For my discussion post, I chose to talk about the industry of athletic development. Originally, the intentions of organized youth sports were generally good. As stated in the book, “postwar prosperity put discretionary income in the hands of parents who wanted to provide their children with opportunities that they had been denied growing up in a time of depression and war” (Davies, p. 361). In today’s society, this concept of organized youth sports has become somewhat corrupted in my opinion. Less of the focus is on children being active and having fun, which were the original intentions. Overall, I think that youth sports are a great thing for children, but I also think that it can be taken too far sometimes and some parents put too much
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I have been through countless hours of practices/specialized training, spent hours riding on the bus to games, suffered more injuries that I would care to count, and endured so much pressure, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it. All of those things shaped me into the person that I am today and I would not have learned some of my most valuable lessons without sports. I’ve had several horrible injuries and been through so much because of them, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The benefits and positive experiences from basketball have greatly outweighed the negatives. I met some of my best friends, had so much fun, learned many valuable lessons, etc. In addition, I feel that years of experience are necessary to succeed as an athlete. Of course there are always some people that got a late start and still succeeded, but I feel that years of experience are crucial. In my opinion, this is somewhat similar to a job. In the real world, the best jobs that pay the most money often require some type of experience. For example, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company didn’t get that position without any hard work or experience. He or she worked their way up the ladder for years in order to get that position. In my opinion, sports are very similar to that concept. If you want to excel in sports (or even in life), you have to work hard and put in the time necessary to succeed. Overall, I think that sports are beneficial in many ways, but I definitely agree that there is somewhat of an unnecessary culture of pressure on young
I have been through countless hours of practices/specialized training, spent hours riding on the bus to games, suffered more injuries that I would care to count, and endured so much pressure, but I wouldn’t have changed any of it. All of those things shaped me into the person that I am today and I would not have learned some of my most valuable lessons without sports. I’ve had several horrible injuries and been through so much because of them, but I would do it all over again in a heartbeat. The benefits and positive experiences from basketball have greatly outweighed the negatives. I met some of my best friends, had so much fun, learned many valuable lessons, etc. In addition, I feel that years of experience are necessary to succeed as an athlete. Of course there are always some people that got a late start and still succeeded, but I feel that years of experience are crucial. In my opinion, this is somewhat similar to a job. In the real world, the best jobs that pay the most money often require some type of experience. For example, the CEO of a Fortune 500 company didn’t get that position without any hard work or experience. He or she worked their way up the ladder for years in order to get that position. In my opinion, sports are very similar to that concept. If you want to excel in sports (or even in life), you have to work hard and put in the time necessary to succeed. Overall, I think that sports are beneficial in many ways, but I definitely agree that there is somewhat of an unnecessary culture of pressure on young