Us Youth Soccer Research Paper

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.

One of the most important soccer skills that a player can develop is the ability to quickly change direction and get a shot on goal. For this training drill 4 cones are set up in a zigzag shape outside of a eighteen yard box and the player has to sprint from the end to the first cone and cut the ball around the cone. He has to dribble around the rest of the cones, making short, quick cuts with the insides and outsides of the feet. After the last cone, the player has to cut the ball towards the goal and take a shot. This drill will help develop dribbling, ball control, and shooting

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 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,

A child’s mind is absorbing information nonstop. They will mimic actions and words. Being a volunteer coach for a 1st grade soccer team has taught me the value of guiding their developing brains towards goodness and positivity. Every weekend I would lace up my cleats, go out onto the soccer fields, and greet the smiling faces of the children as they bolted around. At practice, I would show them the basic skills of soccer. They would copy my actions and immediately look to me for reinforcement, and their faces would light up when they received it. We were able to improve each other's mood instantly. After a practice, the kids would play against another team. The matches would consist of ten children, five on each team following a size four

Imagine going to your first soccer game of the season and you blew it, you tripped over the ball and shot into the wrong goal how do you feel? What is going to happen after the game? Will you take this as a lesson and go out with your team to get ice cream, or will you go home a pout, get mad at yourself and possibly quit. An issue that has recently arose is putting your kids in competitive sports. Research has shown that many parents fear their kids getting hurt, mentally and physically. While others see the positives like them learning life lessons and living a healthy lifestyle. Kids should be allowed to play competitive sports because it keeps them healthy, it teaches them life lessons, it helps children feel better about themselves, and

Have you ever seen 7-year old’s play soccer? Some leagues have them play three on three. What can you expect from a kid playing that young? You have heard coaches yelling commands at the kids to keep them on track. During the same time, you probably have heard the coach during a time out or a break in the game raising his voice; what they should be doing and what they are doing wrong. This has brought up the debates over the past years involving youth sports and whether you should let your child play or not. Tee ball, soccer, football, volleyball, basketball, is among the sports parents contemplate to sign their child up for. Some of that debate also includes what is the perfect age they should start playing sports. If your child is under 10 years old you should not put your child in youth sports because; there is a lot of bad coaches, parents interfering with the coaches and officials during games, and coaches only want to win on game day.

For my first observation I observed my four year old nephew’s soccer practice at an elementary school which lasted about a half an hour. They met on the empty field at the elementary school, there were about 3 other teams practicing at the same time but everyone was spread out. The coaches set up cones and pop up goals for the children. There were about 12-15 children there, I think they said a few kids weren’t there. There were about four coaches or helpers working with the children. The first thing they did with the kids was a few warm up activities, the first being some sort of running activity where the children ran around following the coaches, next, they hopped in place being silly. Then the kids each got a ball and began a kicking exercise were the had to go around and try to kick the ball at the cones and knock them down. Then the kids got in a line with their ball and followed the leader around while dribbling the ball with both feet. In the next activity, the children got to practice kicking a stationary ball into the goal. After that, they played a 7 min practice game.

Participation in athletics aids in the development of young children as they gain important life long skills. Being on an athletic team, whether recreational or varsity, allows children to practice teamwork, mental toughness, and discover the value of hard work. For example, children who are part of a school’s basketball team will need to learn how to pass a ball to their teammates, overcome occasional loses, and realize that they will only improve if they go to practice. However, there are critics who feel that youth sports take resources away from the underprivileged, and participating on a team distracts children from their schoolwork. Though I believe that children reap benefits from being on athletic teams, it is important to look at other

Club teams tend to have increased practice times, which lead to increased intensity, which results in an increase in injuries. These increased injuries come from the education of the coaches. While it is true to continuously practice something in order to improve, the intensity level has to be changed. Steward Vella highlights that this mainstream coaching style lack the skills for a positive youth development. He states that this then leaves coaches ill equipped to enhance the development of young athlete’s skill. Fernando Santos conducted a study positive youth development and its relationship to how children are coached. The first step he points out is by integrating it into coach education (Santos, 2012). In order to better their education, the coaches participated in Coach Effectiveness Training (CET), “which aimed to help [them] develop a fun and positive climate, foster communication skills, and promote autonomy and leadership (Santos, 2012)”. The results showed them to be less controlling and more supportive in comparison to how they were before. With more supportive coaching, he found that this promoted the athlete’s self-

As time passes, the participation in youth athletic events continues to increase. This has both benefits and consequences, but to what extent? There are the obvious injuries, the burnout, and time spent not engaging in the social occasions. The skills and abilities attained during the years of athletic efforts will undoubtedly effect one’s future habits. What hasn’t been analyzed, however, is the mental toll a young person must bear to recover from an injury, battle to make the starting lineup, and be noticed by college recruiters. Physical development is important, but there must be an emphasis on mental stability. Once a player has completed their athletic careers, the physical and emotional scars may remain into their adulthood.

According to the Boston Globe, 45 million kids play sports which since so many people play sports there must be benefits. Many people believe that playing sports helps with the physical aspect of your life. Improved endurance and stronger muscles to name a few, but could playing sports also help the mental aspect of your life? Cognitive function and memory being some of these things. Many people do not see the positives of sports and decide to not allow their children to play. Is this the right decision? Playing sports, and all that comes with playing sports including exercise,practice, and decision making, has a better overall effect on mental aspects of people's lives, including cognitive function and memory, than is perceived.

Do you think the perk of learning teamwork, respect, and the physical and mental health of youth is important? The sport of football is a self learned, respected game that is very great at teaching life lessons which is why its good for youth to get the experience of football. Football will help the future growth of youth by providing the lessons of teamwork, discipline, respect, and the physical an mental health. This sport provides so much more than these three topics but this will explain the importance of these life lessons that need to apart of children's life's and the expectations that will be met though football.

The parents of today need to get the kids involved in youth sports quick before the epidemic of obesity and poor health takes over children completely. A good way to help solve this epidemic is to get children involved in youth soccer. Youth soccer improves general health in ways such as increasing stamina, lowering body weight, and increasing overall muscle development. Soccer is a sport involving a lot of teamwork and communication, kids talking on the field will transition off the field and will make it easier for children to make new friends. Childhood Obesity is a major issue in the United States today, Soccer involves a lot of running and quick direction change making it a good option for children trying to lose weight. The parents of today should get more of the youth involved in youth soccer because it improves cardiovascular health, helps build social skills, and will lower the childhood obesity rates.

One benefit that children gain from playing soccer is they build social skills. For example, being able to communicate with the team is essential. When I first started I was very shy. I did not communicate and the effect was I performed terribly on the field. Once I learned to communicate I effectively played better. These skills also benefited me outside of the sport and I was able to make friends effortlessly and be more comfortable with myself. Being able to communicate also helps by being able to work as a team. Teamwork is critical because one itself cannot score a goal on its own. Being able to depend on someone helped me work smoothly. I was also able to perform even better than if I were to work alone on the field or on any other tasks. Social