The amount of children participating in competitive sports has been on a steady decline in the past decade. Between the years of 2008 and 2013, the total number of children participating in competitive sports has dropped by approximately 2.6 million. This is mainly due to the many negative impacts that young athletes face when partaking in these sports. Competitive sports involve sports where competition is encouraged, and where winning is more important than anything else. Competing in these sports causes the children to be vulnerable to many risks and many other negative impacts. Children who participate in competitive sports at a young age experience more serious negative impacts than positives, including a risk of severe injury, losing …show more content…
According to a research report from Loehrke, a young athlete suffers a sports related injury that is severe enough to go to the emergency room approximately every 25 seconds, or 1.35 million times a year. The most prominent of these injuries were concussions, which accounted for 163,670, or 12 percent of the total 1.35 million injuries (Loehrke). Dr. Alexander K. Powers, a pediatric neurosurgeon at Wake Forest Baptist Health in North Carolina, found that most children who suffer concussions recover, but the prognosis for children who suffer recurring concussions is unknown. Recurring concussions could lead to several disabilities later in life, such as dementia, Parkinson’s disease, Alzheimer 's disease, epilepsy, and many other neurological disorders that would require a substantial amount of surgery to cure, if they could even be cured at all (Powers). Putting a child at risk to suffer injuries, such as the ones listed above, is one of the main reasons why the amount of children participating in competitive sports has been dropping …show more content…
Children experience more harmful negative impacts, rather than beneficial positive ones, such as being at a constant risk of severe injury, wanting to opt out of sports early, and being under high levels of stress and anxiety. These impacts could lead to children being injured for an extended amount of time, children being inactive and unfit later in life, children dropping out of school, and many other catastrophic circumstances that children should not have to put up with. The opposing side suggests that children who participate in competitive sports experience positive impacts, such as staying healthy and in shape, and having positive psychological benefits. In some instances, these impacts may be true, however families with a child athlete opted for fast food, ready-made meals more than those of families who did not have a child athlete. Also, while competitive sports provide some psychological benefits, it has also been proven that they can cause stress, anxiety, and ultimately, attrition for the young athlete. 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
Statsky’s Argument is Not Explored Broadly Enough In the article “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” by Jessica Statsky, the author describes how the competitiveness of organized sports that have been popular among many young American children in recent years can have damaging effects on their physical or psychological well-being and proper development. Statsky said an apparent disadvantage of competitive sports is young children’s vulnerability to physical injury. For instance, she mentioned about Professor Tutko’s claim that many contact sports such as tackle football are physically harmful for young children. Besides that, children’s fear of getting hurt can also discourage them from engaging in sports activities as she refers to
This has created an argument that is still being debated on today. Some people say that specializing in one sport is positive since it gives kids the competitive edge they need. Others say that it is damaging to a child’s health due to the negative effects it can have both physically and mentally. The truth of the matter is that specializing in a single sport at a young age is proven to be harmful. A large number of kids are forced to play a sport, which can create a lot of stress and more injuries.
Parents do not see the real harm they could be causing their child by not letting them participate in such sports. Children learn numerous great lessons from getting to be a part of a team, which they can take and use for the rest of their lives. Jeb Golinkin, uses his essay, “Why Parents Should Let Their Kids Play Dangerous Sports”, to argue that no matter how dangerous a sport may be, children can receive
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete.” Jessica statsky brought forward a pressing issue of competitive sports that has now become a part of our lives. Statsky claims that these competitive sports have a harmful effect on a child’s mind. The extreme physical pressure is quite damaging as well. The injuries children face can sometimes take forever to heal itself.
Kala Bland, LaShawn Couey, Madison Grubbs, Jennifer Little Psychosocial Aspects of Youth Sport Interviews The world of youth sports continues to grow considerably. This growth has brought many aspects of it including its psychosocial effects on children into question, as well as sparked debate regarding some of its practices. To discuss some of these psychosocial aspects we interviewed four people, two of which have coaching experience in the United States, one with international coaching experience, and another who has two children in youth sport with a small coaching background. The topics we discussed with them were physical and mental aspects of youth sport, the dueling objectives debate, and parental involvement in youth sport.
Summary “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” by Jessica Statsky is a thoughtful insight on the competitive sports for children. She is of the view that the competitive sports can ruin the enjoyment that games are supposed to provide. These methods of playing the games like adults can prove to be lethal for physical and psychological health. The author quotes from an authentic source that “Kids under the age of fourteen are not by nature physical.” (Tutko)
The main reason for my argument kids shouldn 't start competitive sports at a young age is because they can get stuck with long term effects. “Sustaining repeated head impacts during a critical neurodevelopmental period may increase the risk of later life cognitive impairment.” (Minnpost, by Susan Perry.) When a child gets repeatedly injured the risks of having long term effects are increased. Another
Some think that kids shouldn’t be involved in competitive sports and others think the opposite. Research shows, however, that playing sports lowers the percentage of obese children and gives them a healthier lifestyle, because of the many valuable lessons kids can learn from them and because competitive sports boost up your confidence and self-esteem and make kids work at their best effort in everything. One reason why kids should be involved in competitive sports is because it could help stop the cases of obesity in children and allow them to have a healthier lifestyle. According to an article called “What are the Benefits of Competitive Sports for Youth?”
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).
In “children Need to Play, Not compete,” Jessica Statsky talks about the damaging effects on children when they are forced to participate in of sports designed for grownups. These sports are designed keeping in mind the standards of professional practice which become a lot of burden for young kids. Being exposed to this kind of sport puts the fragile bodies in distress. Jessica further says that nowadays the only object to play sports has shifted to winning and defeating the other team. Due to this reason the essence of sport is lost for example learning to play and work together as a team, maintain a healthy body image and collaboration with members the other team.
Young Children In Competitive Sports Do you want your kids to be active and healthy? If you answered yes then sign your kids up for competitive sports. Sports are proven to improve kids health and physical activity. Sports are a thing that most parents look at as just an activity to go and have fun and good with their friends and have a good time but no, sports are much more than a game.
Organized sports teams have always been a popular activity for young children. Parents and coaches find watching a child bolt in for the winning touchdown or slide into home base engaging, but what parents do not know is the child may think differently. Parents and coaches that pose overcompetitive standards on young sport games have neither a valuable or pleasant affect on children. Some parents are concerned about the negative impact sports can have on young children.
“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.
Competitive sports for children can be dangerous in many ways. Kids are always spraining, breaking, dislocating, or fracturing parts of their body. Sports cost lots of money for equipment, entry fees, and for the other things that are needed to be paid. Also children have slim chances of making it into professional and college leagues. Many people think that sports are healthy for kids, but that isn’t the truth.
When losing occurs, in reality the loser is actually learning. In society today, misguided youth sports reforms are attempting to remove the losing process from games. These reforms remove some of the most crucial childhood development experiences. When the scoreboard is removed from the field, the entire purpose of sports is thrown away, and when the drive behind sports is removed the entire developmental purpose of sports is lost on societies future generations.