Carsen Rhodes
Mrs. Matt
American Literature
29 March 2023
The Intensity of Youth Athletics
There has been a lot of controversy about youth sports and whether they are too intense for children to play. While there are many reasons to believe that children this young should not spend their whole childhood sacrificing for sports, there is something about sports keeping kids involved. Throughout the years 2012 to 2020, there was a minor decrease in participation levels in sports for ages 13 through 17. Even if there was only a 7% decrease in males and 2% in females, that is a lot of kids quitting compared to how many children in the world participate in youth sports(“Studies Find Indulging in Sports Is Good for Boys”). There are plenty of reasons why these numbers are dropping, some say it is the prices of these sports, or the intensity level of play, but everyone has a different opinion. Although many may have negative experiences with youth sports, overall youth sports benefit children through physical activity, emotional tendencies, and basic life skills.
Youth athletics have been very popular for many decades for teenagers and even young children, but there have been rising cases of youth sports becoming extreme and too much to handle for many kids. Parents are complaining about the cost of just one of their kids to play in a 3 month-long season for a couple of hundred dollars, and that is without the purchase of needed equipment. Then some other parents complain about the coach being too harsh with their kid, having extreme-level practices, or keeping the mindset of winning over obtaining life lessons. Even with all of these problems occurring, the popularity of these sports at the youth level continues to thrive. Many of the most known youth
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(Dorfman)
Summary In “children need to play, not compete” writer Jessica Statsky stresses upon the negative effects of organized sports on children. She claims that when all the “adult standards” are imposed on the children they are not valuable. She also states that these sports are developmentally inappropriate for the growing bodies of the children and also affects them phycology. These sports emphasize on the winning aspect that is pushed further by the parents and the team coaches who expect more from the children in the result of which children are pressurized.in most of the cases the children who lack self-confidence are neglected and are left behind because of the coaches preferring the children with more developed skills.
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.
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” Jessica Statsky brings the attention of the readers to a serious issue of competitive sports for children and its disadvantages. According to Jessica Statsky, these kind of competitive sports have a bad impact on the mental and physical health of children. Moreover, the amount of physical pressure the kids are out through is alarmingly dangerous. This physical strain can lead up to injuries that can take a lifetime to heal.
This is where many parents do not understand the true meaning of sports. Pressuring and sacrificing their kid’s childhood with constant practice and focus on their sport would be so tiring that the child would more than likely get tired with the sport. To conclude, sacrificing a kid’s childhood away from overwhelming pressure from their parents is an unnecessary thing that no one should ever have to go
(Background info) Children often are influenced to spend their early athletic years participating in just one singular sport. Many children are never given an option about their participation in sports, as their parents make that decision for them. (Thesis) America’s Youth have been directly impacted by year round sports as it has created a loss if interest in their favorite sport prior to even reaching
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” Jessica statsky brought forward a pressing issue of competitive sports that has now become a part of our lives. Statsky claims that these competitive sports have a harmful effect on a child’s mind. The extreme physical pressure is quite damaging as well. The injuries children face can sometimes take forever to heal itself.
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. There are many reasons why I feel that children should play youth sports.
More and more often you hear about young kids quitting sports due to being burned out. Julianna W. Miner reports, “According to a poll from the National Alliance for Youth Sports, around 70 percent of kids in the United States stop playing organized sports by the age of 13 because ’it’s just not fun anymore’”(Washington Post). This can be caused by the fact that parents are playing select ball at early ages such as 7 or 8 years old. Playing competitively in any sport at such can early age can take a huge emotional toll on kids. At such an early age, kids should play these sports for fun and entertainment, not competition.
Youth Sports The 30, The 20, The 10, an 11 year old athlete just scored a touchdown with all his friends and family watching everyone is proud including himself. But then he takes the field again in the second half and he gets hit really hard and it looks like it hurt. Then you as a parent start to wonder, are youth sports too intense? That is a very debatable subject some people think youth sports are fine the way they are and others think that they are getting too intense or already are because of the young people getting hurt. However youth sports aren’t too intense, in order to be good as you get older you are gonna have to take some risks and be willing to train.
As a part of our book club for Sport Ethics, my group read Why Johnny Hates Sports. In this book, Fred Engh examines the various reasons why more and more youth are dropping out of sport at a younger age. He dives deep into detail examining why this happens blaming it on overeager parents, the win-at-all-costs mentality, coaches, administrators, and even the media. In addition, he proposes changes to youth sport to stop this issue from continuing and calls for a return to fair play, teamwork, and true enjoyment of the game. This is non-fictional book written by Fred Engh.
Dr. Frank L. Smoll states, “All children and youth need vigorous physical activity as part of their daily lives, and sports provide the benefits of exercise and the potential for acquiring a sense of accomplishment.” (Smoll 1/2).
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.
Summary 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.
“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 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.