By Barbara Pierce
Close to 130 million of us are expected to watch the 60th anniversary Super Bowl game on Feb. 8. The Super Bowl is the most-watched TV event in the U.S., with record breaking viewership in previous years.
The Super Bowl is a big deal because it’s a unique national cultural phenomenon, combining massive viewership, high-stakes advertising, top-tier entertainment and social gathering into an event often considered an unofficial U.S. holiday.
Football is a big deal. Both for our country and for us here in the Mohawk Valley. We love the game! In fact, we love all kinds of sports from football to soccer to basketball and baseball. We have a long history with both professional and amateur levels of sports and sporting events. We welcome teams and all their fans. The diversity in our sports community and venues is directly connected to our strength.
Whether you play sports or watch from the stands, there are so many benefits. Being a team member or a fan strengthens us as individuals. It’s simple and easily available medicine.
“I truly believe that without sports and the structure they provided, I would not be where I am today or the person I’ve become,” said David A. Smith of Clinton. Coach Dave founded and operates Mohawk Valley Sports Charities, which focuses on funding sports opportunities for kids.
“Sports have played a huge role in my life, both growing up and now as an adult,” he said. “As a kid, sports gave me structure, accountability, and a sense of purpose. They taught me how to work toward something bigger than myself, how to handle adversity and how to stay committed even when things were hard.”
“For adults and kids alike, sports build habits that translate far beyond the field—discipline, teamwork, resilience, time management and confidence,” he added. “You learn how to prepare, how to fail and recover and how consistent effort leads to progress. Those lessons carry directly into everyday life, careers and relationships. As a coach, my goal isn’t just to win games. My goal is to prepare kids to succeed—on the field and off it. Sports give kids a safe place to learn life skills, and that impact can last a lifetime.”
Whether a child or an adult, there’s no doubt that playing sports as a member of a team teaches us so many important life lessons.
But experts say being a sports fan, just watching from the stands, also comes with enormous potential health benefits. Attending a game has been shown to enhance mood, general well-being and life satisfaction. Just imagining an upcoming game or season and the potential outcomes and/or replaying a game or season in your mind can have positive impacts on self-esteem.
Sports provide not just entertainment but meet our deep human needs for socialization and for connection by providing a sense of community.
Attending a game increases our opportunities for socialization. As we watch with others, we immediately become a part of the group and enjoy social connectedness and a feeling of belonging. Whether we’re cheering on our local high school team, our favorite college team or our kid’s soccer game, a win is a group victory and a loss is a shared defeat.
Research proves that sports fans have wider friendship networks, stronger feelings of belonging and fewer feelings of alienation. One study found that attending live sporting events boosts life satisfaction and reduces loneliness as much as starting a new job. And in one experiment, fans were more likely to step up for one another — fans are three times more likely to stop to help a stranger in need who is wearing their team’s jersey or cap.
Sports fandom has a special power to connect people, especially at a time when so many of our traditional civic bonds are fraying.
Being a sports fan boosts our mood. Celebrating the victories of our team releases the ‘feel good’ chemicals of dopamine and endorphins into our brain, providing a “high” that reduces stress and increases happiness. Just watching our favorite athlete as they play can have these same positive psychological effects.
And fandom supports our brain health. Learning the rules, keeping up with stats, strategies and player dynamics helps keep our mind sharp. The cognitive load of being a sports fan can be impressive.
So, put on a team hat. Wear your team jersey to the supermarket. When others give you the thumbs up gesture or a team cheer, return the gesture or the cheer and you will have taken a step toward strengthening your community — and maybe making a new friend to watch the game with next week.