The Risk of Injury for Children in Sports

In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” Jessica Statsky argues that younger children should not be involved in overly competitive sports. Statsky wrote that organized competitive sports were to the disadvantage of children both physically and psychologically. In youth athletics, some parents and coaches put their own dreams in front of their children 's’ well-being by stressing winning. Statsky concludes “all organized sports activities” to be remade as a more enjoyable game regardless of each athlete’s ability and athleticism. The author states many issues that kids have when they are forced to play a sport just to win or that they don’t enjoy. Some kids just don 't enjoy sports, but their parents force it on them. Certain organized sports programs promote winning over physical skills and self-esteem. Statsky brings up valid points that early childhood shouldn’t involve intense physical competition, which is associated with the risk of injury to the body and mind.

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

I feel that is good for kid’s to be involved in sports but sometimes parents push kid’s to participate. Between practice, games and travel time, there is not much free time for family time, play time or study time. They need time to play with friends and develop social skills outside of organized sports. Do not turn them into a workhorse. Realize that you cannot live your dreams through your child, and that they have dreams of their own. A parent should help a child set performance goals and develop a winning perspective and strive to instill a healthy level of competition.

Being a professional athlete is one of the most commonly heard dreams of a young boy or girl who currently elementary school. Whether it is realistic or not, these kids will be participating in the sport that they wish to thrive in. But, time after time we hear adults complain about their child’s insane soccer schedule, or how they have to spend their whole weekend traveling for games. The parents complaints shouldn’t be the topic of discussion, in fact the only opinions that matter are the children. The question shouldn’t be asking whether or not youth sports are too intense, it should be asking if it is worth it. If a child loves what they’re doing then they have every reason to continue playing their sport, but if they are not all in, he or she has to question whether or not all the craziness is worth it.

In today’s society, youth sports programs are heavily involved in the everyday lives of different families and communities within different cities. These programs help provide our youth with positive leadership skills along with physical and mental development. While these youth sports programs should be fun and challenging, certain liability risks can become present and may result in lawsuits against the organization that hosts these types of programs. Youth sports programs are becoming more and more competitive and the risk of injuries is growing, which are raising concerns of liability issues and more lawsuits being filed. This paper will examine a case involving a youth sports injury due to negligence and also help layout preventative guidelines to help my business avoid these same issues.

Young children having major physical injuries while participating in sports should be of more concern. In the article High School Football Comes With a Risk, by Jeffrey Perkel it states that, “...boys aged 10 to 14 we’re most likely to end up in the nation’s emergency departments with a traumatic brain injury…,” This shows how adolescents are unnecessarily hurting themselves because of these sports. Expectedly, during the 2005-2006 US high school football season an , estimate of 517, 726 injuries were submitted to the RIO. Even my own personal experiences with sports all ended in tragic faults. Swimming with

It starts from when kids are young are taught by parents and coaches to be tough, and that’s with great reason, you should be tough, you should be a able to take a hit and get back up that’s part of the game, but the problem lies within education teaching kids when they need to be tough and when they should take a step back and realize there is a serious problem. The coaches used to be no better, they didn’t have to have sort of training Though this has changed in the last few years. While I began to briefly search around on this topic I found a interesting quoute from Brett Favre who is a soon to be hall of fame quarterback, he played 20 years in the NFL and set many passing records. He was recently asked if he had a son would he let him play in the NFL, and this was his response “I would be real leery of him playing football.” Added Favre: “In some respects, I’m almost glad I don’t have a son because of the pressures he would face. Also the physical toll that it could possibly take on him” Brett Favre is not alone there are countless other players that agree they would not try to avoid letting their children play football.

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

“Why Parents Should Let Their Kids Play Dangerous Sports” is a persuasive essay written by Jeb Golinkin expressing the risks and injuries that occur in many sports. However, Golinkin also expresses the necessity of sports and how they help teach teamwork, sportsmanship, toughness, and competiveness only learned from collective team sports. “…Powerful athletic enterprises has very real costs for the participants who deliver the thrills” (Paragraph 2, Line 7-8) is part of a statement from Golinkin where he is establishing that injuries are a fact when participating in sports. He states a couple of particular events in the history of sports where injuries have caused permanent injuries and even death. The cases of serious injuries were expressed and had heartfelt concern behind them in his report, however, he defends these dangerous sports by further stating benefits that are gained from participation. There is a quote from Barack Obama where he expresses his a strong opinion on football by saying, “If I had a son, I’d have to think long and hard before I let him play football.” (Paragraph 6, Line 2-3) Golinkin finalizes his opinion in his conclusion by explaining that he believes one’s child should be able to make their own decision to play sports.

Many parents become passionate and extremely involved in their child’s sports career and because of all this emotion riding on their kid’s performance they become combative. Sadly, these emotions have caused unnecessary tragedies that have changed the outlook of parents and children on these sports. Parents do this with good intentions, but in the end it hurts everyone around them. I believe that their behavior is inappropriate and these parents must also realize themselves that their actions and behavior are unacceptable and have to be addressed

We are always very protective over things that we have a strong emotional connection with like our own kid. We would never want to see the day where our own child life and health can be in danger. After reading the article “Would I let my son play football?” by, Scott Fujita I have came to the idea that it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to let my own kid play football. In the article Scott says,” Football gave me so much, how can I bash on a game that produced so many friendships and gave me so much?”. Sports are a great way to make new friends and just overall a great habit because it keeps you fit and motivated. It can benefit his life greatly with scholarships, making the high school team and giving him the confidence he needs in order to

The parent is concerned over their athlete and urges them to sit out and recuperate when they get hurt. The parent also adds different perspectives as they tell the athlete that it is only a game and it is not worth them becoming seriously hurt over it. The parent is also effected as they sit and look worried in the stands every time they see their child play knowing the possible consequences that can happen. Although the parents show overwhelming concerned over their child, the athlete also has a perspective which is usually different from their parents. They view being hurt as a thing that happens on occasion and that you have to play through it and if you don’t then you look like a wimp. The athlete feels if they do not play then their team may not function as well and might lose a big game. They also have a great passion for the sport that they play so they take the risks that come their way because they love the sport. The athlete strongly believes that going through a little pain will be worth it and that there will be benefits soon waiting for them. I feel more closely to the athlete’s side because you feel as you are letting your team down if you do not play. As an athlete you do not like to sit on the sidelines and just watch you like to be in the action of the play and you will do it even if your

I loved how you expressed the urgency to understand if your child even enjoys the organized sport that they have been placed in. As an observer, I sometimes feel as if the parents are placing their children in certain sports for their own pleasure and entertainment, rather than consulting with their child and asking if it is something they enjoy. When I was younger, I was very attracted to “girly” activities like ballet, compared to basketball or soccer. If my parents placed me in soccer at that young age, I most likely would not have thrived, simply because I would not have enjoyed it. I also liked the point that you made in regards to letting children be children! Our society is always on the go, and parents feel obligated to pack their day

These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.