Should Kids Be Able To Play Competitive Sports
An issue that is hotly debated in Mrs. Crowell’s class is if kids should be able to play competitive sports or not. I strongly believe that kids should not be able to participate in competitive sports for three main reasons: sports can get costly, injuries are common, and the kid is pushed way too hard by parents and coaches.
The sport that a kid is in could impact families in need. The most important reason is the huge cost the sport could have money wise. According to Visual News, parents tend to spend around $671 on just the appropriate clothing, equipment, and travel expenses needed for a specific sport. Also about every one in five parents spend over $1,000 on a child’s sport. The family maybe could’ve used the money spent on the …show more content…
sport for things that they and their family may actually need to survive. The other take on this topic could argue that the parent could just buy their kid cheaper equipment. This may not be able to work because maybe the athlete needs proper equipment for the team that they’re on and they can’t get any alternatives that are cheaper. Sports are getting so expensive that some kids can’t even play any kind of sport because their family can’t afford those kinds of cost.
Another reason that kids shouldn’t be involved in sports in because of long term effects it could have on the kid’s life.
The opposing side would take that sports would decrease the obesity percentage in kids, but what they don’t see is that while obesity is going down, injuries are going up. An injury that a child sustains from a competitive sports could be crucial along the road of his/her life. One example of this is concussions. Too many concussions from a competitive sport could result in Alzheimer's, a disease that affects your memory and you can’t remember things the same that you used to. There are many stories on Alzheimer’s, one being a little girl named Ella and her brother having the disease. One passage from the story called “Ella’s Story” is, “Then his driving became so crazy. He did not realize he was in the wrong lane. He would run stop signs and forget to put the car in park (actually rolled to hit steps by a mobile home). He could not get the car out of park because he had the key out of the ignition. Isaac could not, as time progressed, figure out how to put the key in the car lock or put a key correctly into anything. It just did not work.” These kinds of diseases could affect many families/friends. A second piece of evidence for injuries is if the kid can’t play sports anymore, they may turn to steroids or other enhancing drugs to catch up to everyone else physically. Lastly with injuries, if a kid receives a bad enough injury, they could miss tons of school and be completely behind all of the other students in
learning.
The third reason is that parents take sports way too far. Parents of course want their kid to be the best that they can, but some parents believe that their child will be the next greatest thing such as Michael Jordan. Because they believe this, the parents makes the child practice a ridiculous amount. They may want their kid to practice year round, so the kid may have to give up another sport or activity that they may enjoy. The parents may even overwork their child causing the kid to not enjoy the sport as much anymore, or just giving up on the sport as a whole. Putting so much pressure on the child may make them feel overwhelmed or scared to fail in front of the parent, and that’s not good for the kid’s mental and emotional health. Also, if a parent only allows the child to play that one sport that they want them involved in, the kid may have an emotional burnout which means that the child would feel overwhelmed with the stress put on them to be the best. Sometimes it may feel like the child has no say in what they actually want to do, but instead, what their parents want them to do.
There may be strong evidence to support why kids should be involved in competitive sports, but I still strongly believe that kids should not be involved in competitive sports.
The sport that a kid is in could impact families in need. The most important reason is the huge cost the sport could have money wise. According to Visual News, parents tend to spend around $671 on just the appropriate clothing, equipment, and travel expenses needed for a specific sport. Also about every one in five parents spend over $1,000 on a child’s sport. The family maybe could’ve used the money spent on the …show more content…
sport for things that they and their family may actually need to survive. The other take on this topic could argue that the parent could just buy their kid cheaper equipment. This may not be able to work because maybe the athlete needs proper equipment for the team that they’re on and they can’t get any alternatives that are cheaper. Sports are getting so expensive that some kids can’t even play any kind of sport because their family can’t afford those kinds of cost.
Another reason that kids shouldn’t be involved in sports in because of long term effects it could have on the kid’s life.
The opposing side would take that sports would decrease the obesity percentage in kids, but what they don’t see is that while obesity is going down, injuries are going up. An injury that a child sustains from a competitive sports could be crucial along the road of his/her life. One example of this is concussions. Too many concussions from a competitive sport could result in Alzheimer's, a disease that affects your memory and you can’t remember things the same that you used to. There are many stories on Alzheimer’s, one being a little girl named Ella and her brother having the disease. One passage from the story called “Ella’s Story” is, “Then his driving became so crazy. He did not realize he was in the wrong lane. He would run stop signs and forget to put the car in park (actually rolled to hit steps by a mobile home). He could not get the car out of park because he had the key out of the ignition. Isaac could not, as time progressed, figure out how to put the key in the car lock or put a key correctly into anything. It just did not work.” These kinds of diseases could affect many families/friends. A second piece of evidence for injuries is if the kid can’t play sports anymore, they may turn to steroids or other enhancing drugs to catch up to everyone else physically. Lastly with injuries, if a kid receives a bad enough injury, they could miss tons of school and be completely behind all of the other students in
learning.
The third reason is that parents take sports way too far. Parents of course want their kid to be the best that they can, but some parents believe that their child will be the next greatest thing such as Michael Jordan. Because they believe this, the parents makes the child practice a ridiculous amount. They may want their kid to practice year round, so the kid may have to give up another sport or activity that they may enjoy. The parents may even overwork their child causing the kid to not enjoy the sport as much anymore, or just giving up on the sport as a whole. Putting so much pressure on the child may make them feel overwhelmed or scared to fail in front of the parent, and that’s not good for the kid’s mental and emotional health. Also, if a parent only allows the child to play that one sport that they want them involved in, the kid may have an emotional burnout which means that the child would feel overwhelmed with the stress put on them to be the best. Sometimes it may feel like the child has no say in what they actually want to do, but instead, what their parents want them to do.
There may be strong evidence to support why kids should be involved in competitive sports, but I still strongly believe that kids should not be involved in competitive sports.