Effects of Youth Involvement in Organized Sports

In just two decades, the prevalence of obesity doubled for U.S. children ages 6 to 11, and tripled for American teenagers (Childhood Obesity). Obesity is an excessive accumulation of fat causing a person to become overweight. It is a serious and growing health problem, especially for kids. One major factor to the problem of children becoming obese is, video games. Video games have advanced dramatically over the years. From hitting a ball back and forth in the game “Pong,” and eating little dots in the game “Pac Man,” to first person shooters, and sport simulation games that look like you’re watching a game on TV. Even within the past six years, video games have advanced a lot.

Childhood obesity has reached epidemic levels in the United States as well as in many other industrialized nations. Childhood obesity, though, is not limited to affluent countries and is increasingly being found in developing nations as well. Although diet plays an important role in exacerbating the problem, the failure to make healthy choices in food selections is not the only problem. One of the unfortunate consequences of innovations in telecommunications and video game technologies has been an increasingly sedentary lifestyle for many American youths, a trend that has been further reinforced by participation in social media networks. In this environment, it is little wonder that many young people become overweight, but the implications of obesity in childhood have lifetime implications, making the need for studies of childhood obesity and the identification of evidence-based interventions a timely and relevant enterprise. To this end, this paper provides a review of the relevant literature concerning childhood obesity, the stakeholders that are involved and several potential evidence-based interventions that have proven effective in the past. Finally, a list of policy recommendations based on this analysis is followed by a summary of the research and important findings in the conclusion.

Some people think that children mostly learn life lessons by learning from their mistakes or at school, but according to the article, “Social Effects of Sports on Young Children” by Angus Koolbreeze, who has been a freelance writer since 2007, and has a Master of Arts in English from Western Michigan University, states, “Sports teach how to be fair, honest, and competitive, this teaches the child to cultivate meaningful relationships as he/she progresses through school and life” (Koolbreeze, 2017,p.2). This demonstrates that when children participate in a competitive sport they learn to be fair and how to create friendships with teammates, and new friends through life and school, and to always try your hardest. Another example of why competitive sports teach kids important life lessons is because according to the article “ Get Off that Couch and Play” by Eileen Brooker, from Sports World, states, “The challenges young people encounter when participating in competitive sports mirror those they will encounter in their lives. 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” (Brooker, 2014, p.1).This means that when children face a challenge in a sport, they will be prepared on how to handle the situation later in life, such as pressure and

Reducing television, videotape, and video game use may be a promising, population based approach to prevent childhood obesity.

Obesity among children is at an all time high at nearly 18% of all children in 2012 being obese compared to 7% in 1980. One could credit this to many things, but one obvious reason is that the majority of the time that was once spent outside participating in physical activities has been replaced by hours upon hours of video games, television, and the internet accompanied by junk food and unhealthy beverages. Supporters of the Let’s Move! campaign say that many modern day children are not given the opportunity to eat more nutritious foods and get physical exercise, but if they were given such opportunities,

Trying matters; but, when it comes down to it, the point of playing sports or participating in competitive events is to win. So why settle? Understanding the difference between winning and losing is a critical life lesson. It teaches children how to deal with and triumph over adversity, especially those children do not always get what they want. It also teaches them how to bounce back and recover from loss, while also providing the drive and purpose to be better. Few lessons are more important than that ("Performance And Protection Spotlights").

However, people are working out ways to use video games as a way to encourage kids to exercise. Figures reveal a strong positive correlation between hours spent on TV and video game indulgence and the percentage of children classed as overweight per state. The state of Utah was acclaimed the lowest percentage of children who are overweight, and was found to have the second lowest percentage of children spending two or more hours on TV and video game exposure. The District of Columbia had the highest percentage of overweight children, and the highest percentage nationwide of children spending four hours or more in front of a screen. The research was taken after a study revealed that children were six times more likely to take to exercise if it involved a video game. Regular exercise and interactive games, which depended on the children exercising, where provided as free choices to children. Ten percent of active time was spent on kid’s fitness equipment compared with sixty percent on identical machines connected through Gamercize products to a games console, the remaining thirty percent spent with traditional games and magazines. The results of this experiment have been hailed by health experts as a huge step forward in working towards reducing obesity among today's youth.

