Dr Lachlan Soper on the Benefits of Participating in Multiple Sports

When you’re looking to become more active, one of the best things that you can do is to play a number of different sports. Becoming an active participant in a number of sports has many benefits, including motor control, patience, teamwork, and an understanding of hard work. Today, we’re going to talk about some of the benefits of playing multiple sports.

MUSCLE CONTROL

When someone plays a number of different sports, it naturally improves their overall coordination and muscle control. As different sports, like soccer, athletics (track and field), and tennis, all use different skills, it can be an incredible outlet to help people gain the necessary skills to become better athletes. These skills that you acquire can even provide prevention against injury.

NEUROMUSCULAR BENEFITS

Playing multiple sports can lead to improved development of control throughout your neuromuscular system. This can include things such as endurance, power, strength, agility, speed, flexibility, and stability.

Kicking, running, jumping, even throwing and hitting all use your body’s muscles, allowing your muscles to become stronger. Ever notice that the more you practice your throwing and catching, the more powerful your throws become? Or how about going on a run. Keeping your endurance up can ensure that you blow everyone away at your next game.

OVERUSE OF MUSCLES

Playing different sports can actually ensure that you don’t overuse one muscle group. If you’re playing hockey, you’re using different muscles than when you’re playing football or baseball. If you were to focus on one aspect of one sport only you are more likely to develop an overuse injury. One way swimmers try to ‘balance’ their muscles out is competing and training in different strokes – freestyle develops your chest (as well as arms, legs etc), whereas training backstroke as well develops your back and compliments the strength in your chest from the freestyle and butterfly strokes.

You can rest certain muscles while playing one sport, and activate them when playing a different one. Think of baseball pitchers, the incredible forces they place through one shoulder and their risk of injury. It can be incredibly easy to wear out your arm when throwing a baseball day in and day out, but if you play soccer alongside baseball, you have the ability to get a nice workout and not have to worry about overusing your arms. This is incredibly important when looking at the potential for injury. Rest and diversification of muscle use and muscle stimulus is so important.

ABOUT DR LACHLAN SOPER

​Based in Mosman, Sydney, Australia, Dr Lachlan Soper, a general practitioner, spends much of his free time cycling through his community and country. Like so many others, Lachlan’s love for cycling started during childhood. Borrowing a bike from his friends, he would spend hours riding through the local streets, never tiring of the joy and fun cycling brought him.

On average, he rides three to five times a week and approximately 10k kilometres per year. He loves that, unlike walking or riding in a car, cycling trips can be taken at one’s own pace and, when participating in group rides, he has the opportunity to meet so many others and hear their stories. To date, his bike has taken him all over the country, including through the Victorian Alps, the New South Wales Snowy Mountains, and from Melbourne to Sydney twice. In addition to cycling for personal goals, Lachlan has also participated in a myriad of charity rides.

Dr Lachlan Soper also appreciates that cycling affords him another way to stay active and healthy for his family—it even provides another way to spend time with his children. His three children, aged six to ten, are an active bunch. They spend the majority of their days jumping on the trampoline, perfecting their flips, playing tennis, swimming, and generally doing anything they can as long as it’s outside. As a group, Lachlan and his children take regular rides through bike paths around Sydney Harbour, around it’s lakes and coastline.