Sports Deviance Essay

They think by taking time off to heal, they are letting their teammates, coaches, parents, and most of all, themselves down. Some even feel as if they lose their sense of identity. To avoid this, many athletes will ignore the pain and avoid anyone who will ask them about the pain, such as coaches, teammates, friends, parents and doctors. Though they think lying will help themselves and others, there are physical and mental consequences. After being injured, some athletes experience sadness, isolation, irritation, lack of motivation, anger, frustration, changes in appetite, and sleep disturbance, (Putukian). You could experience chronic pain and injury, weakness, disability, mental disability, and brain damage. Not only could you experience these side effects, you could also risk ruining your

Occasionally in some athletes’ lives, the parents pick the sport their child participates in. They may do this because they want to envision themselves and their child participating. Athletes’ parents push them to go to practice and games, and they end up quitting due to the parents “gap between the child’s desire to have fun and the misguided notion among some adults that their kids’ games are a miniature version of grown-up competitions, where the goal is to win (Atkinson). This problem can lead to psychological and anxiety issues in children. If a child believes they have to be the best, but they physically and emotionally can’t, it can make the relationship between the parent and child distant and not as strong. Parents hope to see their children in the professional sports; however, only “one in six thousand high school football players will make it to the NFL” (Atkinson). With these statistics, the odds are very low for athletes to make it that far, and parents pushing their children to be that .0001 chance can stress a kid out and strain their academics. In bigger schools, it is more competitive to be on a school sports team, which can cause heartbreak if an athlete does not make the team, but the parent can take it to a whole new level believing that the child did not work hard enough. This can sometimes lead to the student being punished, with

     Michigan State University's report, "Sportsmanship: Building Character or 'Characters'?" on the Youth Sportsman Institute webpage, explains the basic idea of how the role of children's participation in sports affects their sportsmanship. The report gives examples of how good sportsmen, and bad sportsmen are viewed by society. The Youth Sports Institute says, "participation is viewed as a double-edged sword that may have either negative or positive effects on the child"("Sportsmanship",1) and that "the critical factor in determining whether the youth sports experience has a positive or negative effect on children is the quality of adult leadership"("Sportsmanship, 3).

A prominent reason why high school sports is detrimental to academic accomplishments of students is because of how sports act as a powerful distractor to education. When a student starts to play sports in school, their mindset shifts from being focused on learning to now focusing on improving at their sport of choice. Sports are just another thing that consumes the time and attention of people. This simple fact clearly presents a problem because it means less effort can be dedicated towards academics. A perfect example of how sports teams magnify this effect of reducing academic effort is presented in the article “Why Student Athletes Continue to Fail” when it explains “Tight-knit student athletes will seek ways of fitting into a culture that they perceive as neglecting academics (by defaulting into majors of dubious merit and spending less time doing homework), knowing that their habits are observed by teammates” (Oppenheimer). Clearly, this statement demonstrates that school sports create an environment where students feel pressured to adopt a callous attitude towards academics. Since sports teams form a strong bond between the members of the team, the impact of peer pressure is emphasized because each student wants to behave like the others simply to feel connected to the group.

Career achievements need to be based on professional conduct and milestones covered. However, the big sports associations such as Major League Baseball (MLB), the National Football League (NFL) and the National Basketball Association (NBA) tend to factor in other principles as well (Withers 147). For these leagues, certain behaviors off the field are keen indicators that determine how a player is viewed. With such efforts, these leagues aim to maintain a standard that professional athletes can use to guide their lives. However, there are questions that linger regarding the forms of conduct that are deemed to be unworthy of these athletes. The question is also posed to the wider society since these professionals are a part of it (Schrotenboer

Psychology impact of sport injuries is a topic no one hears much about until an athlete is injured and goes through it himself/herself. High school athletes as well as professional ones both are exposed to injuries at any time, the impact of this injury might be the same. Getting injured is devastating for most athletes, what they don’t hear much is how bad it can get to them mentally. Depending on the injury, some athletes are able to return to the sport, others are not so lucky. When they are affected emotionally or mentally, it does not only affect them, but their team, the fans, and even the coaches. In most cases, these injuries and the rehabilitation process are often followed by psychological consequences which can impact the athletes’ well-being, as well as their chances of returning to their sport. The importance of sport psychology will be discussed throughout the paper to give a better understanding on how it affects athletes when dealing with a sport injury. Being aware of the psychological symptoms, as well as knowing how to avoid the effects could make a difference on someone. As well as knowing how important rehabilitation is when wanting to return to the game as soon as possible, if probable.

