Too Much Pressure In Competitive Sports

Youth sports are being questioned by the public as being too intense. One of the reasons for this is that sport specialization is up to a record high 25 percent(Sirs). This means that one in every four people are only playing one sport which can lead to injuries and psychological issues. Another issue is injuries in youth sports. Most specifically football is being researched intensely for head injuries that can hurt the children for the rest of their lives. Even though some believe that youth sport programs should be less intense they still believe that all sports are helping the youth grow up to be leaders for the next generation. Although many believe youth sports programs

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.

Injuries are one of the top reasons why sports are bad for kids. In the video we watched from WCPO called “Pressure On Teen Athletes Sore” they say that the amount of injuries have increased from 7 Thousand to 22 Thousand a year. The amount tripled. It is said that the injured children's families spent $30,000 in six months. This source also said that the more sports you play there is an increased risk of getting an injury. In one of the article called “ High School, College Football Comes With Risk. In this article a Primary Investigator at the Center for Injury Research and Policy at Children’s Hospital in Columbus, Ohio named R. Dawn Comstock states that there might be more injuries in some school because some schools

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

In their article, Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia give a multitude of reasons why many kids aren’t cut out for sports. For example, they said, “Nervous types appalled by the incessant yelling by adults from the sidelines can be excused for believing that all the competition turns off as many kids as it turns on. Sabo found that 45 percent of the students in his survey who started a sport had quit it. Yet as you can see, the reasons for quitting aren't that youth sports are necessarily bad” (“Hey, data, data—Swing!,” 2013). This demonstrates that while some children can thrive off of the pressure put on them, some find it mentally taxing. Additionally, as pointed out by Jacqueline Stenson in her article, “Pushing Too Hard Too Young,” “Kids with a strong internal drive may thrive on the competition. But the pressure can be too much for others, particularly grade-schoolers who aren't as equipped to deal with the stress as older athletes” (2013). This suggests that if too much stress is put on them, children can become extremely uncomfortable while playing sports, and might even start hating sports because of it. Correspondingly, Jacqueline Stenson mentions in her article that “Not only are these youngsters at risk for emotional burnout,

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

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 “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, Jessica Statsky talks about the different kinds of students and their approach and mental and physical ability and pressure towards Sports. Statsky differentiates between two sets of children who have physical and mental attributes and towards sports. She gives a few examples and changes that have taken place in the past decades in the sports scenario. When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children. She further states that children should not be pressurized or forced upon their performance and improvement rather they should first be given a chance to understand the sport, their potential and the way in which they develop

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

According to stopsportsinjuries.org, high school athletes make up two million sports injuries, half a million doctor’s visits and 30,000 hospitalizations each year. Those numbers are huge, and a large part of them could have been avoided. The website also goes on to give more specific statistics, and of those, it is mentioned that half of the injuries that student athletes get in middle or high school are from overuse. And of the sports injuries listed on their website, over half of them are

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

You might believe that pressure in competitive sports is bad but the truth of the matter is if you have a small amount of pressure in competitive sports it can be good for kids. Because it provides emotional and physical support for kids, keeps students active and off the couch, and boosts self-esteem.

With more and more children participating in some sort of organized sport than ever before, there is a constant concern regarding the pressures kids are brought into to excel. Emotionally over-involved parents often think that it is their

In the U.S there are thirty million or more children/teens that participate in sports. Out of the 30 million children/teens that participate in sports, 3.5 million of those children/teens get injured each year.