Extremely Competitive Youth Sports Parents
In the United States today the age for a kid to start playing competitive sports continues to get lower and lower. Parents in America have started to get their children involved in sports at a much earlier age than they used to, hoping that their child will be the next superstar. Parents are placing too much emphasis on winning and being the best, instead of teaching their children how to have fun. Parents in the U.S. are also placing too much pressure on their kids to be the best. Parents in America are becoming much too involved in youth sports and are starting to get out of control, sometimes even resorting to violence and vulgarity.
Parents in the U.S. today are becoming too involved in youth sports and are getting out of control. In the July 24, 2000 issue of Sports Illustrated, there is an article by William Nack and Lester Munson about a father in Massachusetts who killed another father over a little dispute about youth hockey. On July 5, 2000 Thomas Junta, a father of two, got into what seemed to be a minor shoving match with Michael Costin, a father of four, over a play in a hockey practice. After a while the fight was broken up and Junta left the ice arena. A little while later Junta returned with "clenched fists" and pinned Costin to the ground. With Costin's children standing just a few feet away and pleading with Junta to stop, Junta pummeled Costin with punches to the face and slammed Costin's head into the hard rubber mats that covered the floor. By the time someone was able to pull Junta off of him, Costin's face was so badly beaten that even his own children could barely recognized him. Costin was left in a coma and died two days later. This shows that p...
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...s. Parents need to stop getting too involved in their child's sports and let the kids play the games and have fun.
The amount of unnecessary behavior by parents at youth sporting events is increasing rapidly and is ruining the kid's experiences and their passion for the sports. Parents in the United States are becoming more involved in their children's sports than the kids themselves. The reason that so many young American athletes are quitting at such an early age is because their parents are making the sports a joyless experience and are placing too much pressure on the kids to win and to be the best. Parents have become out of control at youth sports and it seems that the kids are showing more civility than the parents these days. Parents need to get back to teaching their kids that sports should be played for fun and not just for showing who's the best.
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.
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.
pp. 58-59. Kidman, Lynn, McKenzie, Alex, and Brigid. The nature of target parents' comments during youth sport competitions. Journal of Sport Behavior 98:1 (March 1999): 54-68.
Heffernan, L. E. (2013, October 10). Parents Ruin Sports for Their Kids by Obsessing About Winning. Retrieved April 28, 2014
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.
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
?The harder and more intense youth sports get the more kids put in danger, more kids becoming bullied and more kids feeling like they have been just mentally or physically drained. What's going to happen in the future if we raise this generation the way we have begun too? Young athletes are being pushed past limits and put in danger by how intense youth sports have become.
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
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.
According to statistics gathered by youth sports organizations, “Up to 50 million kids play youth sports in America, and 73 percent who begin playing a sport quit before they turn 13” (Binns). The children could have quit because they did not like the disappointment of losing, or because they are exhausted from their parents pushing them too hard. But parents have their reasons for pushing their children into sports. “Studies show that kids who play sports are less likely to become obese, abuse drugs or alcohol or to perform poorly in school” (McCormick). If children are not active, then they will most likely become overweight, and if they have nothing to do in their pastime, they may turn to drugs and alcohol, which usually leads to a decrease of grades in school. A parent putting his/her child in sports gives the child something to do and keeps them fit. Parents also put their child in a sport hoping that he/she will get success out of it “Eager to nurture the next A-Rod or Michelle Kwan, parents enroll their 5- or 6-year-olds in a competitive sports league or program” (Stenson). While not all parents are pushing for future Olympians, the fight for a sports college scholarship is competitive and parents may feel that their child will have a better chance of gaining one if he/she starts competitive sports early. Parents push their children to succeed, and children--not wanting to disappoint their parents--push themselves, sometimes harder than they should. If done right, pushing a child into sports can have a positive effect on the child’s interaction with other children while teaching them commitment and healthy competition. However, focusing on winning and earning a scholarship versus having fun may backfire, because the cons...
With more and more children participating in some sort of organized sport than ever before, there is a constant concern regarding the pressures kids are brought into to excel. Emotionally over-involved parents often think that it is their responsibility to persuade, push, or support the children's fantasies or sporting objectives, even if the kids themselves do not share the same aspirations as his/her parents. Part of growing up is learning what interests you the most. It's how one becomes familiar with who they really are and what they enjoy doing in life. Unfortunately, for many young children, his/her parents seem to take his/her own lives into their own hands. Most parents want their kids to grow up to be "superstars", make it big after the college scenario, and perhaps go on to play professionally or succeed in the Olympics. We all know that there are the few that make it professionally, and having your parent paint a picture for you as you're barely going into grade school is unethical. Yet for the unfortunate, these kids are helpless to the pressure that is put on them at such a young age. Take Todd Marinovich, for example. For the child's entire life he was exercised, fed, schooled, and drilled with his fathers' one g...
Today the outrageous pressure of parents on young athletes has been taken out of hand due to parents wanting their children to succeed in athletics. Being involved in athletics used to be the child’s choice, but nowadays parents are forcing their children to participate in sports. From young athletes being pushed emotionally and physically too far, to them having to attend twice-a-day practices that consist of five hour workouts (Schurr 1). Parents go dangerously out of their way to have their children excel in sports. For example, a parent wanted their child to excel in athletics so badly to the point that they asked a surgeon to perform a pelvic surgery to help his/her child to become more flexible.
According to the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine (AOSSM) (2012), high school athletes who regularly play sports not only has physical benefits but also are less likely to smoke or use drugs, have lower dropout rates, higher success in the classroom, and better chance of going to college. However, in the contrary, parents who push their children into playing sports can negatively impact their children’s emotional development and damage the parent-child relationship. Parents push their children to play sports for several reasons. They love their children and want them to have the best, prosperous childhood. And the best way they can fulfill that is by having their children
But then parents worry that their kid is not going to like it or something bad will happen. According to an article named, “Michelle Obama: All Kids Should Play Sports, Not Just Those Who Can Afford It”, they say that, “the kids left behind in recreational leagues get bored with poor levels of play and inexperienced coaches”. Well, yes, sometimes that may be true. But, put this in perspective, if you can keep you kid involved in a sport, these things are most likely not to happen. Stated on athleteassessments.com, it reads, “female high school athletes are 92% less likely to get involved with drugs, 80% less likely to get pregnant, 3 times more likely to graduate than non-athletes”.
Seventy five percent of American families with school-aged children have at least one child participating in organized sports. There is a lot written about a greater concern about safety and benefits for the