What Are The Cost Of Competitive Sports

“Are Competitive Sports Bad for Kids?” Mar 31, 2011 | By Rachel Nelson, Web, 20

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.

Some people think that competitive sports are good for children and teens everywhere, but I highly disagree. I think kids shouldn’t be allowed to play competitive sports. Kids self esteem lowers every time someone tells them they are bad at something, and a lot of kids trash talk, or even brag. Competitive sports are very precarious to kids that are still growing. Have you ever stopped to think about how much money parents spend on competitive sports per year? What if that parent has more than one child. Children’s parents are fundamentally paying money for their child to get injured in a sport. Johns Hopkins Medicine says; “More than 3.5 million kids and teens get injured from competitive sports, and that’s just in one year.” (JHM). Yet,

One reason that competitive sports are negative for children is the risk of injury when participating in sports. As said by Bruce Keller, contributing author of “hey data, data, -- swing!” “The No. 1 fear of sports parents is seeing their child injured on the field. And due to the United States' growing population and sports participation, that's now more common. According to the

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.

Some might argue that sports puts students under stress. Different types of stress such as time management, getting homework done, pleasing parents, etc is what some students unfortunately go through. Although things such as time management is a struggle, students eventually learn how to handle these situations. They adapt certain skill that will also be beneficial later in their lives. If some students still struggle that can be excused from a few practices or games to catch up with school work. Stress can be avoided, but some still worry that injuries can’t.

The first reason that kids should not play competitive sports is that they are stressful. Kids who play competitive sports often experience stress from wanting the recognition involved with winning. According to LiveStrong, “The mounting pressure to play well can increase stress and make children feel bad and lose confidence should they make mistakes or lose” (Huggins 2017). This shows that kids want to win and be the best player on the team, which can result in stress or pressure. When kids are put on the bench or the team loses, the players may experience low self-esteem. Also, participating in a competitive sport also takes up time because of the intense training schedule that is demanded. Because of that, kids may stress about schoolwork or other activities. This can develop failing grades or other consequences. Time.com states, “Student-athletes tend to take easier classes and get lower grades than non-athletes” (Square 2015). This is important to notice because the intense schedules that the athletes have may not allow enough time for schoolwork. The schoolwork may not be completed or fully understood, which can lead to lower academic excellence and poor grades. Competitive sports are unhealthy to kids’ minds. They can cause stress and pressure, and may lead to poor grades and other academic issues.

To Begin with School sports should be in schools to help people that has problem with stress. According to, “ NO! Sports Are More Important Than Ever”, “ When you’re stressed, your brain releases hormones that can interfere with your ability to sleep and concentrate.” This proves, that when you are stressed

Throughout youth sports there is a lot of stress that comes along with playing a game that is supposed to be fun. Stress not only harms the body physically, but it harms it emotionally. There are all sorts of stressors that come from youth sports, stress can cause anger, anxiety, fear happiness, and pride.

In the essay, “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” Jessica Statsky puts an argument on how competitive sports activities for children between the age of six and twelve can leave a negative impact on their well-being; both physically and psychologically. She mainly focuses on the damage that occurs due to the involvement in non-contact as well as contact sports, at every level from local to that organized nationally.

A point of disagreement among the people whose youth play in competitive sports, is that some think they are too dangerous because the youth can get many injuries that can change their life forever. But on the other hand people think that it is a way to learn life skills and have great confidence, because they will need to know those simple key skills when they are out in the real world and have a job. Research shows, however, that competitive sports are good for youth because the children are meeting new people and they are building up their self-esteem.

One reason kids should not play competitive sports is because of the stress and time commitment they have to put into it. Time management is very important for a child to learn so they can stay focused and complete certain tasks; however, sports greatly interfere with that. Time management can be very effective for a child to develop for the future. According to azcentral.com, a healthy living website, “...sports requires a significant time commitment from children....travel to and from competitions and the events themselves all take time away from children's daily activities”(Westminster 2017). This just proves that sports can be too much of a time commitment. It is not just always fun and games. It requires a lot of attention and valuable time from children, and it may just be too much to handle for them. Also stated in Sports Illustrated, “they are going to lose a lot of their free time...they won’t have time to get too involved and nights and weekends are going to be booked all season long...the off-season could be filled with strength and conditioning requirements” (SI Play 2017). This adds up to suggest that even when the season may be over, it may just never be done! Parents have to spend a lot of time. Based on this, time commitment is essential, and not everyone has that time.

Parents allow their children to join sports irrespective of the cost it incurs on their budget for the reason that the sports have paybacks that are tough to accomplish elsewhere in life. Even if it remains the most expensive kids sport, it still builds the character and morals. Choosing one sport at a time can reduce the overall stress from the children and the parents likely. A sport is mainly expensive owing to its equipment and training costs nonetheless the newly learned skills are worth every penny. This list of most expensive kid’s sports includes just the gear cost and does not includes training and signup costs.

One thing that is a positive outcome in sports is the overflowing happiness people get when they participate in competitive sports. One example is that “children who were involved in sports were more assertive, had greater confidence in their skills and physical appearance, and reported more positive feelings than those who didn’t participate. (Merkal, Donna, Youth sport: positive and negative impact on young athletes, 201, May 31).” If children hold an extreme love for the sport they play, most children use that sport as an escape. Playing sports blows off steam and helps people relax. “Physical activity stimulates various brain chemicals that may leave you feeling happier and more relaxed. (Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research ,Exercise: 7 benefits of regular physical activity, 1998).” Playing sports can help bring families or other kids together to build strong bonds. “It appears that US children are healthy and happy as they engage in this traditional pastime, and families report higher levels of satisfaction if their children participate. (Macdonald, Brian, Kids in Sports, Part 5: Can sports help shy kids to make friends?, 2009).” A pat on the back from a parental figure is enough to keep kids going and doing their best. Because sports make children happier, they are more prone to keep playing which all in all makes children happier and it teaches kids to do what makes them happy. With suicide being the second biggest fatality for adolescents doing what makes them happy can be a life or death situation.

For as long as we can remember, there has been healthy competition. But when we incorporate it into teen sports, it may lead to something more. It may merely seem harmless, like fun and games, a passion, and a drive to play. But once we add other aspects, the entire environment changes. There is an extensive list of harmful psychological effects resulting from teen sports, including effects of