Play is universal, and organized sports such as soccer are popular in many countries.

There are many benefits for youth participating in sports.

Sports can also serve as a tool for cross-cultural communication, even when there is no common language.

Today, many communities across the world—especially Western communities—tend to emphasize and privilege organized sport over free, unstructured play (Ergler et al., 2013). While there is high value in free play, I’d like to share an experience of how traveling with my daughter’s (American) soccer team to play soccer in two different countries—Germany and Switzerland—led me to also appreciate the value of universal structured games such as sports, both for adolescent development and for family bonding.

Research has demonstrated that families often make connections with one another over playing and watching sports (Williams et al., 2020). I would certainly say that has been true for my family, where we attend multiple practices and games each week for both of my children, and we also frequently travel to distance tournaments. This leads to a lot of hours spent together in the car and on the fields, and lots to talk about before and after. This past summer, my family traveled the farthest we have done yet to play and watch soccer—an eight-hour flight across the Atlantic!

In the United States, more than 14 million children over the age of 6 participate in soccer (as of 2023) (Morning Consult, 2026). Soccer is the third most popular sport for youth in the U.S. behind football and baseball. Globally, youth soccer has over 21.5 million registered players under the age of 18 (Carpels et al., 2021).

Participation in organized sports such as soccer comes with multiple benefits. For example, research has shown that 10- to 12-year-old children practicing soccer demonstrated better cognitive functioning, particularly in terms of attention and cognitive flexibility (Bidzan-Bluma et al., 2024). They also showed better performance in free recall of visual material compared to nonathletes.

There are significant physical benefits, as well. One study of 1,333 adolescents found that those participating in an organized sport ran longer, had lower body fat percentages, and had higher overall well-being (Meiner et al., 2025). These differences were especially pronounced in girls. Similarly, a meta-analysis of longitudinal research on youth sports participation found that it had positive effects on physical activity and health, and was negatively associated with unhealthy body composition over time (Bengtsson et al., 2025).

This same study found benefits for the mental health and well-being of participants in youth sports, as well. Similarly, multiple studies have demonstrated psychological benefits such as feelings of social acceptance (e.g., Heitler, 2004), an increase in self-esteem (Williams, 2023), a better quality of life (Khan et al., 2023), and the realization of one’s own strength (Tamminen et al., 2013). Relatedly, parents and players alike often note the social rewards of participating in sports, including friendships (Keathley et al., 2013), learning important lessons about winning and losing, and recognizing the talents of others (Koskuba et al., 2018).

I believe that my daughter’s experience playing soccer abroad (and our experience watching her) reflected pretty much all of these benefits. In Germany, her team got the opportunity to play in one full-length friendly match with a local German club, and one local tournament consisting of three shorter games against various local German teams. They were also given the opportunity to train with local coaches in both Germany and Switzerland and to watch some professional games taking place in the area. But it is the interactions that my daughter and her teammates had with the players on the German teams that struck me the most.

I think that all of the girls (on both sides) were nervous at first. The communication barrier was intimidating, but the universality of the sport and the love of the game helped to break the ice pretty quickly. After the first (full-length) match, instead of leaving the pitch after giving high fives, two of the girls from the local German team ran to their locker room and returned with a radio. The coaches sat all of the girls from both teams in one giant circle (inter-mixed), and they went around and gave ideas of favorite songs and artists. Then, they all stood up together and danced to some of the commonly favored songs.

This singing, dancing, and laughing, and the photo-taking and exchanging of social media contacts that resulted, lasted for a full hour after the game ended. It was one of the most fascinating things I have ever witnessed. The girls played together that night—both in the soccer game and after—and all left the field smiling and happy. As did their parents.

Similarly, in the tournament, the girls on all teams were able to find common ground—both literally and figuratively!—through playing together. This led to more photos, more social media exchanging, and a shared meal of pizza at the end of the tournament. In both cases—the single game and the tournament—the girls did not all speak the same verbal language, but they communicated and bonded through the universal activities of play.

As someone who has researched and taught about play for several years, I have known about the universality of play and the myriad studies showing its benefits. But being able to witness firsthand the ability of play to unite teenage girls from rather disparate cultures was one of the most powerful experiences I’ve had as a psychologist and as a parent. And, of course, the rewards of that experience were felt deeply by my daughter—and, most likely, by all of the players—and will remain with them for many years to come.

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