How Video Games Improve Athleticism

                Video games for the Xbox 360 have been known to have zero or even negative effects on your athleticism mainly because you are sitting on your couch not moving. What if I told you that video games could actually improve athleticism by decreasing your reaction time, increasing your hand eye coordination, and helping your overall sport IQ? Your response would mostly look like this “Paul, you’re crazy! Playing video games doesn’t do anything!” Here is where you would be wrong.

                Ever since sport games were introduced to the Xbox 360 they have included hundreds of different formations and plays. When playing FIFA13 (a soccer game), you are able to see the field from a bird’s eye view thus seeing where every position on the field is played. This definitely helps your soccer IQ in real life. More importantly, you are able to see each player’s off ball movement.  This helps tremendously in real life because one of the toughest things to learn in soccer is where to move when you don’t have the ball. On top of all that, you are also able to control formations and run set pieces. One of the greatest proponents of my argument is my old soccer teammate. He didn’t play a second of soccer in his life but played FIFA all the time. Senior year he played soccer and was able to fit right in due to the knowledge he gained from FIFA.

                Playing sports games can also help your reaction time, decision making, and even hand eye coordination. No matter what sport you play, these three skills will help. FIFA is another great example but NBA2K13 and Madden 13 are also great examples. Say you are running down the field with the ball (in the video game) and you cross it right in front of the goal. You only have a few seconds to react and in those few seconds, you need to know what button to press and at what time to press it. Practicing that one situation can easily improve your reaction time, decision making and hand eye coordination. So in real life when the situation presents itself on the soccer field or wherever it may be, you will be ready.

PS Tip: If you are debating whether or not to get a sport game, get an older one. They are significantly cheaper and very similar to the newer ones. If you like it, get the newer one.

Example: Buy FIFA 2009 for $7 and then if you like it buy FIFA 2013 for $48

PS Tip 2: Don't be afraid to buy these games on craigslist. Just like buying an Xbox, the games are cheaper and work just as fine as the new ones.

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                                Fifa 2013                                           Madden 2013

                                       MLB 2K13                                           NBA 2K13