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Recommended: Kids in sports
You have probably known that little children played sports, like peewee baseball, or junior soccer, and known how they used to be so welcoming, and fun for the whole family. However, notice how I said "used to be". The times have changed, and sadly, so have the way we do sports. Now, every coach thinks they're the next John Wooden, football players as young as in high school are getting mild to severe CTE and little children getting ignored and not getting enough time to play while all the attention goes in favor of the "all-star" players. My point is, children should not be allowed to play competitive sports.
To begin, kids should not be able to play competitively because players get severe injuries when they play competition. In a study
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Children who win a game don't permanently gain confidence. What they gain is a temporary gloat, and whatever confidence they do gain is turned into a warped and demented ego. What happens instead is that children base their self-worth based on external sources, ergo, they only feel as important as how many times they win, starting a vicious cycle. The more that player competes, the more they need to compete to feel good about themselves, nut that’s the thing. Children’s success shouldn’t be measured by how much they win, yet that is what they learn. We learn that we do our best work when we are in a race, and that without competition, we would all become fat and lazy. What actually happens is we succeed in spite of the competition, not because of it. In a study at Brandeis University, children would be asked to make “silly collages”. Some competed for prizes, others didn’t. Seven artists rated the paintings, and the ones that competed for prizes actually did worse than those who didn’t, and this has happened numerous time. Another individual study was in India. They offered multiple people different amounts of money for simple tasks. One group was given a week’s salary, another group was given a month’s salary and the third offered two months’ salary. However, when the groups got past simple cognitive skills, those who were
Kids are playing in a pressure pot full of stress and this is dangerous. They feel over-responsible toward team mates, parents and coaches and in consequence, are playing with chronic pain and even concussions. One-Sport Wonder Kids are deciding by ages 9-10 they want to excel in one sport in order to win a college scholarship.
It is ok for children to lose and for them to learn from it. Merryman says, “It’s teaching them it can take a long time to get good at something and that’s alright” (Merryman). Children learn from failure, it teaches them that it takes time and patience to get good at something. Merryman also says, “It’s through hard work and mistakes that we learn the most. We must focus on process and progress, not results and rewards” (Merryman). It takes hard work to win, Children should focus on getting better, not on rewards. Children need to learn that to win it takes hard work and time, they should focus on improving, not on getting participation trophies.
In the article, “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” the author, Jessica Statsky demands that very composed, focused games that are played in grown-up standard, for example, Little League Baseball and Peewee Football are not appropriate for children particularly those who are between the age of six and twelve. These games have the opposite impact of growing either future players or fans. Moreover, they can damage children mentally and physically. She mentioned a few reasons to support her ideas. Statsky explains that competitive sports persuade children into doing physical actions that are bad by taking twelve-year boy as an example of a child being hurt to attempt to throw a curveball. Even though children are not injured, there is a fear
In “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” Jessica Stasky proves that how adult competitive games are harmful in so many ways for children. She highlights the physical and psychological problems, loss of good future players and the pressure which children handle to fulfil the desires and wishes of their parents as three main downsides of such high standard games due to which children entire life get affected.
According to Thomas Tutko, the children under the age of 14 are most likely to be concerned about “self-preservation”. Children who have sometimes achieved an injury hesitate to step back onto the field and because of this fear of getting hurt most of the students quit. The certain values should be taught to children about good sportsmanship, teamwork, and healthy competition. Children nowadays will make every excuse to get out of playing sports because of the fear they have of getting beaten up and or getting hurt again.
