I’ve played competitive sports for a long time. I have seen kids get seriously hurt. I have seen families struggle with the costs of it all. But the biggest struggle I have seen is the pressure, that commonly ends with kids quitting, or continuing without having fun. Whether kids should be allowed to play competitive sports is a complicated debate because there are just so many reasons that could be argued for either side. Because of that, this argument is commonly misguided. The question that we should actually be asking is whether competitive sports put too much pressure on kids. This is important because there are things that can be argued about this from both sides. Some people will say that the pressures put on kids from competitive sports
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People have really stopped thinking of the physical and emotional needs of kids because of how competitive organized sports have become. “‘The adults have won,’ Hyman said. ‘If we wiped the slate clean and reinvented youth sports from scratch by putting the physical and emotional needs of kids first, how different would it look? Nothing would be recognizable,” (David Sortino, psychologist, 2012). As the real needs of kids are beginning to be ignored, the stress put on kids in competitive sports is only rising, and all people seem to find the value in is winning. Because of this, people are also ignoring that kids may have other things going on, so they have very, “Intense training schedules,” (Jacqueline Stenson, MSNBC contributor, 2004). I know firsthand that trying to juggle the schedules that competitive sports require, along with school, and anything else I might be interested in, can be hard, especially at a young age. And although some argue that sports actually relieve the stress, but that just isn’t true. Especially since it has been seen that competitive sports can actually make things harder for kids in in ways like, “Anxiety, disruptive behavior, poor attendance at games, and burnout,” (Amanda Williams, long time health and medical writer, 2015). Some people say that this pressure is good, and will help you in the future anyway, but that amount of pressure can never be good at such a young age. It continues into high school, too. According to Deuce Finch, high school athlete, “To play a sport in most every high school, you have to have a certain GPA. If you really want to play, you are going to do whatever you can to get that grade,” (Raven J. Railey, 2008). So now kids have to manage everyday practices and getting nearly perfect grades? That’s got to be difficult. A girl on that same page also said that because kids have so much to do with school and sports, they
People have really stopped thinking of the physical and emotional needs of kids because of how competitive organized sports have become. “‘The adults have won,’ Hyman said. ‘If we wiped the slate clean and reinvented youth sports from scratch by putting the physical and emotional needs of kids first, how different would it look? Nothing would be recognizable,” (David Sortino, psychologist, 2012). As the real needs of kids are beginning to be ignored, the stress put on kids in competitive sports is only rising, and all people seem to find the value in is winning. Because of this, people are also ignoring that kids may have other things going on, so they have very, “Intense training schedules,” (Jacqueline Stenson, MSNBC contributor, 2004). I know firsthand that trying to juggle the schedules that competitive sports require, along with school, and anything else I might be interested in, can be hard, especially at a young age. And although some argue that sports actually relieve the stress, but that just isn’t true. Especially since it has been seen that competitive sports can actually make things harder for kids in in ways like, “Anxiety, disruptive behavior, poor attendance at games, and burnout,” (Amanda Williams, long time health and medical writer, 2015). Some people say that this pressure is good, and will help you in the future anyway, but that amount of pressure can never be good at such a young age. It continues into high school, too. According to Deuce Finch, high school athlete, “To play a sport in most every high school, you have to have a certain GPA. If you really want to play, you are going to do whatever you can to get that grade,” (Raven J. Railey, 2008). So now kids have to manage everyday practices and getting nearly perfect grades? That’s got to be difficult. A girl on that same page also said that because kids have so much to do with school and sports, they