Are Parents Ruining Youth Sports Essay

In the articles, “The secret life of Tiger Woods,” by Wright Thompson, and, “Are parents ruining youth sports? Few kids play amid pressure,” by Michael S. Rosenwald, both analyze the lives of varied athletes that have sacrificed things to get to where they are now as an elite-athlete.   Although in my opinion, I think the quest to becoming an “elite athlete” is ultimately not worth the sacrifices it requires.  

“Think for a moment about the different roles that you fulfill in your own life, it could be that of a runner, a cyclist, a mother, a father, a coach, a brother, a wife, a teacher and so on” (Symes). Throughout life, a person takes on many roles. Some roles, such as a daughter, or friend, or brother, will stick with a person forever. However there are some roles, such as a coach, or an athlete, that come and go. Many athletes tend to announce their role with a sense of ownership.

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, Jessica Statsky tries to highlight the growing issue and destructive effects of the competitive sports. These sports are fabricated keeping the age and standards of an adult which make them unsuitable for children. These sports have a negative impact on a child’s health as a whole. The body and the mind are both equally. Developing bodies of the children suffer a great deal because of the extreme physical activity demanded by the competitive sports.

All sports fans may think of their favorite athlete as a hero, a god, a role model, or someone they wish to be. As an athlete there is always the fear of failure or missing the one shot that could have achieved their life goal. As athletes they are always expected to live, breathe, eat, and die for their sport, which in the end causes them distress. In the novel Friday Night Lights, the small town of Odessa, Texas they put that same unneeded pressure on their athletes. To them it is more about winning then actually enjoying the sport, putting an immense pressure on their team to succeed.

Although many athletes get high salaries and sometimes help charities most athletes spend it on drugs, women and fast cars. First and foremost, children are starving, homeless, and dying while athletes are out in the city living the “fast life.” Children are starving without any food hoping and praying that they get to see the light of the sun the next day while athletes are out partying getting wasted out of their minds not worrying about the massive headache they 're gonna have the next day. Athletes should not get as much money as they do, more money should go to charities and to help children and people out starving and dying.

There has been an ongoing debate on whether or not athletes should be considered role models. A main trigger to this debate was when Charles Berkley said, “I am not a role model. Parents should be role models. Just because I can dunk a basketball, doesn’t mean I should raise your kids.” when he took part in a Nike campaign back in 1993 (Dobie, 1).

Competitive Argument Essay Brady Hurst: (5 Pieces of Evidence) Subtopic: High Impact Sports have a Higher Injury Rate Injuries. They happen to all of us and yet you don’t think it but, sometimes the things that hurt us aren’t even from car crashes and accidents. It’s from the choices we make by joining competitive sports.

So imagine walking into a local rec center and seeing little 5 year olds working hard. Running up and down the court with a coach close behind watching everything. Are they not quite old enough to work that hard? It’s possible at the age of 3 years old to play t-ball, and soccer at the age of 4. The age of sport keep getting younger and younger.

Every sport I have ever played, I have seen a parent being far too demanding of their young athlete. "We will be out here all night if we have to! I want this play run how it's supposed to be run right now!" a furious father screamed at his child, who is now shaking and terrified to screw up again. "

One of the best American traditions for children is to participate in youth league sports. There is nothing more fun than getting a group of friends together and organizing a winning team. However some believe that childhood sports should not be very competitive. Some people would argue that “It’s not about winning, it’s about having fun”, whereas others want their child to be the next Babe Ruth or Michael Jordan. In the book Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs Chuck Klosterman describes the time he coached peewee baseball team and how the parents viewed his competitive attitude as negative.