Children today are under a huge amount of pressure when it comes to sports. From score rankings, grades to play, parents yelling and coaches saying the play. Madison, a ten-year-old girl on my sister’s basketball team, complains that, “I hate when parents tell us to do the exact opposite of what the coach says.” The child has to decide whether they are going to listen to the coach or their parents because the parents will be mad if they didn’t do what they said. Nevertheless, the coach could be always have the child sit out because they didn’t listen to what he or she was saying. Another girl on the basketball team states that “Sometimes parents try to coach when they are not trained as a coach or walk off the court with a lot of drama and …show more content…
Some of the effects can turn into very serious issues. Sports are a great thing to watch, but on the other hand everyone needs a childhood not just of sports ”We have a generation of children that have been pushed to achieve parental dreams instead of their own, and prodded to do more, more, more and better, better, better. The pressure and anxiety is stealing one thing our kids will never get back; their childhood” (The Race to Nowhere in Youth Sports). Childhood is one thing every kid needs to experience at a young age, sports can happen any time during childhood however don’t let it take over your childhood. If they want to play sports at that age that’s the parent 's choice although “Today’s athletes start earlier than ever, with kids as young as 2 or 3 taking sports lessons and joining leagues by age 5. About 26.1 million children, more than half of all 6 to 17 year-olds, suit up and play a team sport” (Hyman). At the age of 2 or 3 toddlers can get hurt way too easily. At that age, most don’t have a concept of what is going on during the game. Children need a say of what they want to play “Parents have too much control in our sports, the two and three year olds don’t need to be playing yet. It’s the parents that force the kids to play at that age” (Hyman). Not every kid will play college or even professional, but yet if we start them even younger the more we burn them out and no longer want to play. Sports can cause …show more content…
When I play sports I try and block out all the cheering around me “When we kids are focused on the action on the field, we don’t hear Mom and Dad cheer for us, no matter how loud they are” (Wolff and Goehner). Cheering is okay, but not yelling so much. When Mom and Dad yell it just makes us even more nervous because what if we mess up. What if we don’t do the right play? My parents know not to say anything after a game to me if I had a bad game, “Kids feel uncomfortable and embarrassed when parents yell at them because they didn’t do the correct play” (Mansfield). All parents want us to go far with our sports, however we all make mistakes even on the field and court. Once parents know that it makes us feel uncomfortable, parents will only cheer. The yelling should be left for coaches, not the parents.
While pressure from coaches is an expected part of athletics, adding parental pressure can cause an athlete to burn out too soon. If children don’t please their parents, parents aren’t happy and the child doesn’t want to play anymore. Putting too much pressure on kids can cause many bad things like not wanting to play
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.
In a growing trend that reaches to all corners of the athletic world, coaches are being forced to cope with the added stress of disgruntled parents. More and more they are required to defend personal coaching styles and philosophies, uphold team decisions and go head to head with angry, and sometimes violent parents. The pressure has gotten to the point where coaches all over the country are quitting or being forced out of their jobs by groups of parents. High school athletics should be about learning and having fun, and when parents cross the line between cheerleader and ringleader everyone suffers.
Remember the days where the kids used to holler and run in the park, and swing in playgrounds on nice summer afternoons while the parents sat on benches. Maybe they had a soccer lesson after and played a basketball match with friends at YMCA. But today, kids run with sports gear to tournaments conducted by "elite" Little Leagues, while the parents who drove all over town to find the stadium settle down into the bleachers ready to observe every move their kid makes in the game. And of course, they share their complaints to other fellow parents about the coach, who is getting paid half of their paycheck. After a gruesome match on a field that is way too big for the kids, the parents provide some Greek Yogurt and ample of suggestions on how to
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.
Abstract: Youth Soccer has recently evolved into a fiercely competitive arena. More and more children are leaving recreational leagues to play in highly competitive select leagues. While select sports are a valuable resource where children can learn how to socialize and become self motivated, children who start at young ages, ten and eleven, can suffer psychological and physical damages. A child's youth sporting experience is directly influenced by the attitudes, sportsmanship and behavior of their parents and coaches. Parents and coaches who pressure their children to be the best and not play their best are responsible for the high teenage drop out rate. By eliminating the "winning is everything" attitude, looking at the effort put forth by individual players and holding parents responsible for their actions we can return the game to the children.
