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| Fig 1. A collection of some sports.Collection of Sports Silhouette Background. 2011. Depositphotos Inc. Web . 25 Apr. 2013 |
Participating on an organized sports team has become a huge force on society today. Children and teens play at least one sport all around the world. If sports are so popular today it should just be mandatory for students in elementary through high school to participate on a sports team. Students who participate on a sports team learn how to be responsible, become more competitive, and greatly benefit from playing the sport(s).
Sports are an indispensable part of education all over
the world in all level of studies (Mohan). Whereas, education kindles the light
of knowledge in the mind, the sports help maintain the physique (Mohan). It is true that a healthy mind can only be
the best in education, at the same time sports are also an important means of
entertainment after long hours of studies and a source of renewed energy (Mohan).
In this generation, almost every student, from as early as elementary school
all the way to high school, plays at least one sport and finds it
interesting. Those who play a sport are
more physically active than those who do not. Children should get at least 60
minutes of physical activity each day, according to the Centers for Disease
Control and Prevention (Porter). Regular physical activity helps children
maintain a healthy weight, lowers their cholesterol, reduces their blood
pressure and builds string bones and muscles according to the CDC (Porter). Active children are more likely to become
active adults and an active childhood lifestyle can lead to a healthy adult
lifestyle (Porter). Not only does playing a sport keep a child healthy and in
shape but in the long run they will be healthy as an adult because since they
child was physically active at an young age they will more likely be physically
at an older age as well. A healthy child
grows into a healthy adult and playing sports keeps a child healthy. In
addition, participating on a sports team helps build ones self-esteem,
confidence, and social skills. When a student plays a sport they have great
pride in themselves, they are a part of a team where they pitch in their
talents along with their teammates to achieve great things. The more things
that are achieved the more a student builds his/her self-esteem and they begin
to feel more and more good about themselves. Students who play sports have more
confidence in themselves than those who do not according to the President’s
Council on Physical Fitness and Sports (Porter). Boys and girls who play sports
learn to have a positive attitude and to project self-confidence to others
(Porter). Girls who typically play sports have a healthier body image than
girls who do not play sports, according to the Women’s Sports Foundation
(Porter). Students who play sports are very social-able and it is very easily for
them to develop friendships. This can also transition into the classroom as
well where the student-athletic is active in class and in some cases a class
clown but overall they are social-able people.
It is true that when students play on a sports team that
they are more physically active, have confidence, self-esteem, social and many
other things. However, in addition to all of those things, most of the students
are academically motivated. The main reason for this is that they want to play
in their games and in order for them to do so they have to have the grades. “No
Books, No Ball” is the motto that most athletic follow because they understand
the consequences if they do not. Nether less, being on a sports team helps a
student to set goals and work hard in order to accomplish those goals. For
example, every single sports team wants to win a championship because it shows
that a team has worked hard all season in order to win a championship. It is
not because a team had a lot of talent but because hard work beats talent when
talent doesn’t work hard. When a sports team has won a championship, it is
mainly because the coach set goals for his/her team to accomplish but it is in
the hands of the team to work hard in order to get the goal accomplished. This
transitions into a student’s life because they begin to realize that in order
to get the things you want in life you have to work hard for because nothing
comes easy. Nether less, a child and/or teen who participates on a sports team
learns how to be disciplines and learns leadership skills as well. When a
student participates on a sports team part of playing the sport is learning
discipline (Sherwood). During a sport, your child must take direction, be
dedicated, practice consistently and undergo rigorous training to build stamina
(Sherwood). In addition to that, a student has to be responsible and let their
coach know if they will be late to practice or missing practice. If they do not
then their coach will assume that their player is skipping out on practice and
that student would most likely not play in the next game. A disciplined student
becomes a leader for his/her team. The most disciplined student on the sports
team is likely to become team captain or may have opportunities to lead the
team in practices or warm-ups before games (Sherwood). Just from a student
being the captain or leader and having the ability to inspire the team this
helps the student’s life as well because they will take their leadership skills
with them into the real world. By having those important skills, it increases
the child and/or teen chances of success throughout his/her goal-oriented life
(Sherwood). The students who play sports and gain these types of skills, and
perform well academically, are more likely to graduate from high school and
pursue higher education.
From my own experience with participating on sports team,
I have learned a great deal of things from being responsible, more
self-confident, competitive, disciplined, inspiring, and to top it off I am in
good shape. Most importantly participating on a sports team has helped me to
build my social skills a lot. Ever since I was a child, I did not really like
to interact with people that was not my family and all of my friends where my
cousins. Once I started running track and playing basketball all of that
changed. I started socializing with people more and I became friends with
everyone from my team. I would excel in the classroom because in order for me
to play in games or run in meets I had to have the grades. I have greatly
benefitted from participating on sports teams since I was in elementary school and
it has helped me in the end because now look at me I am in college trying to
get my Master’s degree in teaching.
On the other hand, some people, mainly parents would say
that participating in sports has it disadvantages especially if they are in the
elementary grade level. People may say that sports are dangerous, coaches favor
certain players, and not all players have equal access to sporting
opportunities. Injury is one well-documented disadvantage to youth sports (Matthew).
