Essay about Prepubescent Strength Training

In his autobiography Life Lessons from Little League, Vincent Fortanasce says “Winning is never final, and losing is never fatal.” At the end of a game, one team will win and the other will lose. Failure to accept this concept has become detrimental to American youth sports organizations. Our society has become infatuated with winning, and all of the additional perks associated with it. What is considered the “best” for children as young as five years old has grown to an unrealistic extent. Parents want their children to be in a reputable organization, young athletes want to play with highly skilled teammates, and coaches want to recruit talented players all in hopes of being the absolute “best”. The amount of young athletes, ranging from five to fourteen years old, participating in local sports organizations has declined within the last two decades due to the highly competitive and unhealthy environments they are being exposed to.Taking pride in your local community has decreased form an athletic point of view. Representing the place I grew up in was a motivating factor when I put my uniform on for every single softball game I played in high school. I had the privilege to play on the field next to girls I had grown to love the sport with ever since our tee ball days. Today, young athletes are branching out from their homegrown roots to play for club teams who recruit players from a larger region. The popularity of traveling teams has substantially diluted the

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.

The principles of resistance training and lifting techniques are the key to minimize the risk of injury and increase performance. To avoid injury and obtain maximum benefits from each exercise session, athletes must follow the safety guidelines of weightlifting. Before each workout session, athletes need to warm-up properly, 5 to 10 minutes of dynamic exercises, such as walking or light jogging to increase body temperature and prepare muscles, ligaments, and tendons for vigorous movements. Then, they need to perform stretching exercises for at least 5 minutes to prevent muscle pulls, strains, and sprains. At the end of each exercise session, they need to perform cool- down exercises to help the body to slowly return to a resting state. The

A point of disagreement among many parents of children who play competitive sports is if the benefits outweigh the risk of injury. It is clear that competitive sports aren’t worth the risks, with high mental costs to send a child where they would be pressured to not let down the team, and when all it takes is a hit to the head to sustain life-changing injuries.

Over the years, the growth and changes in competitive sports has increased significantly. Sports games are now available twenty four seven weather it’s on national television or the radio, these activities have become a staple to American culture. Due in part to this, organizations have changed American athletics from more of a fun playtime to competition. Although, we may enjoy watching an intense sports game on television, the emotional and physical long term effects outweigh the entertainment of the people eagerly watching these activities occur. Also, the motivation to play the sport has become less about the team aspect and more about the emphasis on victory. Due to the unhealthy support from those around developing athletes, they’re

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

All athletes regardless of age, gender, genetics or sport can benefit from effective training. It is important that the selected training improves the body’s ability to perform tasks associated with the chosen

One of the more prevailing ideologies attached to athletes and coaches alike is the more training one completes the better performance can be obtained. While this method has proven to push athletes to crush records, there comes a point in this action plan when excessive training will cause an athlete to plateau or even deteriorate in performance ability (Wilmore, Costill, & Kenney, 2011). This particular method to training has sparked many a research study in which it is generally found that athletes who train in an excess of double the volume of a typical training program see no additional benefits to performance (Wilmore et al., 2011). There are several consequences to this type of training with the top two being overtraining syndrome and

In the past 30 years, the direction of sports within the youth has drastically changed. In the past, young athletes aimed to play in several sports. Now, athletes focus themselves in one single sport and year-round extensive training has been encouraged by most adults in a young athlete’s life whether they are a parent or a coach. Allowing the youth to participate in sports is frequently considered “a great way to develop leadership skills” and “an appreciation for individual and team accomplishments” (Sailor). Along with the rise of Sport Specialization, concerns pertaining to a child’s physical and psychological health have begun to increase as well. Early Sport Specialization may lead to greater risks in a child’s life such as injuries,

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

“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.

Without longer sarcomeres, the muscles of a young child cannot lengthen, causing harder muscle repair. In order to fully succeed at strength training, one must master breathing and muscle control; something a young child is more than likely not going to be able to do. It takes time to become comfortable with strength training and truly reach your potential. Therefore, it takes more effort and more time committed to strength training. During pre-puberty there is not much enzyme activity going on. Thus the child is going to struggle. The heart rate and breathing patterns in children increase and gas rates cannot change as much because their lungs are not fully developed. Children have a very high heart rate, but it is mainly about breathing patterns. In their small bodies cardiac output and stroke volume will not keep up. This can be dangerous because children do not typically keep up with their breathing patterns and are not educated on how to monitor themselves – this can lead to

Practicing a sport can be highly beneficial to children, until it’s taken too far. Often called training now, children as young as six years old are participating in sports that require too much time. At that age, sports should be something fun to do and a favorable source of physical activity. However, whenever an athlete shows a hint of a talent, child exploitation occurs (Bean 10234). Between the ages of 7-12, adolescents should be learning identity, motives, beliefs, and values, but nearly all athletes are practicing 5 days a week with games every Saturday. This leaves no time or energy for hanging out with friends, homework, family time, and relaxation. Dr. Shane Murphy reports that if a coach or trainer sees talent in a young child, immediately they are convincing the

Having gone through both elementary and middle school, we have all run into peers who spent a lot of time and energy trying to act like the most popular athlete in any given time period. Kids often try to imitate controversial athletes to bring attention to themselves. Such behavior can bring popularity to a young person. A sad outcome of violence in adult sports is that youth sports end up mirroring adult sports. Young people are encouraged to be aggressive, and often those who are the stars of the team are those who know how to "stretch the rules". Often, young people who do play by the rules are relegated to the bench. As a result, youth athletic teams, even

Raising children in today’s society is not for the faint of heart. Raising children has never been easy, but it is especially difficult in youth sports today. Coaches and parents are putting a lot of pressure on our young sons and daughters. The pressure to succeed in sports at