Sports in America are one of the biggest sensations around. They are everywhere you turn and they become a big part of most people’s lives, whether they actually participate in the sport or just watch it on television. Media and television play a huge role in the obsession for sports. Constantly you see a professional athlete on a commercial, and see games on throughout the day. Also sports becomes a business, they sell their jerseys, or pictures, and tickets to games. Children are exposed to a wide range of media that offers various sporting events.
Children with parents that are sport fanatics usually become interested in sports and will attend games and most of the time will establish a favorite player and an idol. Most children who develop through following a sports are more likely to be like them and maybe even play the sport they play. This inspires children to get involved with sports and develop a sport lifestyle. As children mature and develop somewhat of social skills, parents try to involve their kid in activities including sports, plays, and music.
We all have seen the parents who involve their kids into everything at once and by the end of the day the kid can barely breathe. Some parents find it necessary to involve their kids into everything because it is good for friends, and just basic social skills. The big question is when is enough, enough? The research shows there are many advantages of organized sporting events for youths, and some people think there are disadvantages of them as well. There has been much debate and argument around the topic of violence in youth sports. People have come up with pros, and people have come up with cons.
A pro, from the advocating side, is that children become involved with youth sports are more likely to develop better social and physical skills opposed to a child who has not been involved in any sporting activity. Physical activity is crucial to children when they are younger because they are always wanting to do something, and to start them earlier will give them a better chance to succeed in that area as they get older. “Also with social skills at a young age it is very important to expose kids to society and allow them the opportunity to make friends on their own and experience the whole beginning of social life. ” (Carlson).
With a child being involved in sports that will help them with making friends and developing the social skills they will need for the future, because every child there is looking to do the same thing. Another pro is getting exercise started early. With obesity and diabetes spreading like wild fire it is important to get you child to be active whether it means getting them involved in some sort of sport or just instructing them to go outside for an hour everyday. “More than 40 percent of American children are obese, and more than 25 percent of children develop diabetes.” (Carlson).
Getting your child active and involved in these sports will help reduce that number, and lead them to a healthier lifestyle. Every parent wants the best for their child and wouldn’t want them to be diagnosed with diabetes or have other health effects caused by obesity. So that is why parents or guardians find it necessary to get their child active at an early age that way something is being done to try to prevent these weight related diseases. Also developing children’s values at a young age is very important.
“Getting your child involved with organized sports allows the child to see how it is working with a team, and to learn how to win or lose properly. ”(Engle). Working as a team when you’re younger and seeing how you should act and behave with other children your age will help for the future, it shows the child that there are other people that deserve the same respect and fairness as them. It also can show a sense of friendship and trust with other children because they see who shares the same interests as them. “A lot of children who are involved with organized sports tend to learn better skills for the real world.”(Engle).
Learning how to work together and with a large group of children is a very good skill to have. “A good parent-child relationship has the great potential to evolve from being involved in sports. ” (Ireland). When a child gets a sense of encouragement it usually affects the way they play and leads them to succeed. Not only does the child get something out of it, but the parent learns how to encourage their child while they control their competitive urge, and they tend to set goals for the child that way they can strive to succeed in whatever thy are doing.
Not only does it have the potential to build a strong relationship with a parent or guardian but it also can help you feel better about yourself. It gives you a drive to become healthy, boost you confidence, helps your self-esteem, and also motivates you and develops a sense of discipline. Also a big factor it helps reduce depression and the feeling of sadness. Although people find many positives about playing organized sports, many people found negatives in the sports. One is the fact of it being too competitive.
Once a child gets the idea of winning in their heads, or the idea that they might be better than an opposing player people get worried that it will go too much to their heads. Just like the positives with the social skills, it can also create negatives in social skills. “Such as if a child thinks they are better than another player it can result in people not liking that player because they are too pompous and conceited. ” (Luxbacher). Another huge con is Sport injuries. One third of injuries that happen within children are sports related.
“Over 3 million children get hurt in sports every year. ” (Marquardt). Most injuries are just sprains and strains, but the more contact sports such as football tend to get more intense injuries such as traumas, concussions, and breaks. As the injuries go up, the more expensive it may become for medical bills. Parents play a huge role when their kids are involved in sports. Parents want to support their children to the fullest and want them to be the best they can be, but sometimes it gets way out of hand.
Parents want their kids to feel the accomplishment of winning and sometimes they get too involved. It sometimes results in parents interfering too much by yelling at children, coaches and referees. “If a child gets taken out of the game, and their parents happen to be at the game they question why their child is being taken out. ” (Luxbacher). This can cause problems between the parent and coach. Some parents believe their child is superior to other children on the team, and think their child should be in the whole game.
Some people think children who get involved with sports at a young age are more susceptible to becoming somewhat depressed and developing a low self-esteem. The reason for this is because the fact they may think other kids are better than them, and some children handle criticism and loss better than other teams. “The sense of winning and accomplishments are a way to get children to feel good about themselves, but if one child isn’t praised as much as another child then they end up having a decrease in confidence. ” (Luxbacher)
Maturity becomes a big factor in kids becoming involved in organized sports. Children participating in organized sports requires them to listen to instructions and be engaged in teamwork (Messner). If a child is not paying attention and isn’t listening to directions it affects the whole team. There are kids on every team that want to listen and want the best for their teams, but while some children aren’t engaged it is hard for the children that want to be there and listen. Not paying attention and following the proper instructions and rules can lead to disappointment and even injuries.
A code of conduct is presented at the beginning of each youth sport season. Before any season starts, a waiver is passed out to every child involved in the sport and is required to sign it in order to play. The parent of that child is also required to sign it. It states you must respect opponents, coaches and officials. Also to avoid all problems and confrontations that may occur. If they were to break any of these rules, than they may be kicked off the team. (Messner). League officials, and administration are the people to enforce these rules.
So if a rule were to be broken it is their job to control the punishment. Involving your child in youth sports has the potential to be very beneficial to a child but to overwhelm them with the numerous activities you open the door to the negative impact on the child. Being involved in youth sports all my life I can relate to this topic. I personally believe that youth sports are very beneficial, it allows you to develop many friendships and you learn a lot of everyday rules and skills while playing.