According to data gathered by The National Centers for Sports Safety, more than
3.5 million children younger than 14 are injured playing sports each year
(Matthew). 3.5 million is a huge number and if I was a parent I would be scared
to let my child participate in sports because I would fear that my child could
be added to that 3.5 million children injured each year. In addition, the
seriousness of injury’s increase as a child increases in grade level because
the sport becomes more rough and intense. Then there is the favoritism of players
by the coach. This is when a coach would put in certain players, who are often
the most talented, on a pedestal (Morse).
These players tend to play a significant amount of time while the other
players play little or no time in the game (Morse). These coaches will cause
players who are not one of their favorites to feel inferior with a lack of
compliments or increased criticism (Morse). When coaches play favoritism,
he/she leaves the rest of his team to believe that they are not needed because
they do not get as much play time as the star players. The only time those
players are likely to get in the game is when the star players need a quick
break. Parents who attend games and do not see their child play gets upset
especially when the team loses because the coach is not giving their child the
opportunity to help the team out. The coach also makes the student feel
insecure about their talent and some may even start to think that they suck
because they do not get any playing time. The student might end up quitting and
not ever play that sport again because they may fear that they might get
another coach like their previous one. In addition, participating in
competitive sports can result in a child becoming too competitive (Tounzen).
Once this begins children may look at their individual worth based on how often
they win (Touzen). As the child becomes into a teenager it is much worse
because when a teenager is too competitive some are aggressive and when they
are playing in a game they hurt people and tend to not really care that they
hurt another player on the opposing team. Students in today’s era find a
variety of competitive sports to choose from (White and Masterson). These
sports organizations range are AAU (Amateur Athletic Union) that starts at the age
of nine, League baseball and softball which can start at as early as five with
tee-ball, and Pop-Warner, which is the Nation’s oldest football organization,
starts at five. All year round young children and teens are playing sports,
which could possibly take a toll on their bodies and on top of that, they do
not really have time to have time to themselves and spend time with their
families because they are always busy with practice and games.
When students start participating in competitive sports
at an early age, Paulo David, author of Human Rights in Youth Sport: A Critical
Review of Children’s Rights in Competitive Sports, found that children don’t
always understand the concept of competition until age six or seven (White and
Masterson). Children under nine may be incapable of differentiating between the
concept of effort and that of ability (James and Masterson). That means they
believe winning is achieved by how hard they try and losing means they did not
try hard enough (James and Masterson). When this happens to a child, they think
less of themselves because when they lose they believe that it is all their
fault when that is not the case. The do not yet have the ability to understand
that they cannot win at everything and that it is okay to lose. This could
transition when a child becomes a teenager because there are some adults who
pushed their children so hard when playing sports and tells them that winning
is everything when that is totally wrong. By the time, that child is a teenager
they tend to push themselves too hard that all they care about is winning and
not playing for the love of the game. In addition that particular teenager does
not how to cope with a loss that well because they was not taught how to. More
over too much competition can cause ‘burnout’ and ‘dropout’. This is when a
student has played a sport for some time and they begin to lose enjoyment in
that particular sport (Matthew). The problem starts when play becomes more like
a job (White and Masterson). Coaches and parents believe that by playing it all
the time will translate into to winning and possible visibility and then
scholarships (White and Masterson). This is possibly not the best thing for a
coach and parent to do. I mean I understand that coaches and parents wants the
best for them and that having a full ride scholarships for that particular
sport, but you cannot force the child into getting that. From my own
experience, my father did exactly that. He made me start playing basketball. I
always played it before with my brother and cousins for fun in the park. However,
when my father made me participate on teams without asking me if I wanted to I did
not like that. Long story short, he tried to persuade me into playing college
ball because he wanted me to and I decided not to play because I no longer
wanted to do what he wanted me to. If I decide to play college ball then it
will be because I wanted to. It is not good to force a student or your child to
play a sport because they will enjoy playing less and less as time goes by and
soon they will just stop playing the sport overall.
Participating in sports has become very popular in
today’s society and students enjoy they sport that they participate in. So why
shouldn’t it be mandatory for students in elementary through high school to
participate in a sport. Not only will students learn how to be responsible,
competitive, and disciplined. They will also be healthier, improve and learn
skills and become more academically motivated in school. Students who
participate in sports are more likely to graduate from high school and pursue
higher education and going to college one of the most important things for
students of this generation today? So why not let it be mandatory for students
in elementary through high school to participate in sports.
Works
Cited
Porter, Lisa. "Kids & Sports: Benefits
Vs. Non-Benenfits." LIVESTRONG.COM.
LiveStrong , 26 Apr. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.
Sherwood, Chris. "The Advantages of Children
Participating in Sports ." LIVESTRONG.COM.
LiveStrong , 14 July 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2013.
Matthew, Aaron. "The Disadvantages of Youth
Sports ." LIVESTRONG.COM.
LiveStrong , 11 Aug. 2011. Web. 31 Mar. 2013
Mohan, Rajesh. "Students and Sports." ESL Teachers Board. Articles
for Teachers Board , n.d. Web. 8 Apr. 2013
Tounzen, Shelley. "The Disadvantages of
Children in Sports." eHow
mom. eHow, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2013
White, James, and Masterson, Gerald.
"Problems in Youth Sports ." FamilyResource.com.
Family Resource, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2013
Morse, Jody. "Signs of a Bad Coach ." eHow mom. eHow, n.d. Web. 12
Apr. 2013
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