Pressure In College Sports

Children who participate in sports are less likely to be overweight or obese, have higher self-esteem on average, and are generally more invested in their academics. Sports are oftentimes seen as a gateway to academic opportunity, particularly for kids with fewer resources. While this logic is inherently problematic, it is true that high schoolers who were involved with organized sport were more likely to be enrolled in college later on. Youth sports also give children a place to develop socially by teaching them about teamwork, leadership, and compromise. Team sports in particular can provide children with a sense of belonging to a group, and therefore increase their self-esteem and improve their social competence. There are dozens of reasons why youth sport is important and beneficial to a child’s development, and with millions of participants each year in the United States alone, it doesn’t look like youth sports will be going anywhere anytime

Competitive sports in some cases are becoming very unhealthy for children. Most children would rather play on a losing team than sit on the bench of a winning team. Youth sports are a great idea to get children up and active, as well as improve their social skills. Just like every other thing in life it is important to practice and work hard to achieve success. However it is unhealthy to push for results over the needs or wants of the child. Aside from the mental stress that young athletes may experience from intense training and physical play long lasting injures is now a growing concern. Fact is competitive sports is a double edge sword if done right it is the greatest thing world, but if done wrong it can be very unhealthy for a child.

Some people think that competitive sports are good for children and teens everywhere, but I highly disagree. I think kids shouldn’t be allowed to play competitive sports. Kids self esteem lowers every time someone tells them they are bad at something, and a lot of kids trash talk, or even brag. Competitive sports are very precarious to kids that are still growing. Have you ever stopped to think about how much money parents spend on competitive sports per year? What if that parent has more than one child. Children’s parents are fundamentally paying money for their child to get injured in a sport. Johns Hopkins Medicine says; “More than 3.5 million kids and teens get injured from competitive sports, and that’s just in one year.” (JHM). Yet,

In their article, Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia give a multitude of reasons why many kids aren’t cut out for sports. For example, they said, “Nervous types appalled by the incessant yelling by adults from the sidelines can be excused for believing that all the competition turns off as many kids as it turns on. Sabo found that 45 percent of the students in his survey who started a sport had quit it. Yet as you can see, the reasons for quitting aren't that youth sports are necessarily bad” (“Hey, data, data—Swing!,” 2013). This demonstrates that while some children can thrive off of the pressure put on them, some find it mentally taxing. Additionally, as pointed out by Jacqueline Stenson in her article, “Pushing Too Hard Too Young,” “Kids with a strong internal drive may thrive on the competition. But the pressure can be too much for others, particularly grade-schoolers who aren't as equipped to deal with the stress as older athletes” (2013). This suggests that if too much stress is put on them, children can become extremely uncomfortable while playing sports, and might even start hating sports because of it. Correspondingly, Jacqueline Stenson mentions in her article that “Not only are these youngsters at risk for emotional burnout,

Have you ever been put in a life or death situation? Hopefully not! However, some things you do may feel like “life or death” situations at the time, especially for young children. Competitive sports can help with conquering those fears. There will be times when you feel pressure; as if you’re under a spotlight. Moments when it seems like people are almost daring you to fail. By participating in competitive sports, children are prepared for these moments. These are the times where you go back to what you have learned, all the hours you put in to learn a skill. These are the times worth living for because by putting in the work, you have trained yourself to expect success. Competitive sports have a positive impact on children and teach

High school football over the years has become a huge spectacle lets just talk about the DWF area or we can even get smaller to make a point if you made a 25 mile radius these local high school teams play at the Star (seats 12,000), Allen stadium (seats 18,000 cost 60 million), and McKinney’s new stadium (seats 12,000 costs 69.9 million). This is just high school football these young kids playing under tremendous pressure from the start. The pressure to play high school football is immense, there are so many media outlets for these kids, and they get coverage from what it seems like all the time during the season, yet this is all just considered a recreational activity I think it has become more than that now. The pressure for coaches is high as well dealing with parents, board members, keeping up with classes as a teacher, and oh you also have to win since football is a performance-based business (forewarning this will be said a lot). For example I will refer to Boobie Miles from Friday Night Lights for one final point. Boobie knew if he did not make it in football there was nothing special for him. That is why when he got hurt he still wanted to play, because he knew that’s all he had. That is a lot of pressure for a 16-18 year to handle, and if they are not up for it they crack.

