When do sports become harmful?
Tax dollars are funding more high school athletes than high school math students (Ripley). As the years progress, the importance of sports has increased significantly. This is shown by the money, time, school assemblies, and the pressure put on students to play a sport. Sports can be beneficial to everyone but the over-emphasis being placed on them is having a negative effect on athletes and the people around them.
The pressure to succeed in a sport can cause a tremendous amount of anxiety and nervousness in an athlete. Performing in front of classmates, parents, coaches and other visitors is often the most difficult part of being an athlete. The New York Times Upfront notes “74 percent of the kids surveyed said they had witnessed out-of-control adults at their games.” and “15 percent [of the kids] said their parents get angry when they play poorly”. The fear and “what if” of letting down the team down, falling in front of
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The cost for one student to play a sport is pricey. Then, there are many families who have more than one family member hoping to participate in a sport. “In the United States, parents spend $671 on average per year to cover the costs of uniforms and the hefty fees charged for registration, lessons and coaching, and at least 1 in 5 ends up spending over $1,000 per child, every year.” reports The Huffington Post. Sports not only cost money but they require lots of time. Practicing occasionally 2 times a day, ranging from 1 to 3 hours per practice, weekend practice, and meets or game where students get back at 11 P.M., plus other team activities make it nearly impossible for student athletes to study at home while getting enough sleep. All of these required activities make an athlete's life a routine filled nightmare. Not to mention trying to spend time with family and
They are many times attending universities because it is a stepping stone en route to a career as a professional athlete, just like an accounting major is studying in order to be recruited by an accounting firm. The lifestyle of a student-athlete is quite different though. A student-athlete must attend practice for 10 to 20 hours per week, travel to games on most weekends during the season, and at the same time, keep up with an academic workload comparable to that of a student without commitment to athletics. But unlike ordinary students without athletics, student-athletes must also many times care for families and spouses. Actually, approximately 24% of student athletes are married, and of that 24%, about 62% have children. Of the students without their own spouses or children, many must care for parents and siblings.
The impact of preserving sports in high schools has been surrounded by much controversy as people suspect that it is the reason behind the poor academic achievement of students. Opponents to high school sports feel that allowing athletics to be a part of schools sidetracks the focus of the student body, which goes completely against the main purpose of schools. Indeed, this assertion is completely true and based upon plentiful evidence. High school sports undoubtedly come at the expense of student academic achievement since they divert the attention of students away from academics and they come with far too many financial costs, both of which incur negative impacts on the academics within a school. The bottomline is that sports are harming the education of students, so a school must make the decision between composing quality sports teams or providing high level academics; both of these choices simply cannot occur simultaneously.
This also allows for no free time to be able to relax. As we have learned student athletes are constantly putting in time and effort into their particular sport, they also have to go to class and study when outside of class. Student athletes are required to take a minimum of twelve credit hours per semester, but to graduate within four years you must take at least fifteen credit hours per semester. As you can see student athletes have a full schedule of not only athletics, but academics too. Although a lot of college athletes are on scholarship and getting their schooling paid for, they still won’t have any money to eat a
College athletics have become popular over time over the past few decades. Student athletes need to be determined, committed, and focused. The biggest trait needed by the athlete is dedication. The amount of dedication needed to be a student athlete could be overwhelming. Between classes and workouts could exhaust even the best athlete mentally and physically. Students athletes should be proud to get free education and play sports, but education should be valued more than sports . As an athlete, time management is the key to surviving. Athletes need a balance, maintaining at least 40 hours of practice a week, 30 hours a week of class time, and getting some sleep into their schedule too. Maintaining all of these aspects deserves some more credit, more than just a free education. The NCAA can afford to pay athletes, the NCAA makes about 12 billion every year. The NCAA money comes mostly from TV and marketing and makes up less than 10% of all college athletics money. The rest comes from school ticket sales and student fees from the school itself. The NCAA since 2006 profit have doubled since time has gone by and is still increasing from tournaments and school funding. Athletes play an active role in the promotions of these activities,
As you can see, athletes are more worried about their sport than school, and they spend way more time on sports than school in a week. In the Time Cover Story: It’s time to pay College Athletes, Richard Samuel said he was an “athlete-student” not a “student-athlete”(Samuel3). This proves that athletes spend way more time on sports than they do on school. For college athletes sports are the main reason why they are going to school, and they are usually hoping to go pro. Which mean they will want to spend more time on their sport than school.
They need to be on time and carry through the activities required. In some cases, they train for more hours than in a normal job. College athletes are students; they do not have time for a part time job. As most of young people, these athletes need money and not all of these student athletes’ parents have money. People who do not agree with this issue will probably say that these athletes have scholarships. This may be considered as a payment, but many other normal students get scholarships too and they do have time to get a part-time job. As it were, in terms of money student athletes’ situation is unfair compared to normal
Sports in high school are important because they involve students in school activities, build self-esteem, create social relationships, teach teamwork and cooperation and provide positive mentors. School activities can unite a school where students, faculty and staff, and parents
High School sports are a big part in the high school experience. Many kids participate in high school sports each year. Some kids do many more sports than others and kids get injured during them. Playing a sport in high school is difficult because you have to worry about school work and family & friends. Also, many people do not make some of the sports team they will try out for and be embarrassed of themselves. Schools should not continue to fund sports because of school work, injuries, and embarrassment.
That was nearly five hours per week more than any other sport, and 10 hours per week more than a majority of sports in the survey.”(Pope 2007). So after all those hours a week practicing keep in mind that they are still going to class and also have hours of homework to do every night. “Experts agree that students who work more than 15 to 20 hours per week often experience decreased school success” (College Board). Student athletes don’t have time to work. For the student athletes who do work their grades have been dropping according to local surveys. There is also limitations are where they can work student athletes cannot work for school alumni or the boosters. That rule is in affect because boosters or alumni could give money to players and that is against NCAA regulations. Students are not allowed to accept money from any one it could result in a loss of scholarship or a post season ban for the team. The ban affects the team by loss of scholarships or worse the death penalty. The death penalty is when a program does something so bad that the sport gets shutdown permanently and the school is not allowed to participate in that sport. So why make schools go through that just so you don’t have to pay
Their free time is very scarce and they have limited time to socialize with friends and family, since the majority of their time is spent playing sports and doing their schoolwork. An athlete puts in hours and hours of training everyday and to add to all the hard work, they have to go to class and study for tests and homework. With their tight schedule, it is difficult to fit anything else in.
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
The student athletes at most universities can be compared to employees, yet receiving no wages (Cooper 12). Along with time in the classroom and being a full-time student, athletes are expected to spend just as much time on their respective sport. In an article “Top 10 Reasons College Athletes Should Be Paid,” Dave Anderson explains that a college athlete spends just over 43 hours a week devoted to their sport. Those hours are spent with mandatory lifting workouts, conditioning workouts, watching film, position meetings, and practice. As I stated earlier, all this time that is spent on their sport is in addition to the time spent in the classroom with homework and studying. All of that added up well surpasses the time of the average work week at 40 hours and these athletes can quite honestly be looked at as workers for their universities.
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
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).
For years, sports have been a part of American high schools. They have been a source of school pride and give people a connection to their school. They break up the otherwise mundane routine of going to class and doing schoolwork. In recent years there has been a huge push by researchers, educators, politicians, and parents to figures out why America’s schools are constantly falling behind other countries in crucial test subjects. One of the latest reasons to blame for the shortcomings of American students is the incorporation of sports in the American school system. Some are beginning to think that the focus of schools is no longer education and that sports are taking on a greater role within schools. It’s