Sports In David Barash's Roar Of The Crowd

Imagine you are sitting at a baseball game eating cracker jacks or at a football game yelling because your team scored or you could be yelling at the refs because they made a bad call. There are many people that love sports but there was also a lot of people that loved sports when they became popular in the 1920’s. Sports have came a long why since then. They have became more competitive, the skill levels have improved a lot, and they are also easier to watch and keep up with because of how far technology has came.

“Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” by Jessica Statsky is a thoughtful insight on the competitive sports for children. She is of the view that the competitive sports can ruin the enjoyment that games are supposed to provide. These methods of playing the games like adults can prove to be lethal for physical and psychological health. The author quotes from an authentic source that “Kids under the age of fourteen are not by nature physical.” (Tutko) This means that the games for children need to focus more on their pleasure and enjoyment rather than on the competition. Competition only makes children bound to be winners. It also discourages sportsman spirit. Instead of being a source of healthy growth, these competitive sports have started becoming the source of depression for children when they don’t fulfil the expectations of their parents. These sports should enhance the sportsman spirit in children and must be beneficial for their mental and physical health. Concentrating on winning or losing spoils the fun that games hold. In addition, equal chances should be provided to every child to participate. Competitive nature can assist the children in their life later on, but the focus should be on better mental and physical health. (204 words)

Social Theories provides us with insights and explanations as to why people act the way they do. Sports is a human activity that involves physical skill and hard work. Sports is also governed by a set of rules and it is taken competitively. It is said that sports is taken seriously and is very important for athletes and even for the fans, some even say it is like a religion for them. Though not everyone in the society follow any sport, because they see that it has no relation to their lives. The connection of Social Theories and Sports is seen in how we see different kinds of human behavior and interactions of individuals; it can provide positive and negative outcomes. With the help of Social Theories we can grasp the process, patterns, values,

“Sport has the power to change the world. It has the power to inspire, the power to unite people that little else has...It is more powerful than government in breaking down racial barriers” (Nelson Mandela). Everyone remembers at some point in their life playing a sport, whether it be in school or to pass the time or on an actual sports team. Even in the case of people who have never played a sport, have at least seen a sport being played. Sports are a way for people from all different backgrounds to connect due to a common interest. Claudia Rankine tells professional sports stories to illustrate that minorities face racism, no matter their status, and in order to survive they must become invisible. Citizen is a way people of all races can

There has long been the debate for whether kids should be allowed to participate in competitive sports. Most people against say that sports make kids get severely injured, which is true, but only if the kid is unprotected and not in a safe environment, which is not the case with sports these days. In fact, sports promote more of a healthy lifestyle. Sports also promote life skills and help kids later in life Sports should be for all ages and kids.

According to Jessica Statsky’s essay titled Children Need to Play, Not Compete, most children under the age of 12 do not need competition in sports. Claiming that organized sports are not “satisfying nor beneficial” for young children, Statsky expresses her concerns over a few issues. Supporting her thesis, Statsky discusses the negative physical and psychological effects of competitive sports. She further asserts that most children do not enjoy competition by citing a study about how most children would prefer to be on a losing team that allowed everyone to play rather than a winning team that may bench them due to performance. Also, she states ‘scorekeeping, league standings, and the drive to win bring(s) out the worst in adults’. Illustrating

Sport is an integral and inseparable part of the American history and culture. Millions of people are either active participants or passive spectators of sports events. Americans worship sportsmen and sportswomen being ready to watch their celebrities at any cost. The popularity of sports is growing from year to year. Thus, the aim of the paper is to trace the popularity of sports in the United States rooted in its history, promoted by the political and economic changes, highlighted by the educational purpose, and grown up by the society 's needs. Historical, political, economic, and technological development, diversity of the US population, great attention to sports in the US educational system and mass media have caused great popularity of sports in the United States.