More specifically, children are also increasingly pressured--again, usually by parents and coaches--to specialize in one sport and to play it year-round, often on several different teams (Perry). Now, if sports specialization is such a great idea, then why are kids being “pressured”? As stated before, sports specialization can result in severe injury or even retirement from sports all together. Evidently, parents would not want to risk their athlete’s entire athletic career just because of an overuse injury. Knowing this, a diversity in sports activities is the solution to the problem. Additionally, a specialization in sports can lead to the young athlete not experiencing a sport that he or she may truly enjoy in their life. If a parent already makes a child decide on a sport to play, how will the child know if that is the sport they truly want to participate in? As the child ages, they could realize that the sport they play now is not one that they love anymore, so they could just quit. Deciding at such a young age is not only a hasty decision, but also a terrible one. Finally, this specialization can also create social problems. If a child is already so competitively involved in a sport, then their social lives and relationships with friends are at risk. The clear choice here is to let the child live a normal life by allowing them to make friends and play, rather than taking over their lives with competitive
I have been playing sports for as long as I can remember, from taekwondo to swimming to basketball to everything. Every time a game or tournament came up I knew that my parents would be at those events, criticizing every one of my moves. I vividly remember one time, I was at my taekwondo tournament, after performing I looked over to my parents at the sidelines to see their reaction on my performance and I remember them being upset and angry at me. At that moment, I was not looking forward to the car ride back home because I knew that I was going to get an earful. The rest of the event was ruined for me because I simply did not have any interest left due to what was going to happen later on. Needless to say, parents should skip out on attending their kids’ games/events unless they can be supportive and quiet.
In sports today, the stakes of a game are higher than ever. This causes all those invested in the sport to become on edge. Although this may cause some beneficial effects in the game, there are still a few downsides to it. One such downside would be the bullying of athletes from their very own coaches. That’s right, the intensity of sports causes some coaches to take drastic measures to make their chances of winning greater, even if said measures are detrimental to the confidence and mentality of their players.
Young athletes put in danger by the competition, aggressiveness, and intensity of sports. Kids everyday are being pushed past limits by coaches parents and fans. The intensity of sports has become so high they are causing mental and physical exhaustion. Sports like wrestling has kids eat different to either lose gain weight. Football player, Baseball player, and even cheerleader have to work out in extreme temperatures. Some kids involved in competitive sports have been taking weight lifting classes and even just conditioning. The youth are being put in danger due to how competitive, aggressive, and intense youth sports have become.
These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.
Jessica Statsky, in her essay, “Children need to Play, Not Compete” attempts to refute the common belief that organized sports are good for children. She sees organized sports not as healthy pass-times for children, but as onerous tasks that children do not truly enjoy. She also notes that not only are organized sports not enjoyable for children, they may cause irreparable harm to the children, both emotionally and physically. In her thesis statement, Statsky states, “When overzealous parents and coaches impose adult standards on children's sports, the result can be activities that are neither satisfying nor beneficial to children” (627). While this statement is strong, her defense of it is weak.
Confucius once said, "he who does not do well is less guilty than he who pushes too hard." People found that competitive sports are often physically straining and it is detrimental to proper emotional development. This blows away the misconception that competitive sports create a healthy and engaging atmosphere for kids. This and an overly strong obsession with winning create a toxic mix for the child’s wellbeing. People have begun to realize the world of competitive may be doing more harm than good for their children. Parents have also begun to notice that competitive sports often injure their children severely and also make the child feel left out, which in turn is detrimental to the child 's emotional health. Therefore, competitive sports
I have always been a coach’s son. My role in this culture and how I view it along with how others view it has just evolved. When I was younger, I was the young son, just hanging around my dad. Whereas, now I am an athlete playing for my dad. The concept is still the same but how other people see me has just changed. As a younger athlete I never felt the pressure of others watching me as an athlete. But in high school, with many more spectators and community members watching, I felt the pressure to do well for myself and my dad. I sometimes feel like my
Children who participate in sports are developing rapidly in sports skills, sportsmanship, and psychologically, but does this come from organized sports are just nature’s process. Children develop emotional and social benefits from participating in sports. Children experience character and leadership development through peer relations leading to an increase in self-esteem and a decrease in anxiety levels. Children will get opportunities to experience positive and negative emotions throughout their practice and games trials. It is important for the coach to understand the “psychology of youth sports and physical activity participation” (Weinberg & Gould, 2011 p.516).
How can children be expected to learn good sportsmanship if their role models are telling them to "win at all costs" or "just do what ever it takes (to win)?" Athletes and sports- crazed parents should remem...