Revision Essays

Running head: ESSAY ASSIGNMENT

ESSAY ASSIGNMENT 2

Essay Assignment

Abdullah Alnasser

Barton County Community College

21st November 2014

Summary

In the article, “Children Need to Play, Not Compete”, the writer insists that organized competitive sports that are usually played to adults’ standards such as Pewee Football and Little League Baseball are not appropriate for children between ages six and twelve. These sports have contrary effect in developing both fans and future players of the sports. There are two main dangers of these sports to the children discussed in the article: physical and mental.

The first danger of these highly competitive sports is that they force the children into aggressive and bad physical action that can cause harm to their growing bodies. An example is a twelve year old attempting to throw a curve ball. The child whose arm and shoulder muscles are still developing may obtain an unusual strain in the area. Other aggressive contact sports can cause physical harm such as tackle football which mainly involves slamming into each other and such young children are not yet fit for such kind of sport activities.

The second danger is mental issues. The article stipulates that children who take part in organized sports cannot enjoy them. This is because the children are in continued pressure by parents and coaches who are overzealous who want to win. This children fear disapproval and failure to these people who are significant in the children’s life. This fear also causes some physically talented players to avoid playing because they cannot develop the self-esteem to do so in those conditions. Also, sports which require strong attacks such as football deprive children of enjoying the sport as they are in constant anxiety of getting hurt while playing (Coakley, 1982).

Additionally, the author is not only concerned of the children playing the competitive sports but of the parents’ and coaches’ attitudes towards the sports. They do not consider the sports as educational opportunities for the children at their young age but place higher value on winning. The article reports cases of the coaches screaming at the children and the opposing parents threatening each other in unacceptable ways. However, this should not be the case and parents and coaches need to be educated on how to support the children so that they can enjoy the sports designed for their needs and abilities. An example given is of a workshop for coaches where they are taught how to control their emotions in the hope of reducing the amount of screaming in training sessions and learn how to make training fun, effective and considerate to the young children’s fears and emotional frailties.

Response

Even though I strongly agree that that coaches and parents need to learn how to support and instruct children appropriately, I believe that small children should still continue playing competitive sports. With the corporation of the schools, coaches, parents, children and the whole community at large, it will be possible to bring back the fun and relevance of competitive sports to young children without drastically setting aside the whole sport.

When I was young, at ten years old, our hometown played three major sports; baseball, judo and soccer in elementary school. These sports were competitive with the aim of winning first prize in the inter-school championship. Children had to compete among themselves in order to get starting positions. However, most of my friends enjoyed these sports and most continued to play even after graduating from elementary school. The reason why the sports were enjoyable was because the instructors understood that it was important to keep the interest of the children alive. For example in soccer where I was a player, the coach kept reminding us soccer is fun and made practice sessions enjoyable. The more the players became interested, the more the desire to learn more skills and do more practice. The players did not need pushing to attend practice but attended every day on time. Soccer players were usually particularly energetic and filled with self-confidence. We enjoyed the sport together even though our individual abilities were varied. Very few parents placed high value winning and most seemed just happy to see their children make much effort on something. In high school, the soccer practice was remote from enjoyment and tough. We practiced hard over fundamentals and boring sessions. Consequently, most players did not like the sport and had very low morale. However, since I already knew soccer is interesting, I was able to overcome and endure the boring and hard practice knowing the importance of fundamentals as a necessity to enjoying soccer.

Therefore, it is evident that the coaches and instructors influence the level of motivation in the children a lot. Their attitude goes a long way to influence the way the players view the sport. Most of the challenges imposed by the article concerning the harmful effects of organized sports can be dealt with by the coaches; especially psychological effects. The coaches can make the training sessions more considerate on young children and make the sport more fun and efficient at the same time (Bloch, 1990).

Parents should also be involved by showing support to their children not adding more pressure for them to perform. They should be supportive and encouraging on their children who are involved in competitive sports. Parents are at a better position to notice any psychological frailties of their child and immediately work towards tackling the issue.

In conclusion, I believe the problem is not in playing of the competitive sport itself but how the sport is conducted and how the children playing are instructed and supported. If children can be supported well, competitive sports can teach them the importance of making efforts, cooperating with teammates and enjoying the sport.

References

Coakley, Jay (1982). Spoff in Society: issues and Controversies. St. Louis

Bloch, Gordon (1990). Thrill of Victory is Secondary to Fun. New York Times