Sport
Sports play an important role in growing up because they have beneficial effects on children's physical and psychological health and because they help them integrate into society.
Sports are particularly important at an early age. According to psychologists sports promote friendship among young people through the sharing of their experiences, victory as well as defeat. Sports offer a lot of opportunities to do activities together and teach them to rely on each other. By playing sports, misbehaved children who have little self-control can learn to respect the rules. Team sports can help moderate the personality of hot-tempered children and soothe shyness and touchiness.
The British invented and developed most of the sports and games that later spread all over the world. Amongst the others they invented football, cricket, baseball, tennis, table tennis, rugby, cycling, polo and golf.
In Britain, most people over the age of 16 regularly play a sport or do exercise. In recent years, the number of women practising sports has increased, also traditionally male-dominated sports, such as football and rugby.
In British schools, sports are part of normal school life. The great majority of schools have a game field and a gym. Some also have other facilities such as swimming pools, sports halls, running tracks, courts or pitches.