Henry McGahey
Mrs. Musso
Advanced English 9, Period 4
13 February 2023
The Cost of Youth Sports Youth sports are one of the most common ways for kids to get much needed exercise and play with friends. But over the years, the price of youth sports have increased drastically. Hence, making sports hard to access and sometimes referred to as pay to play. Although many believe that lower prices are better, some think that expensive coaching and gear develops players to be the best. These sports have become less and less accessible due to the high price, but lower prices offer more equal coaching, more access to equipment, and allow more kids to play. With expensive coaching necessary for skill development, many kids do not get to play because
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More often than not kids cannot even afford to get to the part of buying equipment or choosing which coach they want. The cause for this is that they simply cannot afford sports at all. The problem is that youth sports have become completely privatized, mainly because of extremely high prices. Many problems are occurring due to “The privatization of American youth sports over the past 40 years is one of those revolutions of late-stage capitalism that should shock us more than it does. We have commodified the play of millions of children into a $19.2 billion business , weakening volunteer-based programs that promise affordable sports for all children. It is a trend mirrored by our schools, hospitals and military. Once-proud public institutions are being privatized, with many unintended consequences” (Miller). This privatization has caused numerous children to not be able to play because everything in youth sports has a price. With very little volunteer work, children often have to pay for anything sports related. This has caused problems because many parents need to use their money for more important things than youth sports. The unintended consequences of this privatization are that the masses of kids do not get to experience sports. Oftentimes, money is more important than the values that kids receive from playing sports. The majority of people believe that sports add value to a child’s life. Sports can help kids develop physical skills, get exercise, make friends, have fun, learn teamwork, learn to play fair, and improve self-esteem. The problem is that kids lose out on these values because they do not get to play sports at all. Research shows that, “According to Catholic social teaching, there is no question that all children should have access to affordable sports teams. ‘Playing sport itself has its own internal goods and intrinsic rewards, . . .”’ (Miller). Being able to
Dr. Daniel Gould, director of the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports, in his essay “Are High School Sports Good For Kids?” argues that problems with high school sports are beginning to outway the benefits.. He supports his claim by providing evidence of how sports are beneficial to kids, explaining the problems within sports, and extending the importance of what creates a positive response from sports. Gould’s purpose is to inform coaches, principals, and parents about what makes sports beneficial and how to prevent the problems in order to allow kids to learn and become better citizens. He establishes an informative tone for coaches, principals, and parents.
As a result, Heather Boyle decided to bring an awareness to a circumstance that is occurring in school sports through her article “As Sports Fees Rise, A Young Athlete Learns That If You Can 't Pay, You Can 't Play”. In her narrative, Boyle expresses the difficulties she confronted growing up in poverty and meeting the financial burden felt trying to participate in school athletic. Furthermore, she conveys some of the effect pay to play is having is having as a whole now and possible future implications. Boyle, makings further use of her writing opportunity, to addresses the possible changes to policy practices that may perhaps give under privileged children the occasion to participate in athletics. Finally, Boyle concludes the article with the benefit athletics has left her with and her feeling of sadness
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.
Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://www.livestrong.com/article/134568-what-are-benefits-competitive- sports-youth/ Mango, K. (n.d.). Sports: The Benefits of Competitive Athletic Sports Participation in Today 's Sports Climate. Retrieved April 10, 2017, from http://www.chicagonow.com/the-athletes-sports- experience-making-a-difference/2012/10/sports-the-benefits-of-competitive-athletic-sports-
Parents think that the more money they put into the child’s athletic expenses, they increase their chances of college scholarships and leading to a professional athletic career. An exceedingly amount of money can be spent on athletics because parents want to be able to provide every opportunity they can for their child to become better and to be successful. For example, at Jim-McLean Junior Golf Performance Academy, there are only twenty-four spots open each year for distinct private instruction. With limited entry comes at a cost of $39,875 to $58,875 annually. A noticeable agglomeration of money comes out of the family’s gross income to fund their child’s athletics.
Parents do not see the real harm they could be causing their child by not letting them participate in such sports. Children learn numerous great lessons from getting to be a part of a team, which they can take and use for the rest of their lives. Jeb Golinkin, uses his essay, “Why Parents Should Let Their Kids Play Dangerous Sports”, to argue that no matter how dangerous a sport may be, children can receive
(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
These sport are planned according to the strength and age of an adult and child should not be put in the position to play by these standards. Jessica talks about how these sports affect negatively in the developing phase of a child’s life. Where the body, mind and personality are just shaping up for the future. The writer mentions an example saying that these sports, due to their competitive and demanding nature start to feel like a job. Children need to enjoy the game instead of worrying about the expectations of the adults.
Summary “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)
Many parents feel that the only way their child will make high school sports teams is to take part in travel sports, even if that means starting in elementary school (Sokol, Arlington Mag). Rosenwald reports that today’s parents are starting their children in sports as young as 3 and 4 years of age, ___to get them onto the most elite travel teams, and spend large amounts of money on coaching, equipment and travel. Essentially “youth sports is the new keeping up with the Joneses. They parents try to one-up each other” (Washington Post). This attitude is limited to the parents.
Privatisation of sports would “cause the greatest long-term losses for those whose families are not able to bear the costs of participation outside of the public school system (Kniffen).” A similar example would be making it so school lunches were not provided by the school, but an independent contractor who does not offer discounted rates for students in need. These are the students who have the greatest obstacles to overcome when they enter the workforce and having the opportunity to play sports can give them the leg up that they need. School sports can provide lasting benefits such as higher pay and better positions once the former athletes enter the workplace as Kiffen states “people who played for a varsity high school team tend to earn relatively higher salaries later in life.” By participating in school sports employers infer that the employee or applicant has leadership and other unquantifiable skills beyond that of a
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 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.