About 3.5 million children and adolescents get injured annually due to youth sports. With all the concern over such injuries and negative impacts on kids, there is a controversial debate about banning youth sports. However, despite these risks, the benefits of youth sports outweigh the problems for three main reasons: first, sports promote good habits in youths; second, sports improve the physical health and mental health of children. Finally, although injuries are common in sports, they are generally inevitable and additionally frivolous compared to the passion kids pour into sports.
The first primary benefit of youth sports is that it promotes good habits. For example, kids who participate in after-school sports are less likely to get in
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Later in her article, Zbogar states, “Research with delinquent and violent kids has found that when these kids participate in after-school sports programs, they have a 50 percent to 75 percent decline in re-offenses compared to a 60 percent increase among those who after first arrest don’t engage in such programs.” These statistics again reinforce that youth sports deter kids from getting into trouble. Another way youth sports help kids develop good habits is by encouraging them to use what they’ve learned from sports throughout adulthood too. According to the article “Youth Sports Study: Declining Participation, Rising Costs, and Unqualified Coaches,” writer Jacob Bogage references founder of nonprofit Street Soccer USA Lawrence Cann when he says, “‘Kids who are physically active are less likely to be obese. They’re better in the classroom. They go to college. They’re more likely to be active parents. And because of that, their kids are more active.” Youth sports encourage parents to be more involved in their kids’ lives as active participants. Additionally, in Jennifer Lerner and Tom Solomon’s …show more content…
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Bogage, Jacob. “Youth Sports Study: Declining Participation, Rising Costs and Unqualified Coaches.” The Washington Post, The Washington post, 6 Sept. 2017, www.washingtonp ost.com/news/recruiting-insider/wp/2017/09/06/youth-sports-study. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.
Glatter, Robert. “The Reasons Not To Ban Contact Sports For Children: An Answer to ‘Concussion.’” Forbes, Forbes, Inc., 23 Dec. 2015, www.forbes.com/sites/robertglatter// the-reasons-not-to-ban-contact-sports-in-children-an-answer-to-the-concussion-movie/?sh=c94844055119. Accessed 17 Jan. 2022.
Lerner, Jennifer, and Tom Solomon. “Active Kids Do Better in Life.” The Aspen Institute ProjectPlay, The Aspen Institute, 2015, www.aspenprojectplay.org/youth-sports/facts/b enefits. Accessed 19 Apr. 2022.
Zbogar, Hema. “Good Sport/Bad Sport: How to Foster Positive Participation Among Youth.” The Journal of Addiction and Mental Health, vol. 7, issue 3, 2004, pp. 17+. Gale In Context: Opposing Viewpoints Online Collection, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A114740628 ` /OVIC?u=lnoca_hudson&sid=bookmark-OVIC&xid=9696c848. Accessed 17 Jan.