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)