if you choose to collect money from group members. Spond helps cultivate smooth communication between team leaders, coaches, members and guardians on one platform!

 

 

 

 

 

Spond delivers 30,000 invitations every day! Thousands of groups use the app every single week! I invite you to join 500,000 coaches, parents, team leaders, and youth who already use Spond!

 

 

Benefits of Team Activities and Sports

 

There are many social, physical, and therapeutic benefits of group sports and activities to have your children involved in athletic and non athletic group activities. Research has shown that children do better academically when involved in group sports and activities. Sports, team activities, and groups help children learn communication skills, develop character, critical thinking skills, social skills, teamwork, learn leadership skills, learn how to work together with difficult personalities, problem solving skills, alleviate stress and depressive symptoms, build perseverance, and even boost their self-image and self-esteem!

 

 

 

 

Children of all ages can use physical activity to release hyperactive symptoms and also stay healthy and active. Plus, children are known to perform better academically in school when involved in a team or group activity. And children can form long-lasting friendships and bonds with other children throughout their life when involved in team sports and group activities. And children can learn how to listen, follow directions, teach discipline, learn how to win and lose, learn to respect coaches and other adults.

 

And lastly, if you organize a volunteer project, you are role modeling your value system to your children and teaching them how to get involved and give back to others. As a mom, this is so important to me! So I encourage you to create a group to volunteer and get together to clean trash at a local park or organize a group to visit a local food pantry.

 

 

How To Create a Group on Spond

1. Create a Spond profile in the app or at https://spond.com/register
2. Go to your profile and click on ‘Groups’ followed by ‘Create group’
3. Enter a group name and optionally create subgroups
4. Specify the activity (football, choir, boating, etc.) and age group (children, adults or mixed) of your group.
5. Create a group description which will be presented to new members when they are invited
6. Click ‘Create group’ to finish setting up the group
7. Edit group settings such as custom member fields or admin roles
8. Invite members. Read more.

 

 

 

 

So what are you waiting for? Hopefully you feel as inspired as I do to create and organize a team sport or group activity for your children! Spond makes it so easy, so there is no excuse!

 

 

This blog post is sponsored by Spond, but all opinions are my own.