The Benefits Of Competitive Sports

The benefits of sports participation have been studied during the last few years. Sports participation has also long been thought to provide a social environment that fosters basic values such as fair play, competiveness, and achievement (Pate, Trost, Levin & Dowda, 2000). Furthermore, Pate et al. (2000) conclude that in the most populous demographic subgroups of United States high school students, sports participation is associated with multiple positive health behaviors. This trend was most striking for white females and white males, among whom sports participation was significantly associated with numerous positive healthy behaviors and almost no negative health behaviors. African American and Hispanic students had fewer associations with positive health behaviors, and even some association with negative behaviors were observed. Sports has been a important key to high schools students get involved on a social environment that can cause very positive healthy behaviors among the youth. Pate et al. (2000) continue to observe that school and community sports programs have the potential to help youth establish lifelong healthy physical activity patterns.

The first reason I think kids should play competitive sports is communication. Communication is one major skill you will need in order to get a job, and what is convenient about this is that competitive sports can teach you this life skill. Coaches who mainly focus on communication are teaching youth athletes how to maintain and start relationships such as, family, friends, etc. Communication is mainly (in sports) taught through “games” if you are playing a game such as soccer you will need to communicate with your team members in order to work together.. But communication is not only taught through sports it is also mainly taught through school from working on group projects to something as simple as recess or lunch. LIke I said before understanding communication and how it works is key to getting a job. In a Career Quest article “Why Communication Skills are Essential to Your Future Career” says in a employee survey that communication skills almost

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,

Many people argue whether kids should or should not be able to compete in competitive sports. First, competitive sports provides many health benefits. Also, playing a sport will help prepare for difficult challenges as an adult. Finally, the extra expenses that parents are paying for will decrease immensely. By competing in competitive sports kids will solve many difficult challenges faced around the world today. Children should be able to compete in competitive sports for various reasons.

Lately though, these games have lost it’s purpose and the lessons these players could be learning are far from what is transpiring. The emphasis on winning or losing has significantly outweighed what these sports are all about; teamwork and having fun. Alfie Kohn, author of “The Case Against Competition” found a study researched by David Johnson, a professor at the University of Minnesota, and his colleagues. They previewed all the studies they could find on the subject of competition from 1924 to 1980. Sixty-five of the studies found that children learn better when they work cooperatively as opposed to competitively, eight found the reverse. It is proven that you can get the most out of a topic whether it’s school work to sports, you learn the most from working in an atmosphere where they work together not against each other. In addition, children have been enrolled in intense sport training as early as the age of 4, not allowing them to have a chance to really pick what sport they are interested in. A lot of times parents hope to fulfill their dream, by having their offspring due what they never got the chance as a child. This doesn’t give kids the chance to develop and make decisions for themselves when it relates to the sports they want to play. This causes children to not only unhappy but dependent on

By participating in competitive sports at an early age, kids develop life skills to help them with this dilemma. They learn that when they see others being successful, that it is due to the hard work they put in and not just by chance.

The most important reason why kids should play competitive sports is that they teach them life lessons. For example, Sarah Davis, the author of “What Are the Benefits of Competitive Sports for Youth?” in her article argues that by playing competitive sports kids will learn life lessons. She claims,“...competitive sports can help kids learn life lessons

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.

There has been disagreement about if children should play competitive sports, I am writing to tell you that kids should play competitive sports. Competitive sports bring many benefits to young children. By participating in competitive sports at an early age, kids develop life skills. They learn that when they see others being successful, that it is due to the hard work they put in and not just by chance. Hard work pays off and repetition builds skills. Practice may not be everyone’s favorite part of a sport, but doing something over and over again will make it become an instinct. Regardless of the type of sport that is played, there are some basic fundamentals that are learned when practiced repeatedly. With each practice, athletes can gain

This proves that playing competitive sports is good for the youth and it can also benefit them by playing on a team. It also gives them a lot of life skills such as confidence that they will use later on in their life when they have a job. Lucy Calkins is an expert in writing and in her article “Get Off That Couch and Play!” she also says that, “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” (2014). In addition, to Lucy Calkins article “Get Off That Couch and Play!” that later in life if an adult is at a job interview they will need confidence while they are being interviewed, otherwise they probably won’t get the job. Adults and Children also need to work hard to get towards a goal. Like if someone is at their job and their boss needs something right away, they must get it done and not day dream. In the article “Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at High School Level,” education researcher and writer Grace Chen says, “When children and teens participate in group competitions and activities, they learn skills that

Jessica Statsky wrote an essay where she expressed her thoughts on young kids competitive in sports. Statsky made it very clear in her essay that she was completely against kids participating in competitive sports. Personally, I disagree with Starsky's statement, I believe that being in a competitive sport has many more advantages rather than disadvantages. Being on a sports team since a young age can teach kids how to cope with failure as well as the empowering feeling of winning. Teams teach kids to be able to work with others despite the differences that might exist between teammates, it teaches them teamwork and how to grow up and get better in working in teams because teams are everywhere; work, school, church, meeting and in many other places.

In my past, competitive sports has not been a great memory of mine. I had an experience while playing indoor soccer where the competitive aspect of the game made it less fun to play. However, after reading the article, “Have Youth Sports Become Too Intense?”, where the issue of competitive youth sports becoming too intense or extreme is debated, my perspective was changed. The benefits of participating in competitive youth sports are worth the drawbacks because athletes learn to use pressure to their advantage later in life along with how to block out negativity.

The second reason competitive sports are good is when kids play sports they can learn life lessons. Mango thinks that creating and setting goals

Do you have a passion, something you love to do more than anything? Imagine people trying to stop you from doing what you love because they think it’s not useful or a waste. Some people say competitive sports cost too much and they are way too dangerous for young kids to participate in. However, for many youth, competitive sports play a positive role. When kids play competitive sports, they are happier and they learn how to be healthy. Also, they learn life lessons that they will need for the future.

Organized youth sports are extremely popular among youth and their families, with approximately 45 million children and adolescent participating in the US. There are many characteristics children can develop while playing youth sports such as confidence, self-esteem, leadership, respect, independence, assertiveness, and conflict resolution. Competition can help kids learn more, improve faster and reach a higher level of excellence than they would be able to without the ongoing challenge. Competitive sports can help keep kids active and health as they grow, and other distractions increase that may lead to an unhealthy lifestyle. People argue that it can destroy self-esteem and lead to resentment. Programs and coaches overemphasizing