The Most Enjoyable Activity For Children

There are many risks to playing sports but the biggest one is injuries. In invasion games like lacrosse and soccer you risk being pushed, tackled, kicked, and other physical “attacks”. In other games like tennis you can get hurt from a fracture or sprain. In almost every sport you could be injured.

In the US alone, we carry roughly around 45 million children and adolescent that participate in an organized youth sport. These organized programs run from companies such as YMCA, ACES, AYSO and other ethnic organizations like SEYO and JETTS. According to an article written by Donna L Merkel, she informs us that about 75 percent of American families within the age of four to nine, have at least participated in an organized sport. In most cases, it is said that these children are becoming more happy and living in a much more healthy lifestyle when they go to these events. Although, statistics have show that these kids are being injured drastically over the years. Researchers have shown that there have been over 2.6 million emergency visits each year for those that have been aged between 5-24. That being a problem, parents have been second guessing themselves whether they should put their children 's back into these programs. We all know that it is tough to come back from an injury, but that 's the thing that only makes us stronger to learn from our mistakes. Chicago Bulls Hall of Famer Michael Jordan once said that "If you wish to achieve, there will be roadblocks. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it."

Youth sports are continuing to be shifted into adult standards, by promoting victory while risking injury. Kids do not have the same physical capabilities of professional athletes on television, yet some parents insist that their kids continue playing extremely harmful sports at a violent level of play. Young athletes should not put constant strain on developing bones and muscles. For example, in baseball, a twelve-year-old trying to throw a curveball puts constant strain on the elbow’s ligaments, and may cause

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.

That isn’t the case for most kids. For a lot of kids in competitive sports, it doesn’t matter how careful you are, you are bound to get hurt once or twice a year. When kids play competitive sports, they can get hurt pretty badly. A lot of kids break bones, get concussions, or other injuries while playing in competitive sports. Also, since kids are growing more, they seem to have more troubles with injuries than adults do, and according to the NCBI, “Due to the rapid expansion of bones while growing and slowly elongating muscles, tension develops across the growth plates, the apophyses, and the joints. Most injuries happen during practices, and competitive sports teams have more practices than non competitive.”. (NCBI). Concussions are very dangerous, and according to Prevacus Inc., “There are between an estimated 1.6 and 3.8 million sports-related concussions in the United States every year,” (Prevacus). Also, USA Today said; There may be a lot of concussions, but there are also a lot more injuries too, “Sprains and strains, fractures, contusions, abrasions and concussions top the list of sports-related ER diagnoses for kids ages 6 to 19 — at a cost of more than $935 million each year.” (USA Today). Which is why competitive sports are very

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.

Each year in the United States, more than 36 million school-aged children participate in an “organized sport” (“Youth Sports Statistics”). Especially over the past few years, many studies have proved or disproved the idea that sports are beneficial for young kids. Those studies have found that youth sports have both positive and negative effects on young children, and research shows parents and coaches have the greatest effect on a child’s experience.

Any child who participates in sports only raises the likelihood that they will suffer one of these injuries. The most deadly and life altering injury children can are concussions. Concussions are a part of all sports and are unavoidable. Many children are young and may not be able to recognize if they have suffered a concussion or not. This is extremely dangerous because any physical activity is unhealthy when trying to heal the brain and if they get another concussion, it can have be life changing for the child “A second concussion soon after the first one does not have to be very strong for its effects to be permanently disabling or deadly.”(“concussion”). Because of how easily a concussion could go unnoticed in young children it leads as the most deadly injury from sports. Some children may even lie about how they feel knowing that if they do have a concussion they won't be able to play their sport for a few weeks at least. For how dangerous and deadly of an injury, concussion are they are very prevalent in contact sports “the likelihood of suffering a concussion while playing a contact sport is estimated to be as high as 19 percent per year of play”(“concussion”). That means if your child participates in a contact sport for more than 5 years they will most likely suffer at least one concussion if not more. Concussions are a huge danger to any child participating in sports and no sport will be able to give back what a conclusion could take away from your child's

When most kids play for typical leagues whether they are fun leagues or competitive leagues injuries can happen. The injury rate is slightly higher then children with sedentary lifestyles. Studies have shown that children that are not exposed to sports are less likely to play them later in their adolescence. This country has a growing epidemic of overweight youth. Children subconsciously about fitness in a fun manner. Active kids typically remain active throughout their life

Players are more focused on competition rather than having fun, learning and being with friends, which has created a desire for winning. Especially, while players capability and worth are based on their ability to stand up to their coaches and parents high expectations and win the gold; they tend to take actions in a reckless demeanor, entailed by physical injuries. Sports which require contact are the most common. However, injuries that come with them can be severe for growing bodies of children under the age of twelve as their body has not developed fully. In addition to physical injuries, sports activates can also result in psychological upheaval. The fear of being hurt distracts children from playing to their full potential. This is a fact to which I can relate closely. As an eight-year-old boy, I was very much into soccer, but one fateful day, harsh gameplay lead to me breaking my ankle after which the fear of being hurt again kept me from playing soccer for a few years and even today I hold myself back so that I don’t get hurt

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,

Aquatic therapy is a great option to do an exercise program in which there will be less strain on the joints. The warmer water temperature can loosen up stiff joints, muscles, promote relaxation and offer pain relief. Active and passive range of motion can be worked on in this environment. Many kids love the pool and this can be a fun treatment session for pediatrics where play can be front and center (Becker,

You may have to go to a physical therapy clinic periodically for treatments, but you'll also be expected to exercise every day at home, even if you're in pain. If you are at home alone, you may become lax because of pain and grogginess. If you don't keep up with your exercises, your recovery will be longer. A home health aid will encourage you to do exercises like you are instructed, and will inform your physical therapist if you can't or won't do them. This helps prevent complications that slow recovery and reduce range of motion in your

ome parents may not want their kids to be involved in sports because they can get injured. In teenage sports, a large amount of athletes don’t have the skills needed to play the sport successfully and safely, which cause injuries. When a child is at age 5, they have not yet gained the energy or social skills that are needed in order to safely participate in a team sport. If a child does participate at that age in a sport, it endangers the child and the others playing. As a result, it is suggested to wait until a child is eight to twelve to be involved in sports. (Beim). This way they can be safer and get benefits from participating in sports. The coaches are to make sure that athlete has the skills needed to participate safely in that sport. When safety measures are

The bang of the head, the crack of the bone, the tear of a muscle, are all things that high school athletes put themselves at risks for. Every time a high school athlete steps foot on a field, rink, or court they put themself in a risky situation. Although the risk may be there, athletes achieve many valuable lessons throughout high school sports. The valuable lessons promote self-confidence, socialization and team spirit, as well as decreases stress. While playing sports, athletes are at excessive risks of being injured. Although high school athletes have a risk of being injured, the benefits of high school sports programs outweighs the physical risk because of its benefits to teenagers mental health, benefits to teenagers physical health,