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.

Robert Cantu discusses the lessons that can’t be learned in sports like tennis or golf. He writes, “In football, a lineman can execute a crackerjack block that clears the way for the runner to burst through the hole. The runner trips on his feet and plays ends with no gain. Or the opposite occurs and we mess up at the expense of teammates. That’s analogous to real life, isn’t it?” In a sport, one does the best they can, expecting the same from the other team, and is content with whatever result. Pressure is also a crucial learning aspect in sports. Most athletes love the pressure a game or competition has; it keeps the athletes on their toes and ready to overcome the challenge set in front of them. The responses that these athletes give under pressure is amazing and gives them the self-motivation they need to

Fewer kids play amid pressure,” shows that children are giving up the fun in sports because the parents want to one-up each other. In the beginning of youth sports, it was just seen as a fun activity for the children, but the parents started getting involved, and the children were shown that this was not a fun sport but a competition that they had to win, no matter what. The article stated this when Amanda Visak explained that, “Amanda Visak, an exercise science professor at George Washington University, recently surveyed nearly 150 children about what they found fun in sports...the kids identified 81 factors contributing to their happiness. Number 48: winning...playing in tournaments, cool uniforms and expensive equipment” (Rosenwald 3). Because of the parents’ competitions, the children think that what is important is winning the game and uniforms, while in reality it should be having fun and trying your best while with your

Pressure and High School Sports seem to go hand in hand these days. Whether we like pressure or not, it is difficult to avoid. We experience pressure because of standards that others expect us to accomplish. While some people may do well under pressure, many of us do bad under pressure.

There is a drop of sweat running down your head. Your spine tingles. Your brain blanks out. This is pressure. Participating in Youth Competitive Sports (YCS) can be pressure filled, dangerous and more. YCS are sports where you go head to head against other students. Critics claim that they do not put too much pressure on today's youth. However, children and teenagers should not be pressured to play. My first reason is that these kinds of sports can cause injuries if kids do not know what they are doing. Secondly, they don’t have time to do things they love or time to complete school work.

Picture this: you’re the best track runner on your team and your best event is the 1600 meter dash, or the mile. You are a nervous wreck but you still decide to run. The gun fires and you’re going at a fast pace. Your coach is yelling at you from the sidelines. You try to ignore it but you suddenly feel sick and start to throw up. Then you lay down on the ground, tears flowing down your face. Even though sports give a lot of opportunities for the children who play them, there also can be a pressure. A pressure to do well and succeed. A pressure from your coaches and parents who are relying on you to win no matter what. This pressure from your parents and coaches can lead to self pressure and eventually sometimes to

Not everyone believes competitive sports are good for kids. Some people believe competitive sports are harmful to kids. Competitive sports are good because they improve overall health, teach life lessons, and positively impact kids lives.

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

One thing that is a positive outcome in sports is the overflowing happiness people get when they participate in competitive sports. One example is that “children who were involved in sports were more assertive, had greater confidence in their skills and physical appearance, and reported more positive feelings than those who didn’t participate. (Merkal, Donna, Youth sport: positive and negative impact on young athletes, 201, May 31).” If children hold an extreme love for the sport they play, most children use that sport as an escape. Playing sports blows off steam and helps people relax. “Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research ,Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity, 1998).” Playing sports can help bring families or other kids together to build strong bonds. “It appears that US children are healthy and happy as they engage in this traditional pastime, and families report higher levels of satisfaction if their children participate. (Macdonald, Brian, Kids in Sports, Part 5: Can sports help shy kids to make friends?, 2009).” A pat on the back from a parental figure is enough to keep kids going and doing their best. Because sports make children happier, they are more prone to keep playing which all in all makes children happier and it teaches kids to do what makes them happy. With suicide being the second biggest fatality for adolescents doing what makes them happy can be a life or death situation.