For instance, I am a competition dancer. Going to different competitions you can see the differences in the way the dancers, teachers, judges, and moms view outcomes. The teachers just want you to do your best because no matter the placement received you had fun. When you are on a team, you want your team as a whole group to compete with other teams not each other. You see this with other sports too, such as baseball, basketball, soccer, etc. where kids try to outperform their teammates. This poses risks such as “loss of self-esteem, injuries… increased stress.” (Berger, pg. 245, 2014) However Active play and competition do not only pose risks they contribute to the following as well “Better overall health, less obesity… respect for teammates and opponents.” (Berger, pg. 245, 2014)
After first reading the essay “Sports Should be Child’s Play,” I believe David Epstein made a valid point when discussing the issue of children participating in competitive sports at a too young of an age. He effectively delivered his argument by giving an appropriate amount of evidence without crowding the piece and losing the reader. There were certain sections of the essay that would have been difficult to understand without context, however Epstein was able to guide the reader and explain the evidence and situation when necessary. The title of the essay drew me in because “child's play” coincides with something that can be easily accomplished and is enjoyable. However sports, at the higher level, are challenging and are required to be taken seriously. If children are playing at competitive level too early in their life, it can cause a loss of enjoyment and be detrimental to their physical and mental health.
The maxim “trying is the important thing” will only lead to laziness and complacency in life. Trying is very important in being successful, but there are many more important things that are necessary for success. Parents try to boost their children’s self-esteem and make their children happy by giving them participation medals, but this is actually counter-productive. Larger and larger amounts of medals and trophies are given for increasingly smaller achievements, and this “everybody’s a winner” mentality can make children grow up to expect success and recognition for a mediocre performance. Children may be led to underachieve and not try their best, which may lead to idleness and lack of achievement in the truly competitive environment of
In today’s society, it seems as if everything is a competition. From competing for a spot at the best school to attend to competing against fellow colleagues for the best position in the job field; it is a constant fight for the top spot. In Jessica Statsky’s essay, “Children Need to Play, Not Compete,” she explains the harsh effects that occur in our children’s lives if they are put into competitive sports too early in life. It is understandable that the world needs to be competitive in order for it to grow and expand. However, if competition is enforced too much at a young age, children may start to doubt themselves, believing that they are not as superior or as smart as their fellow classmates and friends. Sometimes this may even cause
One of the assumptions Statsky makes is that, “One readily understandable danger of overly competitive sports is that they entice children into physical actions that are bad for growing bodies” (627). This statement rests on the assumption that children would not perform any “physical actions that are bad for growing bodies” (Statsky 627) without organized competitive sports. This is simply untrue. Children jump from swings, climb trees, skateboard, “pop wheelies” and otherwise put themselves in physical peril with alarming regularity. Children’s free and unorganized play often results in broken bones and stitches, even for the most timid children.
There are many arguments about children playing football and whether they should be able to play it. Some are against it and some are ok with it, I personally think it is not a good idea for kids to play any high-impact sport until they are older because you never know what will happen on the field. It is now a huge subject in America because parents don’t want their kids playing football.
First off, children shouldn’t be playing competitive sports is because competitive sports can cause many, many
Many parents will argue about whether kids should be allowed to play sports at such a young age. In my opinion, I think kids shouldn’t be allowed to play sports at a young age. When they grow older, I think that kids should be allowed to play sports. When a young athlete gets injured, coaches may not be trained for an injury and the child can suffer more serious injuries just from that. Kids want to skip practice so they will often fake an injury, serious coaches will use shaming techniques and call athletes “ladies” or man up, and athletes might not have the best protective gear, making them more likely to have a concussion. Worst of all, coaches
Youth sports are a staple in nearly every American’s childhood as highlighted in “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” by Jessica Statsky. Statsky makes two contentions in favor of this argument: first, that the participants of youth sports are not physically and psychologically ready, and second, that the mentality of win or lose is more harmful than helpful during the formative years of a child’s development. I agree with Statsky that children’s sports are too often over competitive, but some competition is beneficial to their development.
Let’s review the Pros of children taking part in organized sports: physical activity, socialization, health competition, self-esteem, and discipline. With every action there is an equal reaction also known as the Cons of children taking part in organized sports: which are injuries, cost, stress, and lost family time together.Some of the benefits of playing outdoor sports, are stated by Adnan Samia in an article entitled “Benefits of Sports.” In schools today the break time is hardly 20 to 30 minutes. Playing outdoor games enhance endurance, flexibility, improve balance as well as strengthen bones and muscles. Sports help in developing better hand-eye co-ordination and fast foot movement. The children who play sports are less likely to get arthritis and diabetes than their peers who do not exercise or play games.