Trophy Kids Character Analysis

Every child at some point in their lives dream about becoming a rock star, doctor or an astronaut, but the career that stands out the most is becoming a professional athlete. Why? One reason could be the ever increasing media coverage on each individual sport with certain channels devoted for just that particular sport, keeping viewers updated and thirsting to get out and play. Another could be the ease of getting out in the backyard as a kid to shoot the basketball, throw a football, or hit a baseball because it is harder to perform heart surgery or fly to the moon when you're only a child. With that being said; it is easy to look up to a professional athlete and put your heart and soul into them wearing

“You will never be good enough. You are not trying your hardest. Why can you not do anything right?” These are common phrases from parents who put too much emphasis on a sport. The parents from the documentary, Trophy Kids, push their children like professional athletes, but yet they’re only in high school. As these parents push their children they are doing more harm than good. These parents may think that they are using positive reinforcement but in reality, they are just tearing their child down. They tell the child all the things that they are doing wrong rather than helping them understand what they can do better. In America today, AAU sport involvement is at an all-time high. Club spots are so large no one knows quite how large it is.

According to Bob, YOUR thoughts, attitudes, values, and beliefs show in your life and your kids learn a lot through what they live with you. A trophy doesn’t have any of that..” A child who has a flair for a sport for example, will win because they can, not because of a mini statue of feign significance. Trophies are expedient because they help encourage young athletes to achieve more. In conjunction Cook recognizes that “ the real issues aren’t magically fixed simply by [scuttling] a trophy from the picture.” This is very candidly spoken because, it’s not about a score, it’s about making children grow and letting the youth call their own shots. Loading kids with hordes of pressure to be the best will only make them think less of themselves, because maybe being the best isn’t what they really want. People need to stop acting like private envoys to their children, and more like parents who truly support

In today’s world, kids entering sports, cause parents to become overly competitive. But as every parent that has a child, parents want him or her to become the most proficient at whatever they're doing. For example, “Parents spend lots of money on uniforms, equipment, and camps, and on private coaches and travel teams, just so their children have every advantage and opportunity to excel in athletics” (Lumpkin 26). Study co-author Brad Bushman, professor of communication and psychology at Ohio State University says, “Our research provides the first empirical evidence that parents sometimes want their child to fulfill their unfulfilled ambitions—for example, that they want their child to become a physician when they themselves were rejected for medical school.” (Szalavitz). That may be true for some parents; however, whichever sports the kid chooses, parents try to help out anyway they can. An example of parents pushing their kids would be famous tennis parents of Serena and Venus Williams, which both had huge success in women’s tennis. Serena

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, NFL players and hockey player are the inspiration in the lives of today’s youth. Little boys strive to be the best they can be in football and hockey, because their dream is to one day become a professional athlete. Young boys focus on sports like football and hockey, because they are two of the most populist sports in America. Many young children want to play professional sports for the fame. Some want to be a professional athlete because of all the money they can make each year. They also want to make money to make a better life for themselves and their families. Most children

Sports are not for everybody, not only because of talent level, but because a certain mindset is to be had to be successful at any sport. A commitment is made. Forty hours of practice a week, the average amount of time spent practicing for football players, all for a one hour game, the average time of one game of college football, takes dedication. That is not even counting the time spent icing, resting, and studying the playbook or film, not to mention the school work to be kept up with for college and high school students. Most athletes have become used to the grind and juggling three or four time consuming activities all at one time while being successful at each. Waking up at the break of dawn, following a schedule, and suffering consequences when a bad choice is made creates character and discipline that is often needed for many little league, high school, and college athletes. The most important non tangible thing sports teach anyone is how to get back up after falling, how to get knocked down but get right back up and keep going, how to move on from failure and overcome it, focusing on the next important part of life. These skills of determination and courage taught through sports are essential for being successful in any part of life and are hard to come by anywhere

She argues that kids sign up to be able to be on a team and for the excitement it some with, however, kids fail to see how being in a team is beneficial to their future. Parents should value the commitment and effort kids put into the learning process of the rules, skills and protocols needed to work as a team. Whether a child wins or loses, they learn the importance of commitment and the skills that were needed to help the team out. Although, she mentions that some kids only focus on the attendance rather than the work that is needed to help the team. She quotes Professor Kenneth Barish to support her argument, “The idea of giving trophies only to winners doesn’t emphasize enough the other values that are important… We want kids to participate in sports, to learn to improve their skills, to help others, to work hard and to make a contribution to the team.” She believes that children at an early age value the meaning of a team, that they want to do everything to help each other out, whether everyone works or not. There is an age limit where they start to realize that not everyone put in the effort, but “what matters is showing up for practice, learning rules and rituals of the game and working

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.

Fewer kids play amid pressure,” shows that children are giving up the fun in sports because the parents want to one-up each other. In the beginning of youth sports, it was just seen as a fun activity for the children, but the parents started getting involved, and the children were shown that this was not a fun sport but a competition that they had to win, no matter what. The article stated this when Amanda Visak explained that, “Amanda Visak, an exercise science professor at George Washington University, recently surveyed nearly 150 children about what they found fun in sports...the kids identified 81 factors contributing to their happiness. Number 48: winning...playing in tournaments, cool uniforms and expensive equipment” (Rosenwald 3). Because of the parents’ competitions, the children think that what is important is winning the game and uniforms, while in reality it should be having fun and trying your best while with your

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

First of all, when people play sports they are able to feel like they have a family which some kids don't have. For example, “The Life of Reilly” the Gainesville players were able to get rid of their home life and trouble with the law. When they

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

Raising children in today’s society is not for the faint of heart. Raising children has never been easy, but it is especially difficult in youth sports today. Coaches and parents are putting a lot of pressure on our young sons and daughters. The pressure to succeed in sports at

I understand why parents want every kid to get a trophy because they want them all to be happy and you want to make them all feel equal. They think if every kid will get a trophy then there will be no problems anymore and there kid wont be upset when they lose. But there's the problem if there kid isn't upset when he loses then what is there to drive him to get better.