Sports Persuasive Essay

While some believe that athletes should have their own choice at making a decision to go pro straight out of high school, they should not do so because they will not be able to manage their million dollar contracts respectively. Speaking of contracts, the NBA should eliminate guaranteed contracts for rookies drafted in the first round of the NBA draft. They should do this because a careless high school kid, could just go into the draft not knowing, or caring on how much they are going to make, with the lack of experience on handling millions of dollars. This is very unrepsonsibible for a teenager, and not only for the high school athlete, but also for the basketball association as well. This is because of there noncommitment to have these players

The importance of children’s athletics is for kids to have fun. When the child stops getting enjoyment out of the sport, then it is the parent’s job to take them out. Sports can have many positive effects on a child’s life, but it is important to remember too much of a good thing can make it a hurtful thing. As the culture of youth athletics spirals out of control, it is the parent’s responsibility to save the child from short-term and, unfortunately, long-term damage. Parents need to evaluate how far they are willing to go for youth athletics and when they will have taken their obsession too

“In the United States, about 20 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and younger get hurt annually playing sports or participating in recreational activities” (Lucile Parkland Children’s Hospital). Children and their parents are sacraficing much of their time and money with youth sports. With kids starting at such a young age playing such intense sports it is increasing the amount of injuries that occur at younger ages. With the intensity increasing, children’s time is decreasing. These children have no more time for themselves or with their families. Going along with the children’s families, the parents of these young athletes are spending large amounts of money to make their kid the best and go onto the professional league. The families of these children not only spend hundreds of dollars, but also are one of the top reasons youth sports have become so intense. They have been more involved and effect the child’s performance. These sports programs are causing mental and physical damage for these developing kids and the intensity of parents and coached have made it even more overwhelming.

The amount of children participating in competitive sports has been on a steady decline in the past decade. Between the years of 2008 and 2013, the total number of children participating in competitive sports has dropped by approximately 2.6 million. This is mainly due to the many negative impacts that young athletes face when partaking in these sports. Competitive sports involve sports where competition is encouraged, and where winning is more important than anything else. Competing in these sports causes the children to be vulnerable to many risks and many other negative impacts. Children who participate in competitive sports at a young age experience more serious negative impacts than positives, including a risk of severe injury, losing

From the Friday night lights to the last second goal, school sports are a major part of the high school journey. In fact, according to "Are High School Sports Good For Kids?" by Daniel Gould, Ph.D., over five million students from the United States participate in a school sport. High school sports are a great way for student-athletes to stay healthy, make new friends, and be a part of a team atmosphere. In addition, school sports keep kids off of the streets and lower the athlete's chance of committing a crime.

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky tries to demonstrate the negative effect of organized sports on the physical and psychological health of growing child. She claims that the games are not festive but they end up in the wrong development of a child’s brain. The coaches and parents have high hopes for their children that result in the pressure building. This changes the purpose of sports from teaching tolerance, teamwork and sportsmanship to merely winning by all means. The writer further explains that the idea of winning sometimes causes severe injuries that may prevail for a lifetime. In these games, a child may crash into one another accidently that creates a fear of getting hurt. Just to protect themselves some children back out of many games and are left behind when it comes to the development of their bodies. The rest of the children who are part of these games are in a constant pressure from their parents and coaches that cause the stress and anxiety. Furthermore, the writer states that this “sport becomes job like”. Children are playing just to win and the real spirit of the game fades out. (Word count: 196)

The turf is lit up by the blazing sun. A crowd of parents and family fill the bleachers with cheers in their mouths. The play starts. All the players form a perfect positioning and hand off the ball. Going going gone. A boy cheers with a childish grin on his face. He falls over in joy. Youth sports is a hot topic in today’s world. With so many kids participating it was bound to become something of discussing. Should kids play competitive sports? While some parents believe that the competition can harm kids, I believe that sports can greatly help kids. Making them experience healthy competition and become more well rounded contributing members of society.

To most kids and students, competitive sports are a gateway to blow off some steam or to have fun. To parents, the sports that their children play and the lessons that they teach are an important part of their development and life. Despite what many ‘experts’ would like you to believe, both of these statements are completely true. I believe that kids should be allowed to play competitive sports due to the health benefits, the lessons that they can teach, and as a result of the advanced equipment and rules that are focused on making sports safe, as well as the fact that sports can keep kids out of trouble.

The first reason sports help kids these days is by making them have a healthy lifestyle with good food and lots of exercise. This huge, as it stops kids from always eating junk and binging T.V. Sports let kids exercise in a healthy way through the important practice and energy required in competitive sports, which is encouraged by kids desire to win and get better, and forces kids to exercise by also getting better. For example, Kirk Mango (a physical educator, former coach, and national champion) says, “fitness improvements achieved through training...In a society where obesity has become a major health issue”(Mango, 2012). This shows that sports are a good way to keep people healthy. This is really important due to the recent problem of obesity, and sports can make kids have healthier lives, and this will lead them to a different path that will not let them cross paths with health problems caused by things like obesity. Obesity is serious and leads to things like diabetes, and can ruin the childhoods of kids if they never got a chance for sports to help them keep

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

Do you find baseball interesting? More and more people are losing interest in it every year. Baseball has gone from “America’s Pastime” to a fading image of its former self. It is a long way off from completely disappearing, but it feels like most people nowadays find baseball boring and unexciting. Interest in baseball is declining because kids aren’t playing it, people find it boring, and other sports are competing with its popularity.

Should kids be sitting on the couch, watching movies, and eating chips all day? What kind of childhood experiences and learning opportunities for growth and development can be attained from being a couch potato? If you really think of it of course; your child is missing out on a lot of childhood experiences. Sitting on the couch, eating chips, is one of the factors to the fact that over one third of the world’s population is obese. Daniel Gould, Ph.D., director of the institute for the Youth Sports at Michigan State University, says, “A solution to obesity is competitive sport. The percent of obese people would drop about eleven percent.” (http://www.parenting.com/article/are-kids-sports-too-competitive) This proves that kid ages four to eleven, should participate in competitive sports. Competitive sports keep kids healthy and fit. Second it teaches kids to face competition and work as a team. My last reason is that it improves self-esteem levels; helps improve self-confidence and helps kids deal with pressure. This is why I believe competitive sports should be a part of all kids’ lives.

Naval Officer Robert Ballard once said, “Follow your own passion- not your parents’ not your teachers’- yours.” In today’s society, what a parent thinks affects what a child thinks. Children often values a parent’s happiness over their own. More than twenty-six million kids play sports around the world starting as young as age six. Forcing a child into doing a sport can damage a child’s well-being, physical-being and can cause them to not have any interest in the sport. Research has shown that children that are forced into sports can be affected negatively in a physically, mentally, and emotionally way due to parent performance expectations.

“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.

The Sport is a devastating road to heartbreak and failure. (I suggest, To experience sports, you have to experience heartbreak and failure - sounds a bit awkward to say “the sport”).