In one of his many quotes, Lewis Lapham speaks about what he believes sports represent in America, how the fans pay to see, “a world in which time stops and all hope remains plausible” and how the games are about much more than just winning or losing. This is not evident in the behavior, observed by H.G Bissinger in Friday Night Lights, of the town of Odessa, Texas. I disagree with Lapham’s claim that sports are more than just winning or losing, but agree with his claim that the hope felt by the fans is an illusion.

“In the U.S., about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and more than 3.5 million injuries each year” claims Stanford Children’s Health. It’s definitely true that competitive sports can cause all sorts of injuries from big to small. The media teaches people simply that sports leads to horrific injuries and can cause stress, but what the mainstream media hardly discusses are the great benefits of competitive sports. While there may be some negatives to competitive sports, that’s just life, and to add on to that; there are plenty of benefits which are sure to override to media’s facts. Kids should play competitive sports because competitive sports teach children powerful life lessons, contributes to their social and mental stability, and because of the physical gain competitive sports provides.

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky shines a light on a pressing issue about competitive sports and how participating in it at a young age has negative effects on children. Statsky talks about the damage caused by these sports both physically and mentally and how the pressure and stress become too much to bear for the growing children. The extreme physical activity demanded by these sports but an unnecessary strain on their bodies. Statsky highlights the fact that these sports due to their demanding nature can result in serious injuries which can take years to heal back up. As these games are originally designed for adult, children should not be allowed to play them.

Allen of London South Bank University and Marc V. Jones of Staffordshire University have found that there is scientific support for “home field advantage”. Two models for home field advantage were explored: the territorial model and the standard model. When there is a larger crowd at a sporting event that display encouraging behavior such as cheering and chanting and linked with the success of that team. The standard model studied by Allen and Jones is more focused on the psychological states of competitors, coaches, and officials and how the game is impacted by their behaviors; effects of the larger crowd can have an impact on the standard model because they can promote certain behaviors by the players such as better performance because of

Sports provide opportunities to explore and develop young athletes. Young athletes can identify themselves apart from playing sports through connecting with others and building new relationships

In this day and age with professional athletes being at the top of the social spectrum, youth sports have gotten very popular. “More than 26 million children ages 6 to 17 played team sports in 2014(Rosenwald).” Youth sports are very popular because it brings the great feeling of being on a team. When you are on a team you feel like you can do anything together, and nothing is stopping you. There are also many flaws in youth sports. In recent years studies have found that some kids have been steering away from sports. Numbers in kids playing sports has gone down nearly 4 percent from 2009, according to a widely cited survey by the Sports and Fitness Industry Association. Total sports played have plummeted by nearly 10 percent. People were curious why this was happening, so studies were conducted to find out. The researchers found out that there have been added pressures by three main sources, parents, coaches, and self pressure. Kids look up to their parents and coaches and would never want to disappoint them. The parents and coaches being the role models they are for the kids, that makes the pressure even more effective. Many kids around the United States have been leaving

Youth athletics takes away from the child’s chance of discovering what they truly love; they could really enjoy something other than sports. If a child spends every Saturday at a competition and drives an hour every night for a practice that will last 3 or more hours, they will never get the chance to try new things; all of their time is consumed by the sport they are playing. A child could be great at performing and acting in plays, but they will never know because they were pushed into athletics before they got the chance to explore all of their options. The person who could cure cancer, may never get the chance to explore the opportunities science offers him/her. By forcing children into sports at young ages, parents have cancelled out

Sport is a unifier. Sport unifies teams, provinces, cities, countries and in some cases even the whole world. These games have the ability to put all problems on hold and find solutions to the most difficult situations. During these events we as spectators are able to see the athletes as more than just fellow human beings but as role models to society. Not only can sports unite countries around the world, but they can also bring individual sportsmen and women together as a team. Sport allows team mates to form bonds that teach them to function as part of a whole, which is also a worthy skill to have in life. These bonds formed sometimes not only exist during the game but off the field as well. Sports can bring strangers