| Martial arts made a big impact in many areas of my life. I'm more flexible, I have more strength, and I can defend myself.
But most of the benefits, both mental and especially physical, have come to be because I don't stop training when class gets out. Some people don't care for the mental aspect of martial arts, but I assure you that if you can keep cool when somebodies got you in a rear naked choke. You stand a much better chance of getting out of it.
I don't play sports, so I can't tell you the effect that it would have there.
This is kind of on a side note, but the thing about martial arts like Tae Kwon Do is that you really have to think about what is useful and what is not. There will be a lot of things they'll teach you that won't directly apply to how things would happen in a real fight.
For instance, your poom se (form) will serve little purpose in a fight. It's mostly there to make sure you know all of the movements. The thing is, you have to learn your poom se weather it's useful or not to progress so you can learn more useful things. Kind of a catch 22.  | 
