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
“I will never be satisfied!” Many athletes may have heard this statement once or twice in their athletic careers from their coaches, but to hear it come from a parent is very unexpected. In the documentary Trophy Kids, follows the story of five families whose life is centered on their child’s success in sports. It goes behind the scenes of what each of the parent’s strategies are in order to push their child to the next level of becoming the next all-star athlete.
This notion is supported by Dr. Daniel Gould, who believes that “Children who participate in sports have increased educational aspirations, closer ties to school and increased occupational aspirations in youth” (1). People against the funding of high school sports think that parents and society are placing more emphasis than ever before and, “[P]ressures athletic personnel to deviate on winning from the athlete- centered educational and personal development mission” (Gould 1). However, athletes strive to do better in class. Michael Lorenc, a high school basketball coach believes that “those who seem to have an overwhelming schedule where they’re playing maybe multiple sports, and high academic schedules, they tend to do better than those who don’t do anything extracurricularly” (Gray). Balancing sports and school makes athletes put more effort into keeping up grades while playing the sport they love.
Kids can translate the hard work they've put into their sport by working harder to be a better student or employee and a better person overall. Kids sports can most definitely help in the area of working together with someone or a
Children Receiving Too Many Trophies Are children being given too many trophies? This question has been pondered on for several years. There are simply two answers to this question, yes and no. Yes, children should recieve trophies and awards because it gives them a feeling of confidence and accomplishment even if they don't win, it makes them feel like they did good. No, children should not receive awards for just participating because it gives them a false sense of hope.
Many parents feel that the only way their child will make high school sports teams is to take part in travel sports, even if that means starting in elementary school (Sokol, Arlington Mag). Rosenwald reports that today’s parents are starting their children in sports as young as 3 and 4 years of age, ___to get them onto the most elite travel teams, and spend large amounts of money on coaching, equipment and travel. Essentially “youth sports is the new keeping up with the Joneses. They parents try to one-up each other” (Washington Post). This attitude is limited to the parents.
My mother and other parents and coaches know that it's good for them to have fun playing the game they love, but they also know that it's good for them to compete and try their best to get what they want. The coaches and parents know what the real world is like, there's all kinds of competition in it. These sports can help these kids prepare for their soon to be future.
College Kids Should Get Paid For Athletics College Athletics…Should kids get paid for all their hard work? Do you think they should get paid for their commitment and efforts. I do. I think they should get some money for their promotion to the school.
Children have strived for years to make their parents, teachers and coaches proud of them. Kids have come to practice Monday,Tuesday,Wednesday,Thursday, and Friday to get better, while their academics are suffering. Students have pushed their bodies to the limits, causing extreme injury that will hold them back from sports in the future. Student athletes are not getting the opportunity to play multiple sports during the year, because they are expected to spelize in one sport and focus on it year round, leaving no opportunity to play other sports or do other activities. Youth sports are becoming too intense for young children to keep up with.
Dr. Frank L. Smoll states, “All children and youth need vigorous physical activity as part of their daily lives, and sports provide the benefits of exercise and the potential for acquiring a sense of accomplishment.” (Smoll 1/2).
Children being vulnerable to harmful situations, such as the ones listed above, is one of the main reasons that the total number of children participating in competitive sports has been diminishing over the last few
The writer further explains that the idea of winning sometimes causes severe injuries that may prevail for a lifetime. In these games, a child may crash into one another accidently that creates a fear of getting hurt. Just to protect themselves some children back out of many games and are left behind when it comes to the development of their bodies. The rest of the children who are part of these games are in a constant pressure from their parents and coaches that cause the stress and anxiety. Furthermore, the writer states that this “sport becomes job like”.
Today's society isn't near what it once was. In the last 10 years or so America has shifted into a weaker society that thinks everyone should get a trophy but no one should have to work for it. This is an arguement that is brought up time and time again, many people say everyone deserves a trophy and others say only the winner or the best should get a trophy. If everyone gets a trophy for just showing up then that teaches them that they don't have to work hard to rise to the top to earn the trophy or medal. That is not fair for the kids that do work hard to see trophies handed out to the the kids that have not been working as hard.
“In the U.S., about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and more than 3.5 million injuries each year” claims Stanford Children’s Health. It’s definitely true that competitive sports can cause all sorts of injuries from big to small. The media teaches people simply that sports leads to horrific injuries and can cause stress, but what the mainstream media hardly discusses are the great benefits of competitive sports. While there may be some negatives to competitive sports, that’s just life, and to add on to that; there are plenty of benefits which are sure to override to media’s facts. Kids should play competitive sports because competitive sports teach children powerful life lessons, contributes to their social and mental stability, and because of the physical gain competitive sports provides.
In this day and age with professional athletes being at the top of the social spectrum, youth sports have gotten very popular. “More than 26 million children ages 6 to 17 played team sports in 2014(Rosenwald).” Youth sports are very popular because it brings the great feeling of being on a team. When you are on a team you feel like you can do anything together, and nothing is stopping you. There are also many flaws in youth sports.
The author Thelma Gomez, says “Playing sports is an important elemen5t in the lives of many American children.” And she is correct. Sports can make kids the next David Wright, the next LeBron James, the next Eli Manning, or the next Lionel Messi. The best part of sports is that you're improving your physical health, psychological health, social skills, and academic benefits. Physical and phychological health can benefit a child in many ways.