Part 1 - Why do we play Basketball? - Body Development

This three-part blog series is dedicated to all parents by addressing, what can learning basketball bring to their children?

"Why do we play basketball? If one was to ask this question to every child who loves the sport of basketball, you are most likely to get a different answer each time.

Why does basketball have such a great charm for children? At LC Elite Basketball, we believe basketball provides children with a lot of happiness, but not just happiness, it also aids Children's psychological and physical growth.

The first part of this blog series will cover the Physiological aspect of children’s growth and development.

At LC Elite Basketball training, the physical development we would like to focus is Body Development (Bone, Muscle, Cardiopulmonary Function, etc.)

Basketball training is very helpful to children's height, bone strength and muscle mass, and can directly affect the size of muscle fibres and bone density during growth and development.

In other words, basketball training has an absolute boost to physical development, which depends on the characteristics of bone and muscle growth. According to Wolff's Law, which states “use it or lose it”, the way bones and muscles work can greatly affect how children develop.

For instance, studies have shown that young tennis athletes have significantly higher bone density and muscle mass in the gripping hand than in the other hand, with slender and dense thigh bones in cycling events and shorter and thicker thigh bones in weightlifting events.

At LC Elite Basketball training, our programs emphasizes jumping and running, so the longitudinal pressure on the lower limbs is very high. To adapt to this kind of activity, the body will stimulate the growth of epiphyseal cartilage (the growth point of the long bones of the lower limbs), and at the same time improve the length and quality of ligaments and muscles, all of which are beneficial to children. Bone and muscle development is very helpful, thus promoting the child to reach their maximum potential height.

Similarly, the cardiopulmonary function is also one of the biggest benefits that basketball can provide for children. The characteristics of basketball are high-intensity intermittent exercise mode mixed with low-intensity endurance exercise mode, which is just in line with the laws of heart work. In these two exercise modes, The lower heart has been well exercised, which not only improves the blood pumping ability of the children's heart muscle but also increases the endurance of the heart muscle.

Excellent cardiorespiratory function often means a low probability of cardiovascular disease and breathing problems. The best cardiorespiratory function is improved at the age of 19 years old, which means that the child's cardiorespiratory level will be with them throughout their life.