Why Racket Sports Might Be the Best Thing Your Child Can Do
As parents, we all want to give our children the best possible start.
Better health.
More confidence.
Stronger focus.
If there was a single activity shown to improve your child’s brain function, confidence, and long-term health, most parents would prioritise it immediately.
That activity is regular sport - particularly skill-based sports like squash and tennis.
Here’s what the evidence tells us:
🧠1. Improved Brain Function & Academic Performance
Studies show that children who engage in regular physical activity:
Have better concentration
Improved memory
Higher academic performance
This isn’t just about “burning energy” - movement actually improves how the brain functions.
Backed up by the Stats
Studies have shown that physically active children can improve cognitive performance by up to 10-15%, particularly in areas like attention, processing speed, and memory.
Research from the UK and Europe has also linked regular physical activity with higher academic achievement and improved classroom behaviour.
Movement increases blood flow to the brain and stimulates the release of chemicals like BDNF (Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor) - which helps the brain learn and adapt more effectively.
💪2. Confidence Through Competence
Skill-based sports like squash provide something unique:
Visible progress.
Children can feel themselves improving:
Better timing
Better control
Longer rallies
This builds real confidence, not artificial praise.
Unlike many activities, skill-based sports give children objective feedback. The ball either comes back… or it doesn’t. This creates earned confidence, built through repetition and improvement - not just encouragement.
🔁3. Resilience & Emotional Control
Sport, especially mentally tough sports like squash, naturally teaches:
How to deal with losing
How to manage frustration
How to keep going when things are hard
These are key traits linked to long-term success in life, not just sport.
Interestingly, research suggests that individual sports can play a particularly strong role in developing resilience.
In individual sports like squash:
Children take full ownership of decisions
They can’t rely on teammates to “rescue” the moment
They learn to regulate emotions independently
This builds self-reliance, emotional control, and problem-solving under pressure - key traits linked to long-term success.
❤️4. Long-Term Health Habits
Children who enjoy sport early are:
More likely to stay active as adults
Less likely to develop lifestyle-related health issues
The earlier positive experiences are formed, the stronger the habit becomes.
Research shows that active children are up to 5 times more likely to remain active into adulthood. And habits formed before the age of 14 are significantly more likely to stick for life.
🎾Why Squash Specifically?
Squash is often ranked as one of the fittest sports in the world.
A widely cited study by Forbes ranked squash as the #1 healthiest sport, based on:
Cardiovascular demand
Strength and endurance
Calorie burn
Injury risk
Players can burn 600-1,000 calories per hour, while constantly changing direction, reacting, and making decisions under pressure. This combination of physical intensity + mental challenge is what makes squash so unique. Squash is particularly powerful because it combines:
Decision making
Movement and agility
Problem solving under pressure
It’s often described as “physical chess” - and that’s exactly what makes it so valuable.
Final Thought
Sport isn’t just about creating athletes.
It’s about building young people who are:
Confident in themselves
Capable under pressure
Resilient when things get tough
And in a world that is becoming increasingly sedentary and screen-driven…that might be one of the most valuable gifts we can give them.
Help your child build these skills
Over the Easter holidays, our squash camps are designed to develop exactly these qualities - through structured coaching, fun competition, and an environment where children can grow both on and off the court.
If you’d like your child to experience this first-hand, I’d love to welcome them along.
👉 Spaces are limited to keep coaching quality high.
👉 If you’d like your child to be part of it, you can find full details and book here:
BOOK HERE