The Pros And Cons Of Youth Sports

In “Do Sports Build Character or Damage it?” Mark Edmundson explains the pros and cons of children who grow up playing football. Firstly, he believes the perseverance it takes to show up for hard practices is useful later in life. Especially when they get frustrated with something and don’t notice the little bits of progress they are making. Secondly, it increases a player’s self-confidence with every goal they achieve, no matter how small. Furthermore, he states that each player has a place on the team, this provides each player with self-affirmation. Edmundson then shows football as comparable to war play and the war heroes, Hector and Achilles in the Iliad. With this, he opens the door for the more unfavorable aspects of the game.

Furthermore, the pressure that can come with sports can lead to stress. One piece of evidence, 68 percent of moms polled say their children’s involvement in youth sports causes stress in for them. (Sports Can Cause Students Stress, I9 SPORTS ASSOCIATION, 2013) This clearly shows that because sports cause pressure, kids are stressing. Continuing, In a series of studies conducted at UCLA, Drs. Tara Scanlan and Michael Passer obtained anxiety ratings from boys and girls immediately before and after soccer matches. They found about 20% of the kids reported high levels of stress before the game, and many of them reported high anxiety after games that their teams lost. (Are Youth Sports Too Stressful, Smoll, 2014) This clearly illustrates that

“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

“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)

Have you ever wanted to live an active and healthy life, as well as an improvement in grades? I believe youth sports will help all of those problems and many more. Most sports are team sports that also teach your child teamwork. Playing youth sports is a terrific experience for you or your child.

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.

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

Children have strived for years to make their parents, teachers and coaches proud of them. Kids have come to practice Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, and Friday to get better, while their academics are suffering. Students have pushed their bodies to the limits, causing extreme injury that will hold them back from sports in the future. Student athletes are not getting the opportunity to play multiple sports during the year, because they are expected to spelize in one sport and focus on it year round, leaving no opportunity to play other sports or do other activities. Youth sports are becoming too intense for young children to keep up with.

Studies have shown the fundamentals of youth sports are supposed to provide kids with fun, keep a child focused and fuel the basic. The fun aspect of the fundamentals are: decreasing injuries, increasing enthusiasm and eagerness, and prolonging the involvement in sports. The focus aspect of the fundamentals are: exercising, making new friends, learning sportsmanship, and developing social and sports skills. Lastly,

“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.

One positive effect of youth sports is that they help teach athletes important and long lasting lessons to have during their life. For example, a competitive environment teaches kids how to handle pressure and criticism (Mango 3). Most sports have situations that put athletes in tight spots. Even though they push them out of their comfort zone, it teaches them how to keep cool and figure it out. Some may say that too much pressure for youths can leave a negative impact on them. On the other hand, by learning how to cope with the tension and criticism from supportive coaches and teammates, kids can persevere through these problems and grow stronger mentally. In addition, kids learn problem-solving skills that may help them surpass obstacles in their later lives (Website). Children tend to depend on the knowledge of others to figure out problems for them. When I tried wrestling for the first time, competing on the mat all by myself was very anxious and daunting. Even though it wasn’t the most enjoyable, t taught me how to stay focuseand just move through it. By learning how to think