Youth Sport Participation: Beneficial or Destructive
Youth Sport Participation: Beneficial or Destructive?
Many children today enjoy various types of sports. Participation in youth sports has steadily been on the rise. Millions of children across the country take part in one or more youth sports throughout the year. It is not unheard of for children as young as four or five years old to be participating in youth sports. But is youth participation in these sports destructive or beneficial towards children? And at what level of sport intensity may this participation be destructive or beneficial? Something that is beneficial causes a good result and is advantageous. While something that is destructive causes much damage. Youth participation in sports can be defined in a numerous amount of ways. This participation can include something as intense as contact football to something as relaxing as fishing. Some believe that children should start as soon as they are able to walk, while others believe that sports should begin in high school when a child is almost finished with their physical and emotional development. There is plenty of controversy over this trending issue. But which side is correct. There are many explanations that support each side of this heated debate. Children today are interested in sport participation because they want to have fun, improve their physical skills, and make new friends (Metzl). While some children may receive these factors as a result of sport involvement, they may also be obtaining some negative factors as well. It has been proven over thousands of years that children do not
Pennington 2 always know what is best for their physical and mental well-being. Thus, leaving the responsibility on the guardians of the children. Some parents may think that by putting their children into sports at a young age they are benefitting them by teaching them valuable life lessons that, they believe, could not be taught elsewhere or through a different organization or activity. These parents may
Many children today enjoy various types of sports. Participation in youth sports has steadily been on the rise. Millions of children across the country take part in one or more youth sports throughout the year. It is not unheard of for children as young as four or five years old to be participating in youth sports. But is youth participation in these sports destructive or beneficial towards children? And at what level of sport intensity may this participation be destructive or beneficial? Something that is beneficial causes a good result and is advantageous. While something that is destructive causes much damage. Youth participation in sports can be defined in a numerous amount of ways. This participation can include something as intense as contact football to something as relaxing as fishing. Some believe that children should start as soon as they are able to walk, while others believe that sports should begin in high school when a child is almost finished with their physical and emotional development. There is plenty of controversy over this trending issue. But which side is correct. There are many explanations that support each side of this heated debate. Children today are interested in sport participation because they want to have fun, improve their physical skills, and make new friends (Metzl). While some children may receive these factors as a result of sport involvement, they may also be obtaining some negative factors as well. It has been proven over thousands of years that children do not
Pennington 2 always know what is best for their physical and mental well-being. Thus, leaving the responsibility on the guardians of the children. Some parents may think that by putting their children into sports at a young age they are benefitting them by teaching them valuable life lessons that, they believe, could not be taught elsewhere or through a different organization or activity. These parents may
Cited: "burn-out." Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random House, Inc. 08 Mar. 2012. <Dictionary.com http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/burn-out>. of American Children and Youth." Youth Sports in America: An Overview*. Ed. Tempie Brown. 2nd ed. East Lansing: Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1996. Web. 30 Mar. 2012. <https://www.presidentschallenge.org/informed/digest/docs/199709digest.pdf>.