Violence in Youth Sports Essay

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.

In his new book Until it Hurts: America’s Obsession with Youth Sports and How it Harms Our Kids, author Mark Hyman shows how parents have turned youth sports into a high stakes game of poker at the expense of their children. Hyman’s explores the history of youth sports in our country and how it has evolved from a fun past time to much more intense sport with heavy participation of parents. This book not only takes a look into youth sports today it will expose a lot of the negativity surrounding it. Hyman does not just point the finger at other parents but offers his own account of

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.

Each year in the United States, more than 36 million school-aged children participate in an “organized sport” (“Youth Sports Statistics”). Especially over the past few years, many studies have proved or disproved the idea that sports are beneficial for young kids. Those studies have found that youth sports have both positive and negative effects on young children, and research shows parents and coaches have the greatest effect on a child’s experience.

America’s baseball diamonds, soccer fields, hockey rinks, and basketball courts have never been so busy with children. The number of kids involved in an organized sport is not what is so groundbreaking. It’s the way in which children are playing or how their parents are arranging for them to play that may be cause for concern (Ferguson). Much controversy surrounds youth sports with the biggest disagreements coming over parental involvement and the intensity of play. Although there are many benefits for team participation, there is a growing fear that the negatives are starting to outweigh the positives.

Jessica Statsky, in her essay, “Children need to Play, Not Compete” attempts to refute the common belief that organized sports are good for children. She sees organized sports not as healthy pass-times for children, but as onerous tasks that children do not truly enjoy. She also notes that not only are organized sports not enjoyable for children, they may cause irreparable harm to the children, both emotionally and physically. In her thesis statement, Statsky states, “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” (627). While this statement is strong, her defense of it is weak.

Throughout the years, sporting events has been a place for fans to forget about what is going on in their life, take a break from the real world, and focus on the game. Often, many fans don't just watch and keep up with sports solely because of the type of sport, but also to keep up with their favorite athletes and teams. However, the aggressive and violent nature of the sports can often be carried over from the field to real life, impacting not only the athlete and the team, but also the fans.

Parental intrusion in youth sports is nothing new. There will always be adults who act inappropriately or disrupt the league. A lot of the problems lie with adults who use youth sports to gratify their own egos, adults who can’t deal with the emotional ups and downs of youth sports and there are even those who see the time and money spent on their child as an investment. There are a lot of reasons for out of control parents when it comes to youth sports. My purpose for this paper is to come up with a plan for a youth sports league that is seeing a lot of parental

In light of Jessica Statsky’s book ‘Children need to play, not compete’, she argued that, with the vivid increase of sporting competition lately in the United States, children have been exposed to the adults hard and rigorous training by devoted parents and coaches at their tender age making a game that is supposed to be fun and joy look hectic and strenuous to them due to the standard of training they are made to go through and also the belief that they must always win thereby making them lose the spirit of sportsmanship, and neither gaining satisfaction nor benefiting from them. In as much as sports are good for physical, mental and emotional growth, it should be organized in a manner that the youths will enjoy the game at the end of it rather than the fear of being hurt or defeated by the other competitors.

Fewer kids play amid pressure” by Michael S. Rosenwald, it tries to explain how parents are taking sports for their children too seriously. It was said in the article, “The number of children playing team sports is falling, with experts blaming a parent-driven focus on elite travel clubs, specialization in one sport and pursuit of scholarships for hurting the country’s youth sports leagues” (Rosenwald 1). What this means is that parents are so diluted into making their child into elite athletes through almost drastic methods such as scolding their children for everything they did wrong. Though it could be argued that the consequences are not to big due to the quote from “Are parents ruining youth

Violence is defined as the use of excessive physical force, which causes or has obvious potential to cause harm or destruction to an individual. Violence in sports comes in many forms, and divides into social and cultural factors related to the sport ethic, gender ideology, the dynamics of social class and race, and the tactics used in sports. Violence in sports has gone too far because sports violence has become so severe in sports, that players are injured each years. However, in sports some violence has become entertaining for the fans and fans would begin their own violence around with other fans that support opposing teams to win. The violence in sports can cause severe casualties from collisions to concussions that may result in long-term mental or physical damage.

THESIS: Contact sports have been here since the medieval times. Soccer was also already being put into sport use by china in the dynasties. Implied, players on both teams have agreed to be hit, pushed, shoved, and possibly fought. What can be used for considering when or where a player crosses the line? Using examples from previous court cases, we will examine how players in the NHL could be charged when excessive force against other players in the opposite team come into play. Having hockey being used for an example, we will examine and look at the rules of the NHL, as well as how Todd Bertuzzi from the Vancouver Canucks stepped over the line, and was charged with assault.

Unfortunately, involvement in youth sports has not had the effect most parents are expecting. Instead author Carey informs the reader with disturbing statistics. He asserts 84% of parents surveyed in an issue of SportingKid magazine have witnessed ‘violent parental behavior’ toward children, coaches or official at kids’ sporting events, 80% said they had been victims of such behavior. Violence makes headlines too, as Docheff and Conn speak about a father of a 10 year old ice hockey player ‘confronts’ a coach, engages in ‘some verbal sparring’ until asked to leave. Then ‘the stressed father returns to the rink, challenges the coach again, and begins beating him while young athletes yell helplessly for the crazed parent to stop. It's too late. Two days later, a spokesperson for the hospital announces that the coach has died (par 1).’

sports riots, and increasing injuries are all images of today’s sports that are familiar to us.

There are many misconceptions about the prevalence of youth violence in our society and it is important to peel back the veneer of hot-tempered discourse that often surrounds the issue.... While it is important to carefully review the circumstances surrounding these horrifying incidents so that we may learn from them, we must also be cautious about inappropriately creating a cloud of fear over every student in every classroom across the country. In the case of youth violence, it is important to note that, statistically speaking, schools are among the safest places for children to be.