writing assignment

Writing an Effective Paragraph

Some parents are losing sight of why their children play sports—and that, to the

children, is what they are doing: “playing.” Many parents come to their child’s

practice or game with their own agenda of win, win, win at all costs. The team

winning, the points scored, who is the big scorer: these issues have replaced fun

and sportsmanship for these parents. According to Sachs (2000), “These parents

expect perfection from their children, the coaches and the referees” (p. 62).

Playing sports is no longer for the kids. Maybe Mom or Dad were promising

athletes in their youth and for one reason or another were robbed of their hopes

and are pinning all of their own wants, needs, wishes, and “what ifs” on their

child or children (Kehe, 2000). The major problem seems to be that these parents

are not considering what the children want. According to a “Kidthink” survey

conducted by Jerry Kirshenbaum (1993) for Sports Illustrated, the kids want

things like “unlimited free throws until they miss in basketball, everyone having a

turn to play, less violence in hockey, using their hands in soccer, and to have

fun” (p. 12). Perhaps the parents should listen to the children on this issue.

Topic Sentence: This sentence identifies the main purpose of the paragraph. This

sentence will share a summary of what you plan to cover in the paragraph. Normally the

topic sentence is the first sentence in a paragraph. However, in some cases, it can be in

other places. For the purposes of writing the paragraph for this unit, try setting up the

paragraph with the topic sentence as the first sentence of the paragraph.

Supporting Details: These details should support and connect directly with the main

idea of the paragraph. These sentences (usually 3-5 sentences) should develop the

main idea to clearly explain the information adequately.

Concluding Sentence: This is the last sentence in the paragraph which restates the

main idea. This sentence should be written differently than the topic sentence but still

restate the main idea of the paragraph.