Youth Sports Affecting Young Athletes

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Youth sports are evolving in a major way. The backyard soccer goal, asphalt basketball court, and nearby open fields just are not making the cuts anymore. Youth sports are now made up of intense training and competition, with scholarships and championships on the line. Also, because of the rougher nature of sports and methods of overtraining in the 21st century youths are more susceptible to injuries now more than ever. Many people see the effect that playing sports has on a young athlete and can say that many suffer from mental and physical harm. Youth sports are too intense for kids and teens because of the intense pressure from parents, coaches, and peers, life altering injuries, and long term effects on the young athlete and their family. …show more content…

Orthopedic surgeons and pediatricians are saying that injuries that once plagued only professional athletes -- shin splints, stress fractures, tendinitis -- are now commonly seen in high school athletes and even younger peers (Roberts 7). At such a young age kids are susceptible to growth plate injuries, which play a heavy impact on skeletal development. The growth plate is the area of growing tissue near the end of long bones in children and adolescents (Gregorian 4). The femur in the thigh and the humerus in the upper arm are two examples and each has a growth plate at both ends of the bone and the plates determine the future length and shape of the mature bone (Gregorian 4). If injuries plague the growth plate it may cause for the bone to become misshapen as they mature and effect the person later in life. There are a lot of injuries that can be associated with youth sports and the intensity of the game at such a young …show more content…

Some experts cite that the excessive cost of youth sports is driving families away or into debt and be a source for the decline in youth sports (Wallerson 5). Many parents don’t put their child into a sport at a young age only thinking about their future, but as time goes on and the athlete turns into a possible college recruit parents start to put the money in for camps, private lessons, and travel teams. Most of the time the money put into the sport doesn’t come back with a college scholarship. According to the NCAA, only 2 percent of high school athletes receive a college scholarship (Hutchens 11). Of the estimated 40 million youth athletes less than 1 percent will receive a college scholarship (Hutchens 11). So, unless the child is in that 2 percent that receive college scholarships, all the expenses that have been paid toward the sport could have been saved to pay for their college

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