Should Kids Play Competitive Sports

“You can’t put a limit on anything. The more you dream, the further you get,” said Michael Phelps, an olympic-medal winning swimmer. He inspires many kids to try hard, and do their best in sports. With an increased number of children playing sports today, it is important to know that playing sports benefits kids in many ways. Kids should play competitive sports.

One reason why kids should play competitive sports is because they learn many valuable life skills. For example, according to a licensed marriage and family therapist Bette Alkazian, through team sports kids learn how to get along with other kids, and how to tolerate bad attitude or an annoying teammate (Chessman). This is useful to kids because they will learn how to accept other’s attitudes and not let it change their own, which is very useful when they get older. Another expert, psychology author Jim Taylor, Ph.D., says that “kids learn essential life skills, such as hard work, patience, persistence, and how to positively respond to setbacks and

This is shown in an article in the New York Times, called Sports Promote Healthy Weight in Teenagers. In a study by Keith M. Drake and his colleagues, it was proved that the greater the participation in organized sports, the lower the risk of being overweight or obese (O’Connor). Furthermore, in an article titled Hey, data, data -- swing!, the CDC predicts that 42 percent of all American adults will be obese (Kelley and Carchia). This shows that playing sports as a kid will benefit people both in the future, and now. Unfortunately, according to an article called Pushing too hard too young, it indicates some people might say sports hurt kids, because children will turn to steroids and other drugs to enhance their performance and gain an edge (Stenson). However, this is misguided because, , according to kidshealth.org, kids who play sports are actually less likely to abuse drugs or alcohol