As many people know, sports are dangerous. However, most coaches and spectators say things like, “tough it out” or “no pain no gain” to these players. But if a player plays with

many young athletes’ perceptions that their parents expect them to be extraordinary and would criticize them if they failed to deliver. The added pressure from coaches to be perfect can also deter young athletes’ focus on doing what is right or doing what will allow them to succeed and ultimately satisfy their parents and coaches desires (Madigan, Stoeber & Passfield, 2016).

The term sport is highly complex and often tough for people to define. Concepts that are associated with sport can be equally hard to understand. One such concept is deviance among athletes. Coakley states that “Deviance occurs when a person’s ideas, traits, or actions are perceived by others to fall outside the normal range of acceptance in a society” (Coakley, 2015, p.108). These normal ranges of acceptance are created by societal norms. There are two kinds of norms; “formal, which are explicitly written rules or laws and informal, which are unwritten customs and traditions of how a person should think and act in society” (Coakley, 2015, p.108). In order to be able to examine deviance, one must first define the norms in their area of interest. For the purposes of this paper, the area of interest is football. Football is a social world in which the prevalence of deviance is high. There are many levels of football, and this paper focuses on High School football players.

In all levels of sport, involvement there is a high incidence of injuries that are bound to occur. These injuries can range in severity, from simple cuts and bruises to season or even career ending injuries. In many cases, the injured athlete is initially assessed and diagnosed with whatever ailment they may have. Next, the athlete is treated for that injury whether it be surgery, physical therapy, or both and then is given time to physically recover from that injury. This execution of treatment is known as the biomedical model, which the majority of physicians in today’s practice use. This plan seems to be universal and effective in many cases. What many

Athletes that compete at elite levels train year round, often with few breaks, and don’t allow adequate time for recovery. Also, many sports’ practice regiments are repetitive and lead to boredom due to lack of variety. Because of this, a study on social interaction and sport burnout concluded that, “Burnout is the final stage of a continuum of overtraining and staleness and the result of a negative response or maladaptation to training” (Goodger, Gorely, Lavallee, Hardwood). Injuries, strain, and physical exhaustion from overtraining and overworking student athletes can lead them to quit. Furthermore, the emotional strain from constant competition and the dullness of repetition can lead to burnout. By forcing young athletes into training regimens that compromise their physical and emotional health, coaches and parents are feeding into burnout. However, there are strategies for preventing

Analysing the effects, recovery and prevention assist in determining the extent of what the injury does to individuals participating in the popular well-known sport.

Athletic competitions have worked as entertainment for individuals and families for numerous years. The athletes involved in this competitions/events are undertaken physical conditions that could affect their well-being for short and/or long periods of time. Some of these athletes are taught to be tough to go under pain and to avoid sitting out to not show weakness to the opponent. At the same time, these athletes feel the social pressure of performing on a 100% every practice and game to meet the expectations of family, fans and coaches. Due to those conditions previously mentioned, the athlete will be facing a major dilemma between reporting the injury (and possibly being removed from participation) or not reporting it (which it could cause the injury worsen with time which it could lead to life threating situations).

In sports, the probability of getting an injury is very high. Players don’t even have to try and may get severely hurt. Some teammates and coaches say that the players just need to be more careful and watch their surroundings more intently. But, players have to be continuously aware of their surroundings to keep themselves from getting hurt by others, much less self-inflicted injuries. Mark Hyman and Nathan Pitcock, writers from The New York Times, write “Half of all sports injuries among kids each year are caused by simple overuse… injuries-stress fractures, ruptured ligaments, and growth plate injuries- can be quite serious, and many can cause lifelong problems” (Pitcock, Hyman 1). These injuries are all very common with today’s youth. The lifelong injuries are not worth the risk of playing one more game. If players really want to avoid self-afflicted injuries, they should prepare themselves for the sport year around so that they are conditioned for the next season, but players should play more than one sport to cross-train and avoid overuse of specific bones and

In work with injured athletes, some sport and exercise psychologists have proposed that certain attitudes might predispose athletes to injury (7). According to this