Organized Sports Essay

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For parents, putting their children into organized sports may be an easy decision to make. For other parents, that decision may be more difficult. This decision occurs around the time a child reaches elementary school and starts to participate in physical education classes or a after school sports program (Coté 6). The effects of organized sports in early childhood development can have lasting impacts on a child’s metal, physical, and social health. Active participation in organized sports, as a child, can have lasting mental benefits. Studies have shown that children who take an active role in organized sports display an increase in self-esteem and lower levels of depression (Fredricks 704). Other research shows that parents also benefit mentally from their children participating in organized sports. Parents take moments and lessons learned in sporting events and turn them into what they call “teachable moments” by tying together event in games with principles in the home ("Health and Medicine” 72). During a game, any type of game really, your brain is constantly thinking. It is thinking what play are we running? Where is the ball going? How do I stop them? These type of questions bring our thought logic and problem solving stills to the forefront of our brains and helps us process information in a matter of seconds. A child’s mental health is important in determining whether or not to a child should participate on a sporting team another more important factor is their physical health. “Each year in the United States, approximately 30 million children and teenagers participate in organized sports.” (Casses 1014). …show more content…
With childhood obesity being a serious concern in the United States, parents are finding ways to help keep their kids stay active and away from the their TVs. Maybe a child is not interested in a sport right away. Sports sampling is the act of trying out different sports or activities as a child to see what really interests them and it fosters them to be diverse. This has been proven to have significant impact on the physical fitness of a person throughout adulthood (Coté 8). On the other hand, parents need to be aware of excessive training and over exertion while participating in organized sports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that half of the sports injuries that happen in children are because of over training and are preventable (Casses 1014). These injuries could be prevented as easily from stretching, hydrating, and even wearing the proper personal protective gear. Some injuries can also be caused by over training and repetition. One specific injury is “Little Leaguer’s Elbow”. “Little leaguer’s elbow has been described as an apophysitis of the medial epicondyle in athletes between nine and 12 years of age.” (Casses 1016). Basically what it looks like is a small crack near the shoulder in the rotator cuff. This is caused by rapid use of shoulder by extensive strain and force used to throw a ball. Active participation in organized sports has multiple significant impacts on a child’s physical health, in turn affects his social health. Organized sports, play a significant role in a child social development. Children who have active involvement in sports get to experience and build upon teamwork and problem solving skills. Coaches that help foster a good team building experience for children often aid in child’s social development. Coaches have been known to assume the role of many different

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