Pushing Children In Sports

Dreams of glory, gold metals, and fame bounce around in every parent’s mind as he/she signs up his/her child for his/her first sport. The desire for college scholarships and multimillion-dollar contracts has many parents pushing their children harder than ever to participate in sports. Children are being enrolled into sports leagues at a younger age than ever before, many of whom are even being pressured to participate year-round in the hopes of creating the next Michael Jordan. While involving a child in athletics has several benefits, it also has a great deal of drawbacks. Pushing children to participate in sports they show no interest in can negatively impact their self-esteem, create resentment, result in a drop in grades, and increase

Most adults become caught up in this fantasy with a desire to see their child become the next athlete that America falls in love with; however, they run the risk of losing their child by pushing him/her too hard to compete in athletics. By doing this, they are sending their child a message saying they want him/her to excel at a sport and become the next star, even if he/she has no interest in it at all. This alone is enough to make a child resent his/her parents. Instead of holding a friendly pep talk before every game and an enjoyable practice drill in the yard, a child may begin to avoid his/her parents completely. To make matters worse, this resentment could strain the parent-child bond and lead a child to stop voicing his/her problems to his/her parents. This is perilous because it allows the child no other choice than to bottle up his/her feelings or voice them to people who may not have his/her best interest at heart. In addition, parents often become so caught up in a battle to see whose child is the best athlete that they forget how their actions are affecting their child. They become angry when their child performs poorly and repeatedly yell at him/her across the field. This behavior could cause a child to resent his/her parents for embarrassing him/her in front of his/her teammates. He/she may also be upset about the fact that he/she must surpass another child in order to satisfy his/her

“In 2003 alone, more than 3.5 million children under age fifteen required medical treatment for sports injuries, nearly half of which were the result of simple overuse” (Hyman). Parents and coaches, enticed by the ideas of college scholarships and olympic glory, are pushing their children to the point of physical breakdown. The fact that one third of young athletes are sidelined due to injury is unacceptable (Fornicola). As a parent or a coach, he/she is responsible for the safety of the young athletes under his/her care. To make matters worse, when parents or coaches push children too hard to excel, some of them begin pushing themselves past their own breaking point. Too afraid to see the look of disappointment in their parents’ eyes, young athletes often use a “pedal-to-the-metal” training philosophy to enhance their performance. This push to train heavily is dangerous for children as it can result in long-term physical problems, such as tendonitis (Chavez). While every parent wants to watch his/her children succeed, he/she must understand that the gold metals are not always worth the