Youth sports make kids develop great teamwork. because lots of youth sports are team sports and working with other kids really improves your teamwork skills. “working as a team to reach a common goal helps children develop communication and problem solving skills” (USMC). Working with other kids to do or solve really improves their teamwork. Also working as a team will help their team work and make your kid a leader or a loyal supporter. “It is through this experience that some grow into leaders and others into strong supporters” (Chicago Now). When your kid plays sports he or she may become a great leader or supporter which will greatly benifit them later on in life.

Most of the time kids who play sports usually play on a team. Since they have other humans around, they will learn social skills and more with what the coaches teach. Kids can also learn how to win and lose gracefully, without getting mad to a point where helmets or other things are thrown. If the kids learn important life skills, then they can end up having more friends than they’ve ever had, also more positive interaction will occur. (Josephson 1).

Most importantly, children who play sports will have stronger social skills later on in life. The skills that are learned during a sport will benefit the child later on in life, not only in athletics. When a child signs up for youth sports, they are forced to interact with other children their age, as well as older individuals, suchs as coaches and officals. As a result, the child learns how to deal with all types of people and are taught to cooperate with others at an early age. Being able to interact with others teaches the kids that although they may be different, they can still work together and have a common interest. Children can also gain the ability to possess strong communication from playing sports. During practices and games, a child will have to talk, not only other kids, but also to their coach. Problem-solving skills can be another positive skill obtained from playing youth sports. When playing sports, when something goes wrong, it causes one figure out what needs to be done quickly which is a necessity as an adult. Playing a sport can teach a kid that leadership skills start to develop at an early age and it only grows as the child gets older. On every team, there is usually one kid who takes charge and helps their teammates out. He or she is not the only kid who will benefit from those leadership

High Schools across the nation have, and compete with each other, with various different sports. Whether it’s Forensics to Football, Schools compete feverishly for the top spot in the state. But what a lot of people don’t talk about is how these sports retain the kids, It also pushes them to their best through school. During my research of this topic I found two different article that stuck out. The first one was, The US Library of Medicine, by Marge, Scherer. As well as Youth Sport: Positive and Negative Impact on Young Athletes, by Donna L, Merkel.

Emergency room visits have tripled in recent years.. The main causes of these types of visits is school sports, such as football. The issue of whether youth sports are helpful or harmful has been going around for quite some time now. There have been many searches done on the amount of injuries that have been caused from youth activities. There are a total percentage of 66% youth boys that go out for sports and 52% of girls that go out for youth sports. There are about 45 million children that go out for some sort of sport. Researchers show that most kids quit their sports by the age of 15, which was recorded back in 2014. Youth sports are more harmful than helpful because kids can feel pressure, they take focus away from schools, and they cause too many injuries.

Youth sports have become a cornerstone of today's American society. Most children have or will participate in some sort of organized sport, whether it be through a local organization or through a national organization like the YMCA. The question being posed today is if these organizations should award every child with a trophy or medal for their participation, or if they should reserve these awards for those who won the most. If you praise and reward a child for just showing up, then it will hurt them later in life.

In the United States, adolescent obesity and its health-related consequences have reached crisis proportion. Also in the article “Excessive Video Game Playing Can Adversely Affect Children 's Health,” the author mentions the link between playing video games and obesity in children. It has been reported that in the United States about 40 percent of children between 5 and 8 years of age considered to be clinically obese (Haugen). In 1996, Dr. Philip Harvey, a public-health nutritionist, was quoted in the newspaper The Weekend Australian as saying that “Australian children are getting fatter and they’re getting fatter fast.” His concern was based on a study that showed that the percentage of overweight children in Australia had doubled over the previous ten years. The newspaper noted that excessive video game playing with lacking exercise was seen as the primary cause for this increase in obese children.

Sports participation often involves close physical contact, sharing of facilities and equipment which provides an opportunity for the transmission of communicable disease primarily through: