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Essays in applied sports psychology
Relevance of psychology of sports
Positive effects of sports on academics
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High school athletics leave a major impact on everybody that is involved with them. It also can even leave a mark on people who aren’t associated with them. There are many conflicting opinions on whether high school sports are a positive or negative influence on a student’s life. Athletics in high school can have an effect on the community as a whole. In H.G. Bisssinger’s highly regarded Friday Night Lights, high school football is accurately portrayed as the most important thing in Texas; it receives much more attention than academics. Football players are often treated like celebrities; yielding confidence, and at the same time creating pressure. High school sports are approached with clashing opinions. Some of these opinions are positive, and supportive of athletics. “Athleticism, among many activities, offers teens a physical outlet to exert their troubles, anger, emotions, and other feelings” (Chen 1). This can be observed in nearly all of the football players in Friday Night Lights. This can also be noticed in the world today. “Athletics help high school students understand their own abilities and talents” (Chen 1). This piece of evidence is very accurate when describing high school athletes. Sports can make a high school student humble. As can be seen by the preceding information, high school athletics can have a positive impact on a student’s life. In contrast to the positives, high school athletics can be seen in a negative light. “Concussions [from athletics] cause structural brain damage” (Solotaroff 7). Even though nobody is said to get a concussion in Friday Night Lights, they are very frequent in football and in other sports today. They occur all the time in football especially. In addition to that piece of nega... ... middle of paper ... ...s football will always play a major role in the lives of people who live there. Works Cited Bissinger, H. G. Friday Night Lights: A Town, a Team, and a Dream. Reading, MA: Addison-Wesley Pub., 1990. Print. Chen, Grace. "Pros and Cons of Sports Competition at the High School Level." Publicschoolreview.com. Public School Review, n.d. Web. 5 Mar. 2014. Goisman, Matt. "Book Review: Friday Night Lights." Sports of Boston RSS. Sports of Boston, 9 July 2010. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. Nande, Anushree. "Book Review: Friday Night Lights – HG Bissinger - Write Club." Write Club. The Write Club, 2 July 2013. Web. 06 Mar. 2014. SOLOTAROFF, PAUL. "This Is Your Brain On Football." Rolling Stone 1175 (2013): 56. TOPICsearch. Web. 6 Mar. 2014. Stricker, Paul R. "Pressure to Perform." HealthyChildren.org. American Academy of Pediatrics, 3 Dec. 2013. Web. 04 Mar. 2014.
High school sports can have a tremendous effect on not only those who participate but the members of the community in which they participate. These effects can be positive, but they can also be negative. In the book Friday Night Lights, H.G. Bissinger shows that they are often negative in communities where high school sports “keep the town alive” due to the social pressure. In this way, Friday Night Lights gives insight into the effects of high school football being the backbone of a community, revealing that the fate of the individual football players are inadvertently determined by the actions of the townspeople.
Swift, E. M. "One Big Headache." Sports Illustrated 106.6 (2007): 22. TOPICsearch. Web. 29 Oct. 2013.
Bissinger tackled the many problems in the town, such as extreme pressure to perform, racism, and the relationship between parent and child. While Bissinger had several preconceived notions, he was ultimately proven wrong and through analysis of themes and incorporation of comparisons in the form of conceits he was able to develop his understanding of the town and accurately depict the events that transpired. When examining Friday Night Lights, the book’s themes are quite clear. Bissinger explores the impact of adults’ living vicariously through their children. He introduces the typical football player’s parents in the form of Dale McDougal, who lives and breathes to see her son, Jerrod, play football.
The Odessa football players couldn't be objective about criticisms of football. Their total self-esteem depended on how they did on Friday night. This was the glorified culmination of their football career: wearing the black MoJo uniform in the stadium under the big lights. Football was more than just a game to them; it was a religion. It "made them seem like boys going off to fight a war for the benefit of someone else, unwitting sacrifices to a strange and powerful god" (Bissinger, p.11). Because football was so meaningful in their lives, to criticize it was to criticize everything they'd worked so hard for and lived for.
Mosley, Matt. “The Great Debate ‘America’s Team’.” ESPN.NFL.com. 6 July 2009. Web. 2 December 2009.
Most student-athletes grow up as very innocent lads bedecked with tremendous talents and become very promising in sports. Thus, they become rays of hope for their families, neighborhoods, and schools yet to be determined. Like the lamb in William Blake’s poem The Lamb, they are fed “by the stream & o’er the mead; gave…clothing of delight, softest clothing, wooly, bright…making all the vales rejoice.” (Smith 24) Then they are exposed to the life of hard work in which only the fittest survives. This makes them ready for the different challenges in the sports scene.
Athletics in American schools have always been controversial for many reasons. Some of these reasons include health concerns, safety precautions, and academic significance. Daniel H. Bowen and Colin Hitt wrote an article titled, “High-School Sports Aren’t Killing Academics” to present the factors of positive correlation between success in athletics and academics. I believe that athletics in high schools not only benefit students socially, but also academically.
Within a community is a sense of unity, which for many is brought together by the young athletes of the community. In his article “High School Sports Have Turned Into Big Business,” Mark Koba of CNBC highlights that within the last thirty to forty years high school football has escalated into a highly revered tradition in which not only communities, but highly successful corporations have begun to dedicate millions of dollars towards (Koba n. pg.). This highlights the status of sports within the community and may explain part of the reason schools would favor sports over other programs. Because sports programs can often turn over big profits for schools, they tend to dedicate most of their excess funds towards sports, and rely on sports programs to create large profits for the school. When school administrators see how much sports unite, excite, and benefit the school, they develop a respect for sports and consider it a necessity to provide a good sports program for their students and community. Also in his article, Koba quotes an interviewee named Mark Conrad who is the associate professor of legal and ethical studies at Fordham University 's school of...
From long practice hours, hot summer workouts, and many Friday nights, my personal observation of this dangerous sport is exceptionally prevalent. My initial experience of the damage that football brings came my eighth grade year when I witnessed a senior football player on my team try and eat a phone on the ride home after receiving a concussion in the third quarter of the game. Which is a prime example to defend the fact that football related injuries to the head result in people not “being all there.” Not only have I seen someone try and eat a phone, but I have also witnessed head injuries resulting in my own friend randomly yelling at me after a game for no reason, and also a friend trying to jump down a full flight of stairs thinking he was starring in a movie. The fast paced, high intensity contact that comes with playing football is nothing to think flippantly of when it plays a role on brain trauma, and the results of brain trauma.
Participation in sports has proven to increase self-discipline and self-esteem, and can teach athletes to learn from their mistakes and move on (Issitt). Athletes playing team sports also develop the ability to work well with others and use teamwork in their everyday lives. Teammates form relationships that are strengthened over a common passion and goal. These relationships can last long after high school is over (Chen). These social skills translate into better communication used with an athlete’s family, peers, and in the community. Likewise, “A 2006 study in Maryland found that student athletes are 15 percent more likely than non athletes to be involved in their communities and to take the time for civic engagements, including participating in voting and volunteer activities” (Issitt). The same study also concluded that athletes are far more likely to be comfortable with public speaking than non-athletes. This study provides concrete evidence that high school sports can help to gain mental and social skills that will be used later in life
College is a time for young people to develop and grow not only in their education, but social aspects as well. One of the biggest social scenes found around college campuses are athletic events, but where would these college sports be without their dedicated athletes? Student athletes get a lot of praise for their achievements on the field, but tend to disregard the work they accomplish in the classroom. Living in a college environment as a student athlete has a great deal of advantages as well as disadvantages that affect education and anti-intellectualism. Around the country, college athletic programs are pushing their athletes more and more every day.
So, considering that high school sports do give kids an opportunity to expand socially, keep them in shape, and healthy, an opportunity to make many friends, and a shot at getting a scholarship, and making it to the professional level in their sport. But long term, the negative effects are more in the sense it could damage a student permanently, from an academic level to a physiological level. Also, most of the positive things people would argue aren’t guaranteed to happen or isolate them from the negative effects. But when it comes to the negative side, a student would need to go through some of the stages, maybe not all, but for sure some. To sum it all up, high school sports are more negative on a student than positive, even though people tend to see only the positive things that can come from them.
Sport in schools have been for many year where students had fun but also caused accident. According to US News more than 7.6 millions students played sport during the 2010-2011 (www.usnews.com).I am focus in this two articles “Psychological and social benefits of playing true sport” by U.S.Anti-Doping Agency(U.S.A.D.A) and “The Case Against High School Sports” by Amanda Ripley. Playing high school sport is a negative experience high school students because school spend a lot money,make them behavior delinquency and sport can injured your body.
It has been known a proven fact that participation in high school sports encourages better moods, self-esteem, and a higher level of academic achievement. This has been proven through various studies, one of them being a study done in New York. In 2006, the Carnegie Corporation of New York discovered that students benefited from participating in high school sports. An improvement in grades, confidence, and personal health and welfare were appreciably noted in ...
Sports play a large part in many people’s lives for various reasons. Whether it’s to stay active or for personal satisfaction, sports are especially popular among high school students. I personally have participated in two sports throughout my high school career which both have had a large impact on my life.