In 2013, Christopher Bell took the time to produce a documentary, Trophy Kids, in which he observed the lives of several teens whose parents pushed them into doing sports that they may or may not even wanted to participate in. More than 7.6 million American high schoolers a year participate in afterschool sports, many of them having parents who encourage them to continue for the sole purpose of receiving a scholarship in the future. Pushing young students to excel past their athletic limits risks their physical health, mental health, and emotional health as well as their relationships with human interaction due to elevated stress that results from the pressure. The documentary showcases four instances of parents who push their children …show more content…
Parents feel that pushing a child will help them to achieve more in life such as scholarships as well as teaching them life lessons. As stated before, many families can simply not afford a good education therefore feeling as though athletic success is the only possible option. Scholarships will help a child get into a good school and let them leave with minor to no debt. This sets these teens up for a positive future giving them a better chance for a good, beneficial job along with not having to worry about the post graduation affects of college. These division 1 scholarships are also very rare, which makes the constant push to achieve more worth it. In 2012 the minimal percentages of high schoolers receiving D1 scholarships was incredibly minimal, “about 2 percent of high school athletes win sports scholarships every year at NCAA colleges and universities” (O'Shaughnessy). Not only can sports potentially set teens up for a positive future, but it also can start teaching valuable lessons at a very young age. Valuable lessons such as dealing with loss and success and work ethic and teamwork. Young children who are exposed to these skills early in life only grow with confidence. Lisa Mooney from the Livestrong organization further argues all the benefits team sports can potentially have on children: “Athletic accomplishment yields confidence and assurance for growing children” (2014). These are characteristics that can follow children for life making pushing the child in these sports worth the