Analysis Of Weak Shall Inherit The Gym By Rick Reilly

In “Losing is Good for You,” Ashley Merryman argues that society should stop handing out trophies for participation and instead let your child loose sometimes. Merryman states, “today, participation trophies and prizes are almost a given, as children are constantly assured that they are winners.” She later goes on and says that children who are given so much praise will crack “at the first experience of difficulty.” In her opinion, she does not believe that every child should be given a trophy because it will affect how they handle a different task. She claims that children would be better off losing than winning, and she also think that children should not get a trophy for everything they compete in.

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.

Today’s society is based off an image seen on a magazine cover, body building TV shows, and social media post. Men and women have this misconception on how we should look a certain way when really we should just try and impress ourselves. They say “practice makes perfect” which just shows it doesn’t come over night, so in order to be better we have to work at what we want.

The children can get really good physical activity for their bodies. Dodgeball can help a lot of youths work on the eye coordination and their throwing and catching skills. When the children catch then you have to see the ball coming and you will work on seeing it from different sides so they will be faster and be more agile. Matt LaBash even stated that “the children are getting softer because we are trying to coddle them and not let them get scrapes or play certain sports”. This will help the way they play sports and other activities. Students can get faster and be quicker at catching and throwing the ball. This will help them in their later on in life when they are doing a job that has a lot of hand and eye coordination.

If children follow the example set by today's athletes, the definition would equal a sore loser. High school sports should be a fun way to physically express yourself as an athlete, but at the same time learn some of life's lessons, like sportsmanship, discipline, and respect. In today's society, winning comes before everything, but if winning requires neglect of good sportsmanship, then nothing is gained in the long run.

Sports can be viewed as a learning environment that helps individuals learn life lessons, foster strong work habits and develop core values all the while learning a sport skill. Youth sports that truly benefit young athletes should be structured to emphasize participation more than just competition. Children enjoy a sport more when they are able to have fun (Humpries). Despite many excesses some sport programs still manage to promote important virtues like self- confidence, teamwork, personal responsibility, coping skills, and persistence. Through sports kids can learn to stay organized and learn how to prioritize (Ferguson). Sports enables development of physical skills and increasing proficiency makes kids feel good about themselves. It teaches kids that failure is something to overcome and and not to fear (Meyerhoff 8-9). Youth sports has many aspects that are truly benefiting for children, but these benefits are slowly being clouded by the negatives that are prominent in today's youth sports.

By participating in competitive sports at an early age, kids develop life skills to help them with this dilemma. They learn that when they see others being successful, that it is due to the hard work they put in and not just by chance.

But there is an error in their thinking. Knowing you are not the best at something, or being told you are not that good at something is good for you. It is what makes people successful. It motivates them to try harder so they can be the best next time. In the generation before the current one and the one before, most people had to go through a crisis in their country. In those times, children would grow up knowing they had to be strong to survive whatever they were going through. They also had to compete to have the necessary resources for success. The competition made them tough and mindful of criticism. Those children would take insults to heart and turn them into a reason to get better. But now, the kids think nothing they do is bad because to them, everything they do is good. Their parents have never told them they have done a bad job, and that sets their standards so low they have no reason or need to try hard and excel-- what they are doing is already good. Dodgeball while having a very small chance of injury is also the first time kids can become competitive like when they “stumble into the bright light of the real world and find out that, yes, there’s weak and strong and teams and sides and winning and losing” (Reilly 6) The now grown children will find they have to fight if they want to live a comfortable life. Nothing is handed to them in the real

They won’t be able to learn from their mistakes in an actual game if they don’t play. They also won’t be able to to learn life lesson. After all sports do help kids build character. As said by the writer called TROUTWINE “Those who ascribe to this philosophy offer many reasons for the character-building qualities of sport, ranging from fostering the development of social skills such as teamwork, cooperation, and leadership to teaching personals skills such as self-discipline, work ethic and coping with disappointment.”(TROUTWINE). All this is true and a kid can’t learn these qualities without playing time. It can also have harmful affects to the child as said by user DebateGirl221 “If a child is constantly not picked to play a game, it can lower their self esteem.”

Children learn the most through trial and error. Ashley Merryman agrees, saying, “It’s through failure and mistakes that we learn the most” (Merryman). As a famous author about child psychology Merryman uses a philosophical position to convey to the audience about the importance of letting children lose to help them grow and become better people. She also states that “we’re teaching kids that losing is so terrible that we can never let it happen” (Merryman). She continues that this destructive message is teaching kids react more towards losing instead of celebrating their success. Also that it is not okay to lose. Kids should know that not receiving participation trophies is okay, and that it helps them do better.

The first reason that kids should not play competitive sports is that they are stressful. Kids who play competitive sports often experience stress from wanting the recognition involved with winning. According to LiveStrong, “The mounting pressure to play well can increase stress and make children feel bad and lose confidence should they make mistakes or lose” (Huggins 2017). This shows that kids want to win and be the best player on the team, which can result in stress or pressure. When kids are put on the bench or the team loses, the players may experience low self-esteem. Also, participating in a competitive sport also takes up time because of the intense training schedule that is demanded. Because of that, kids may stress about schoolwork or other activities. This can develop failing grades or other consequences. Time.com states, “Student-athletes tend to take easier classes and get lower grades than non-athletes” (Square 2015). This is important to notice because the intense schedules that the athletes have may not allow enough time for schoolwork. The schoolwork may not be completed or fully understood, which can lead to lower academic excellence and poor grades. Competitive sports are unhealthy to kids’ minds. They can cause stress and pressure, and may lead to poor grades and other academic issues.

Even if the weak-link knows that they are weak, it will not help them deal with it, because it may be a physical condition that they cannot change, such as height or obesity. In the article, “Position on Dodgeball in Physical Education”, there is natter of “… developing and executing extreme strategies to annihilate opponents”, which also does not help the less swift child to move out of the pathway quick enough. This fixture is also a “… means of practicing some important physical skills…”, says “The Weak Shall Inherit the Gym”. However, dodge ball only benefits the confident kids, since they already do not have any limitations, whereas a more mentally or physically challenged child would. Dodge ball’s supporters claim that “They (the anti-Dodge ball critics) want their Ambers and their Alexanders to grow up in a cozy womb of noncompetition…” However, decriers argue that this harsh exercise “… encourages the best to pick on the weak.” It is not the noncompetitive versus the competitive, but rather the confident versus the non-sprightly. “Position on Dodgeball in Physical Education” says that, “Activities such as relay races, dodge ball, and elimination tag provide limited opportunities for everyone in the class, especially the slower, less agile students…” They oppose to the idea that all kids like this sport, since the limits are more towards the plumper or challenged children. They say, “Some kids may like it - the most skilled, the most

This proves that playing competitive sports is good for the youth and it can also benefit them by playing on a team. It also gives them a lot of life skills such as confidence that they will use later on in their life when they have a job. Lucy Calkins is an expert in writing and in her article “Get Off That Couch and Play!” she also says that, “Students learn important life skills such as how to accept criticism, how to handle oneself under the pressure of competition, how to work hard toward a goal, how to win and lose graciously” (2014). In addition, to Lucy Calkins article “Get Off That Couch and Play!” that later in life if an adult is at a job interview they will need confidence while they are being interviewed, otherwise they probably won’t get the job. Adults and Children also need to work hard to get towards a goal. Like if someone is at their job and their boss needs something right away, they must get it done and not day dream. In the article “Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at High School Level,” education researcher and writer Grace Chen says, “When children and teens participate in group competitions and activities, they learn skills that

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.

“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.