Despite God declaring Sunday as a “day of rest”, other various activities placed on the weekend result in scarcely populated church services and overcrowded ballparks. Rick Reilly expresses his concern for this in “Let Us Play”. Rielly approaches the issue with a nonaggressive tone and rather than coming across as judgmental, conveys true concern about the topic. He writes about becoming a sport-oriented society where children and adults are more concerned about the Iron Bowl rather than the state of Syria. While Rielly does place emphasis on Sundays being used for religious purposes, his main focal point is the metamorphosis of children’s sports. Have you ever been to a sports game and noticed a mother who is maybe a bit too enthusiastic about the match or a father who is extremely consumed with the idea of crushing the competition? It seems that every year the number of avid parents grows. When I was younger and involved in numerous city-league sports there were many kids who’s primary objective was to win. Now I do agree that winning is much more enjoyable than being defeated, but when did that become the focus for a three year old soccer match? Parents drill into their kids’ heads that winning is the only reason to participate in a sports team rather than having fun. …show more content…
Not only are those kids primarily focused on gaining another medal or receiving another trophy for mercy ruling the opponents, practice consumes their time.
I know many soccer players who attend school practice and from there drive to practice for other teams. Even the high school football players I accompany school with have practice for a minimum of three hours each day. Weeks are filled with shuffling from field to field and attempting to schedule activities around games or practices. Many children’s afternoons are filled with dribbling and demanding coaches rather than playing with friends and spending time with their
families. In addition to chauffeuring kids from practice to practice during weekdays, many parents place their children in club sport teams. Kids who play club level sports are considered to be better skilled and the program is overall more “elite”. I once met a girl at a soccer match who had been shipped to a sports academy when she was five years old. She lived on the campus and gained her education around her sporting schedule. Her parents viewed sports league as frivolous and too fun oriented to be valuable in the future. Parents pay lumps of cash in order to have their kid placed on the best team, but find it difficult to place a ten-dollar bill in the offering plate. Perhaps Reilly’s paper will help parents come to the realization of what they are putting their influential children through. Hopefully having fun with friends and learning sportsmanship may be able to reenter the minds of kids. Maybe children will be able to have a longer break than the fifteen minutes spent on the bench between halftime.
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.
When the coach turned his head, the seven-year-old stuck a finger down his throat and made himself vomit. When the coach fumed back, the boy pointed to the ground and told him, “Yes, there it is, Coach. See?” (Tosches A33).It emphasizes the fact that if a child gets hurt once, they will fear the possibility of getting hurt again ,so they try to find excuses to prevent themselves from playing the game.Second,Statsky states how competitive adults have drained the fun out of children's sports and made the game unappealing for children.She cites Martin Rablovsky, a former sports editor for the New York Times says that in all his years of watching young children play organized sports, he has noticed very few of them smiling. “I’ve seen children enjoying a spontaneous pre-practice scrimmage become somber and serious when the coach’s whistle blows,” Rablovsky says. “The spirit of play suddenly disappears, and sport becomes job-like” (qtd in Coakley 94). It shows the fact that competitive adults are oblivious to their actions and don't notice that what they are doing can really affect a child mentally.Third, Statsky is concerned that competitive sports will lower a child's self-esteem and make them lack confidence.’’Like adults, children fear failure, and so even those with good physical skills may stay away because they lack
Kids just want to have fun. In a bygone era, parents wanted kids to play sports for fun and camaraderie. However, a new attitude is developing among coaches and parents, which is mopping-up fun from youth sports. Now it's all about the team and the game. The team must win the game at any cost.
Abstract: Youth Soccer has recently evolved into a fiercely competitive arena. More and more children are leaving recreational leagues to play in highly competitive select leagues. While select sports are a valuable resource where children can learn how to socialize and become self motivated, children who start at young ages, ten and eleven, can suffer psychological and physical damages. A child's youth sporting experience is directly influenced by the attitudes, sportsmanship and behavior of their parents and coaches. Parents and coaches who pressure their children to be the best and not play their best are responsible for the high teenage drop out rate. By eliminating the "winning is everything" attitude, looking at the effort put forth by individual players and holding parents responsible for their actions we can return the game to the children.
According to a community soccer organization in Southern California, “the American Youth Soccer Organization hands out roughly 3,500 awards each season — each player gets one, while around a third get two” (Merryman). This community also spends up to twelve percent of the athletic budget a year on these types of trophies. The way this community values awards to children is not beneficial and does not teach them important life lessons. Giving every child a trophy in a community may cause them to underachieve; on the other hand it can also be a motivator to keep some kids active in sports. In sports as well as life there are winners and losers and children have to start understanding that little by little.
Heffernan, L. E. (2013, October 10). Parents Ruin Sports for Their Kids by Obsessing About Winning. Retrieved April 28, 2014
To head, or not to head, that is the question In today’s world, the benefits of sports are huge. Sports are a way of teaching key skills that parents can’t such as sportsmanship, social values and many more. One of the most popular sports all over the world is soccer; hence soccer is the first sport that many children play and later on love. Within the past couple years, controversies have arisen over whether or not children should be heading the soccer ball while playing.
Coakley (2009) starts off the chapter by introducing how participation in organized sports came about and how gender roles played a major role early on. He describes how most programs were for young boys with the hope that being involved would groom them to become productive in the economy. Girls were usually disregarded and ended up sitting in the stands watching their sibling’s ga...
Everyone agrees that parent involvement is a good thing. But when the parent behaves inappropriately, it creates a poor environment for the children to learn and enjoy themselves. "Sideline rage" with parents behaving badly at youth sports events is such an epidemic, that 76% of respondents from 60 high school athletic associations said increased spectator interference is causing many officials to quit (Associated Press, 6/3/01). Parents are supposed to be role models, and the lessons they teach will determine their values and actions in the future. These days violence in children's sports is not limited to the playing field; overbearing parents are creating dangerous situations on the field.
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
These days, there is too much pressure on children who participate in organized sports because of the unnecessary parental involvement they experience. A growing concern amongst those involved in youth sports is that certain aspects of parental involvement become detrimental to the development and experiences of young athletes. Early emphasis on winning, making money, and the disruption of education can exceedingly affect ones desire to further participate in a sport later on in his/her life.
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.
Confucius once said, "he who does not do well is less guilty than he who pushes too hard." People found that competitive sports are often physically straining and it is detrimental to proper emotional development. This blows away the misconception that competitive sports create a healthy and engaging atmosphere for kids. This and an overly strong obsession with winning create a toxic mix for the child’s wellbeing. People have begun to realize the world of competitive may be doing more harm than good for their children. Parents have also begun to notice that competitive sports often injure their children severely and also make the child feel left out, which in turn is detrimental to the child 's emotional health. Therefore, competitive sports
Quite possibly the main reason most children nowadays play in a recreational sport is just to receive their participation trophy at the end of the season. Now when you think about it what is the main purpose of the trophy itself? Realistically it’s nothing more than a thumbs up for playing. Plus when you add up all the people that receive this “award” it becomes an extremely crazy price tag number. Adults everywhere wonder why it is there are so many spoiled children today as well.
This can potentially ruin their relationship in the long term. Parents forcing their children into sports can also ruin the child parents bond as well (Baldwin Ellis). Marilyn Enmark, a youth soccer coach, says she’s seen many parents risking their relationship with their kid over a sport. One of her seven-year-old players hit the boards during an indoor soccer game and rather than ask him how he felt, his father proceeded to scold him for playing badly. Later that week, his mother criticized him leaving the boy in tears (Jacqueline Stenson).