“Sports therapy has long been considered helpful for those suffering from conditions such as post-traumatic stress disorder, abuse, amnesia and even shyness. But Italian doctors have taken this often-marginal treatment a step further: they’re using the highly strategic game of soccer as part of a treatment plan for complex mental illnesses like schizophrenia and depression.”

I’ll buy that. I’ve seen firsthand how sports increases the self-confidence of children, fills their need to belong, and makes my adopted children simply feel more normal.

Or as these same physicians succinctly put it, “The physicians have found that it helps with socialization, concentration and confidence building.”

Often feeling as if the label ‘adoption’ is floating cartoonishly over my children’s heads, it can be a relief, at school, to just yap about last night’s game at the ball field instead of any other topic. In our case, aggression issues are paramount within our house, maybe it’s because I have 21 sons, but I have some mean daughters as well.

Hitting or kicking the ball hard on the playing field is not only acceptable but also admirable. My girls seem to show no fear, rushing head first into the fray on the field, aggression pumping their legs, making them run faster, harder and longer, shrugging off injuries, and staying in the game.

Sweaty, breathless, spent and tired afterwards but always basking in the effort, win or lose. Knowing I’ll speak positively to them about how hard they played, looking back at me with huge, hungry eyes quietly searching for approval, knowing they’ll receive it, and growing stronger as a person for having done so.

I did not grow up playing sports, a nerd at best, uncoordinated and clumsy, but I believe, if I’d been encouraged to try out for volleyball or softball, I too would have done OK in that I’m energetic beyond belief. What I lacked in ability, I’d have compensated for in drive and determination.

Sports are expensive, we’ve had help with county rec fees and equipment, plus I scour yard sales for the used, but still great, stuff.

This article in Newsweek magazine is both lengthy and informative. I would encourage adoptive parents, particularly those parents who’ve adopted older children, to get them involved in sports. Often it’s what the kids wanted to do anyway, but had been denied the opportunity for so long, as they moved from place to place over the years.

I’ve had my children wrapped up in the county rec leagues, Little Leagues, fall leagues, school teams and church teams, all in an effort to channel and expend their prodigious energy. It is certainly time-consuming on my part, but the payoff has been tremendous for all of us.