preview

The Negative Effects Of Youth Sports For Children And Teens

Good Essays
Open Document

“More than 26 million, or two thirds of America’s youth, play a team sport in America” (Cary et. al). Sports for children and teenagers is something that is becoming more popular to be involved in. Children have the ability to begin playing sports at a very young age, and even some can be involved in multiple sports at the same time. For some children, their lives revolve around the sport they play. Some people say that youth sports have too much of an intensity level that is put on the children. Others say that the intensity level is not too excessive for children and can even be beneficial. The sports programs children are involved in are at too high of an intensity level because children invest an unhealthy amount of time into sports. Also, parents and coaches get too involved in the sport, which ends up harming the child. Lastly, the cost to be involved in sports programs can be extremely expensive. For all these reasons, sports programs for children and teenagers are too intense. Children spend dangerous amounts of their time focusing on the sport they are involved in. Pediatric sports medicine specialist, Paul Stricker, states that, “I’ve had at least a 30 to 40 percent increase in overuse injuries like stress fractures and tendinitis … These only come from forces that are repetitive” (qtd. in Cary et. al). As shown by Stricker’s research, an increase of children over use their bodies to play sports, which causes a larger amount of them to face injuries physically.

Get Access