Should Children Be Allowed To Play Competitive Sports

The issue of children playing competitive sports has been hotly debated. When I think of a competitive sports, I think of either two teams or two people playing against each other to win a physical game. In my definition of competitive sports, you don’t need to try out for the team, you just have to be playing against someone else. From this definition I have come to the conclusion the competitive sports are good for children to play. Imagine if one day someone said you couldn’t go places in a car anymore because you could get into a crash. This analogy is a lot like the issue of playing competitive sports because people are saying kids can’t play competitive sports anymore because they may get injured or stressed out. Even though competitive

The most important example of this is, children learn perseverance. A great 13 year old pitcher for a hurt his shoulder right before his league playoffs, but instead of resting his arm, he played the game (Brody 2). This shows determination because even when the boy was hurt, he kept going. This can be helpful later in life when he wants to give up on a hard school project or a job assignment. From this incidence he might learn how to plow through the hardships of real life. According to the people collecting data at the Institute for the Study of Youth Sports at Michigan State University, “Kids who participate in organized sports do better in school, have better interpersonal skills, are more team oriented, and are generally healthier” (Chen 1). In consequence, sports can help kids have a better life because the things you learn in sports can help you in school and if you do well in school, you can get a good job. In the end, I think the lessons learned through sports are more important than the stress kids may face while playing a competitive sport. The stress adolescents may have to face in a sport can teach them how to deal with more stressful things in real life, so the stress isn’t so bad