Too Much Pressure In Youth Sports

Competitive sports in some cases are becoming very unhealthy for children. Most children would rather play on a losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team. Youth sports are a great idea to get children up and active, as well as improve their social skills. Just like every other thing in life it is important to practice and work hard to achieve success. However it is unhealthy to push for results over the needs or wants of the child. Aside from the mental stress that young athletes may experience from intense training and physical play long lasting injures is now a growing concern. Fact is competitive sports is a double edge sword if done right it is the greatest thing world, but if done wrong it can be very unhealthy for a child.

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky argues that younger children should not be involved in overly competitive sports. Statsky wrote that organized competitive sports were to the disadvantage of children both physically and psychologically. In youth athletics, some parents and coaches put their own dreams in front of their children 's’ well-being by stressing winning. Statsky concludes “all organized sports activities” to be remade as a more enjoyable game regardless of each athlete’s ability and athleticism. The author states many issues that kids have when they are forced to play a sport just to win or that they don’t enjoy. Some kids just don 't enjoy sports, but their parents force it on them. Certain organized sports programs promote winning over physical skills and self-esteem. Statsky brings up valid points that early childhood shouldn’t involve intense physical competition, which is associated with the risk of injury to the body and mind.

Many children suffer from pressure caused by competitive sports. They are pushed, or push themselves, to play too hard. According to www.alfiekohn.org, The Case Against Competition, “...we push our kids too hard too fast to become winners-...” This proves that many children try too hard too soon to succeed in sports and can end up putting too much pressure on themselves. Another article says that 3.5 million children get hurt from sports and half of those injuries are caused from pushing the kid too hard (Children and Sports 1). This tells me that many kids are getting injured from pushing kids to the limit. According to the article, “For children, pressure vs. fun in sports is balancing act”, “The parents may be thinking about themselves, and they are very proud when their child excels,” she said, “That drives the parent to drive the child. And if a child has an parent who was or is a gifted athlete, that can

Margaret Hodges, author of More young athletes are getting major-league injuries, talks about how teens involved in sports are likely to get injuries. The author uses two high school students as examples. Kathryn W., a high school hurdler, won the state championship for the 300 meter hurdles while she had a torn tendon in her hip and Jeffrey S., a high school pitcher, fractured his elbow while pitching. Both teens developed overuse injuries- injuries caused by stress due to repeated motions. Because of hopes for scholarships, teens focus on one sport causing them to replicate the same movements over and over again increasing overuse injuries. These injuries can get worse leading to surgery, although rest can prevent it. Finally, because of

In light of Jessica Statsky’s book ‘Children need to play, not compete’, she argued that, with the vivid increase of sporting competition lately in the United States, children have been exposed to the adults hard and rigorous training by devoted parents and coaches at their tender age making a game that is supposed to be fun and joy look hectic and strenuous to them due to the standard of training they are made to go through and also the belief that they must always win thereby making them lose the spirit of sportsmanship, and neither gaining satisfaction nor benefiting from them. In as much as sports are good for physical, mental and emotional growth, it should be organized in a manner that the youths will enjoy the game at the end of it rather than the fear of being hurt or defeated by the other competitors.

The purpose of this paper is to argue the fact that youth sports are not becoming too intense. After reading the New York Times article I decided to pick this topic and argue against this theory because as a division one athlete I have my own opinions. I picked three sources which can back up and prove that sports being too intense is very much your own opinion.

Fewer kids play amid pressure,” shows that children are giving up the fun in sports because the parents want to one-up each other. In the beginning of youth sports, it was just seen as a fun activity for the children, but the parents started getting involved, and the children were shown that this was not a fun sport but a competition that they had to win, no matter what. The article stated this when Amanda Visak explained that, “Amanda Visak, an exercise science professor at George Washington University, recently surveyed nearly 150 children about what they found fun in sports...the kids identified 81 factors contributing to their happiness. Number 48: winning...playing in tournaments, cool uniforms and expensive equipment” (Rosenwald 3). Because of the parents’ competitions, the children think that what is important is winning the game and uniforms, while in reality it should be having fun and trying your best while with your

Youth sports are being questioned by the public as being too intense. One of the reasons for this is that sport specialization is up to a record high 25 percent(Sirs). This means that one in every four people are only playing one sport which can lead to injuries and psychological issues. Another issue is injuries in youth sports. Most specifically football is being researched intensely for head injuries that can hurt the children for the rest of their lives. Even though some believe that youth sport programs should be less intense they still believe that all sports are helping the youth grow up to be leaders for the next generation. Although many believe youth sports programs

All of the publicity that is attained by success, and the possibility of this success, places a great deal of pressure and stress on these young single-sport athletes. This stress and pressure takes the fun out of some sports. Youth sports are becoming serious and based more on winning than on having a great time and learning good sportsmanship. Adu points out the winning mindset of athletes in this day and age when he says, “Teams will do anything to win the game. My coach told me to expect that going in and that is exactly how it was. . .I felt like everybody was out to get me” (Goodall, 2003). This

Each year in the United States, more than 36 million school-aged children participate in an “organized sport” (“Youth Sports Statistics”). Especially over the past few years, many studies have proved or disproved the idea that sports are beneficial for young kids. Those studies have found that youth sports have both positive and negative effects on young children, and research shows parents and coaches have the greatest effect on a child’s experience.

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, Jessica Statsky talks about the different kinds of students and their approach and mental and physical ability and pressure towards Sports. Statsky differentiates between two sets of children who have physical and mental attributes and towards sports. She gives a few examples and changes that have taken place in the past decades in the sports scenario. When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children. She further states that children should not be pressurized or forced upon their performance and improvement rather they should first be given a chance to understand the sport, their potential and the way in which they develop

With more and more children participating in some sort of organized sport than ever before, there is a constant concern regarding the pressures kids are brought into to excel. Emotionally over-involved parents often think that it is their

In 1996, Kerri Strug had a torn 2 ligaments in her ankle when doing vault in the Olympics. Not only did that hurt, but the had pressured her into doing vault a second time to “seal the gold medal”. Kerri ended up deciding she had to do it and ended up sticking it. However, Kerri had worsened her ankle and she had to stop her career for a while. The Olympics causes people to overthink things and be irrational, and if we can stop it, we can stop just some of these irrational things. If the Olympics causes people to hurt themselves because of the pressure of getting the precios gold medal, the athletes who train and put blood, sweat, and tears into their work will be let down and only be hurting

“Show me a good loser and I'll show you a loser,” Vince Lombardi once said. This saying could be the unsung anthem of American sports for children and teenagers. Everyone loves to win. In sports there is always competition. Is there too much emphasis on “the win” for kids and teens? This issue is important because it essentially develops the way children and teenagers think and react; it will affect them later on in life. Too much emphasis on winning is a problem because there is extensive pressure from parents and coaches, and the consequences can be severe.

Raising children in today’s society is not for the faint of heart. Raising children has never been easy, but it is especially difficult in youth sports today. Coaches and parents are putting a lot of pressure on our young sons and daughters. The pressure to succeed in sports at