Athletic Performance

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.

For some athletes, sports can be a good way to cope with stress. When they hit the court or the field, they feel as if all of their worries from that day vanish. But for others, sports can be how a person identifies his or herself and where they derive most of their self-esteem. So that moment when you realize something in your body or your mind isn’t right, you push through it and tell yourself it will go away. But sometimes the pain gets worse. So you have two

Children are the future. When they are harmed, the future becomes less and less healthy. Injuries from sports are especially risky for children, because they’re not finished developing and are susceptible to brain damage that could stop their brains from growing. Mental harm, at times, can be more dangerous than physical injuries. For example, low self-esteem can lead to serious psychological impairments and conditions like depression. While it may be true that physical fitness is important, there are still options and activities that cause a lot less harm and fewer risks are necessary. Parents and coaches both should work harder to keep children safe and out of harm’s way while in sports. Parents should get their children check up on at the doctor’s when something seems wrong, and act accordingly. Coaches should have breaks for rest and to prevent strain between practices and put the players’ health and safety as a top priority, above

Football acts as a “driving force” for many high-school and upper level athletes, and often keeps the players striving to do better on the field, and in life. The support parents give physically, emotionally, and financially to their child that is participating in sports is important; however, fathers’ involvement specifically can often bring added pressure due to the high expectations.

Some parents try to continue their athletic careers or have a successful athletic career through their kids on a daily basis. This can come from them not fulfilling lifetime dreams or having an unsuccessful career when they had the chance to participate in these athletic events. Charlie Billingsley is a very good example of one of those parents. He lives his old running back career through his son, Don Billingsley, who also plays running back. Charlie was a very successful player for the Permian football team. He played in college but let alcohol become more important than football. Charlie admitted to it in Friday Night Lights in a conversation. It is stated, “As Charlie Billingsley said, “I got him to live through,

As a casual reader of the sports section of this newspaper, you come across many articles depicting the triumphs of local athletes. However, very rarely do these articles describe the actual athlete behind the success. Athletes come in all sorts of sizes and shapes. They range from the incredibly talented to the horribly uncoordinated. Some are great teammates while others would rather be a one man team. Certain athletes seek out attention from the people around them while others are modest and stay in the background. The fact of the matter is that there is a wide spectrum of different types of athletes that exist in this world and no two athletes are exactly the same. However, each can be put

However, when we talk about youth sports, our main concern is with providing players with a positive, character building experience. Winning is not the only acceptable outcome for youth players, and coaches need to understand this principle. “With a winning philosophy young athletes may lose out on opportunities to develop their skills, to enjoy participation, and to grow socially and emotionally. Well informed coaches realize that success is not equivalent to winning games, and failure is not the same as losing.” (Enhancing Coach-Parent Relationships in Youth Sports, 15)

Youth sports is a common thing for kids to be apart of growing up, parents sign their kids up in hope of creating lifelong friendships, encouraging physical activity, and most of all to have fun. Youth sports was also created to introduce all different types of sports to children and have it open their eyes to different activities. Calvin H. Chang is the author of Handbook of Sports Psychology. Cheng explains how stress is caused at such a young age and most likely because of the pressure of their parents. Cheng mentioned “behavioral indicators of state anxiety include insomnia, losing one’s appetite, nervous laughter and being jittery. Physiological changes include increased heart rate, respiration, galvanic skin responses, and palmar sweating. Psychological measures include state anxiety and other in-depth measurements of negative thoughts and feelings” (Cheng 172). The stress from youth sports is taking a toll on children and causing their body more harm than good. Parents want what is best for their children, but they are pushing them harder than what they can handle. Jane E. Brody is the Personal Health columnist for The New York Times. She joined The Times as a

Professional sports have been a passing time in our generation and more importantly a business. Over the years sports have gained millions of viewers and fans. Sports arenas and stadiums seats have been sold as a result millions of dollars have been made through professional sports. Before social media and mass media shined light to life as a professional athlete, we were unaware of exactly what went on behind the curtains between the athletes and the organization that they played for. Despite the fact that athletes can earn a lot of money at the highest level, they also experience bad work conditions, dissatisfied with how they are treated, unreasonable pay and benefits, and the organization not being interested in their well being.

The athlete’s parental interference is causing athletic directors and coaches to be bogged down by complaints via email and phone calls (Athletic business, 2015). The parental

Many parents become passionate and extremely involved in their child’s sports career and because of all this emotion riding on their kid’s performance they become combative. Sadly, these emotions have caused unnecessary tragedies that have changed the outlook of parents and children on these sports. Parents do this with good intentions, but in the end it hurts everyone around them. I believe that their behavior is inappropriate and these parents must also realize themselves that their actions and behavior are unacceptable and have to be addressed

Parents often have concerns for how coaches treat their young athletes, but most coaches are the best character role models that a child will have. As David Brooks, author of the article “Organized Sports Can Benefit Children”, says “Coaches have become the leading moral instructors in America today.” (Brooks). Groups like The Positive Coaching Alliance exist solely to keep coaches doing their job of creating mature and respectful athletes (Positive). Children need these positive role models in their lives. Even if a child has great role models as parents, it is even better to have one outside of the family. A coach can serve as someone that kids should admire, love, and respect even though they are outside of their family; this will prepare children for their future of dealing with

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

Unfortunately, involvement in youth sports has not had the effect most parents are expecting. Instead author Carey informs the reader with disturbing statistics. He asserts 84% of parents surveyed in an issue of SportingKid magazine have witnessed ‘violent parental behavior’ toward children, coaches or official at kids’ sporting events, 80% said they had been victims of such behavior. Violence makes headlines too, as Docheff and Conn speak about a father of a 10 year old ice hockey player ‘confronts’ a coach, engages in ‘some verbal sparring’ until asked to leave. Then ‘the stressed father returns to the rink, challenges the coach again, and begins beating him while young athletes yell helplessly for the crazed parent to stop. It's too late. Two days later, a spokesperson for the hospital announces that the coach has died (par 1).’

Youth sports are an incredibly healthy way for kids to grow and release energy. Children in preschool can begin to take part in sports like dance and soccer, and as they grow older, the lists of sports gets longer. However, there are negatives of sports that are often not talked about by parents, coaches, schools, or the media. As a result, stigmatization occurs, leaving children struggling with sports to suffer alone. With youth sports, elevated levels of stress occur, and as a consequence, mental health can decline. Youth sports can have an adverse psychological effect on young athletes and it is an effect that can be damaging for children for their entire lives.