Why Kids Should Not Participate In Competitive Sports

Every year, 3.5 million children ages 14 and under get hurt playing competitive sports, according to www.alfiekohn.org’s article “The Case Against Competition”. Even though some people believe that competitive sports allow children to build confidence, that is not true. Competitive sports cause injury and pressure. It would be better if competitive sports were removed from the life of children so it does not cause more harm.

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

Just to participate in these activities costs a high amount. The average parent pays over $671 a year for sports related equipment and participation states the article “High Costs of Youth Sports”. People who can’t even afford a meal are taking every bit of money they have in order for their child to have the opportunity to play a sport, and due to the increasing levels of competition in almost every sport, the costs have also increase massively in order to pay for the proper coaching and more amount of practices. Parents are pushing kids as young as 3-4 years old to pursue certain sporting activities in the hopes that years of involvement will enable their child to ‘be the best.’ For many parents, the ultimate goal is to gain a college scholarship. Although, some argue that parents are just looking out for their child’s best interest, it has become more about the chance to be the best than to do what you love most. Look at shows like Dance Moms where parents sacrifice everything in order to make sure that their child is getting the best training in the best facilities maximizing their chance at stardom. Jacqueline Stenson, the author of the article “Pushing Kids too Hard too Young”, states, “Eager to nurture the next A-Rod or Michelle Kwan, parents enroll their 5- or 6-year-olds in a competitive sports league or program.” Parents apply so much

The first reason I think kids should play competitive sports is communication. Communication is one major skill you will need in order to get a job, and what is convenient about this is that competitive sports can teach you this life skill. Coaches who mainly focus on communication are teaching youth athletes how to maintain and start relationships such as, family, friends, etc. Communication is mainly (in sports) taught through “games” if you are playing a game such as soccer you will need to communicate with your team members in order to work together.. But communication is not only taught through sports it is also mainly taught through school from working on group projects to something as simple as recess or lunch. LIke I said before understanding communication and how it works is key to getting a job. In a Career Quest article “Why Communication Skills are Essential to Your Future Career” says in a employee survey that communication skills almost

Football was something I knew I loved in the matter of a play, but I didn’t know how life threatening it could be. Not only at the moment, but also the effects it can cause in the future. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, each year U.S. emergency rooms care for an estimated 135,000 children ages 5 to 18 for sports-related brain injuries. As a youth playing football, you have cuts, and bruises. But most of the injuries playing football is are concussions.

Many people think that competitive sports are bad for kids because of injuries like mc l tear, ac l tear, dislocated knee cap or even concussions also they say kids get worse grades in school.

It is a known fact that sports are a significant factor into the way of life for Americans. Families will sacrifice much of their lives to see one of the children become a professional athlete. One of those sacrifices is money. Money for some families, seems almost unlimited while for the majority of families, money is something difficult to come by. Depending on which family a child belongs to, their chances of playing college or professional ball is drastically different. The world of high school sports is becoming more financially demanding than ever because camp prices are rising at an overwhelming rate, families are acquiring debt in hope that their kid is successful, and student athletes of lower class families are not getting the head starts of upper class family athletes.

“Sports are too expensive example parents estimated $671 annually on sport- related activities, most of the money goes to football”. “The parent has to pay 4 to 5 fees like coach fees, meet fees and equipment fee”. This

First of all, many parents cannot afford for their children to play sports. According to “High Cost of Youth Sports,” “For the 45 million children ages 6 through 16 currently participating in youth sports, many parents are having to reach deep into their pockets to cover the rising costs of equipments and sports-related activities.” This shows that

Kids should not participate in contact sports because of the many dangerous and sometimes permanent health risks. The first reason is that playing contact sports at young ages can cause CTE, which is a progressive and

Children are the future. When they are harmed, the future becomes less and less healthy. Injuries from sports are especially risky for children, because they’re not finished developing and are susceptible to brain damage that could stop their brains from growing. Mental harm, at times, can be more dangerous than physical injuries. For example, low self-esteem can lead to serious psychological impairments and conditions like depression. While it may be true that physical fitness is important, there are still options and activities that cause a lot less harm and fewer risks are necessary. Parents and coaches both should work harder to keep children safe and out of harm’s way while in sports. Parents should get their children check up on at the doctor’s when something seems wrong, and act accordingly. Coaches should have breaks for rest and to prevent strain between practices and put the players’ health and safety as a top priority, above

The most important reason why kids should play competitive sports is that they teach them life lessons. For example, Sarah Davis, the author of “What Are the Benefits of Competitive Sports for Youth?” in her article argues that by playing competitive sports kids will learn life lessons. She claims,“...competitive sports can help kids learn life lessons

Do you have a passion, something you love to do more than anything? Imagine people trying to stop you from doing what you love because they think it’s not useful or a waste. Some people say competitive sports cost too much and they are way too dangerous for young kids to participate in. However, for many youth, competitive sports play a positive role. When kids play competitive sports, they are happier and they learn how to be healthy. Also, they learn life lessons that they will need for the future.

Not everyone believes competitive sports are good for kids. Some people believe competitive sports are harmful to kids. Competitive sports are good because they improve overall health, teach life lessons, and positively impact kids lives.

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.