Sports are almost all pain and power. Is this a good thing? The answer is no; sports being pain and power is not a good thing at all. Though sports often influence social and physical development in a child, sports can also lead to lots of stress, exhaustion, and injuries if overused or pressured by the people around them. Sports are altering youth development mentally, physically, and healthfully because of the way that young adolescents are treating their bodies in sports. Adolescents are being affected mentally because of sports. When sports are played, many risks are flagged, such as injuries. Injuries can cause long term results such as emotional reactions, sadness, isolation, irritation, lack of motivation, and loss of sleep (Mind, …show more content…
Injuries can cause long-term physical effects that can alter young athletes development. Some physical effects caused by sports and sports injuries are overuse injuries, concussion, growth, and performance in sports (Blythe, Are Competitive Sports Bad For Your Health?). Overuse injuries are caused by an athlete's mind pushing it to "play with pain". Overuse injuries commonly occur when an athlete ignores a pain in the body and continues to play a sport (Playing with Pain, SCOPE). This sport is usually causing damage to that specific part of the athlete's body, which in the end, that part of the body becomes the spot of injury. Overuse injuries also do not tend to get better. A concussion is also a common injury because of sports. A concussion can greatly impact how the brain functions, which could lead to a negative effect on youth development. Another physical effect is a stunt in an athlete’s body growth. A “growth stunt” is a period of time which the body is paused from continuing to grow. If the athlete was to injure a growth plate in the body, it could cause the athlete's body to have a "growth stunt". Performance in sports can be affected by injury because after an injury an athlete may become weak in the spot that they were injured. Therefore, because of this injury, the athlete may never be able to play the sport properly or without