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YOUTH IN SPORTS.
Term Paper ID:24954
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Essay Subject:
Examines positive & negative social, physical, psychological, emotional & educational effects of competitive sports.... More...
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8 Pages / 1800 Words
8 sources, 17 Citations,
APA Format
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Paper Abstract:
Examines positive & negative social, physical, psychological, emotional & educational effects of competitive sports.
Paper Introduction:
Society rarely questions the value of youth participation in sports. Many parents force their children to play sports, believing that such activity instills positive values like teamwork, cooperation, and sportsmanship. Mandatory participation in sports is a part of the physical education curriculum in most elementary schools. Yet sports participation can contribute to lowered self-esteem and aggressive, antisocial behavior in some children.
Competitive sports reflect society's value system. Since the United States, for the greater part of its history, has not felt the menace of foreign aggression and has no universal system of military training, sports fulfill the need to develop in youth the principles of offensive and defensive ability. Competition is based on struggle, the survival of the fittest: "Youth sports
Text of the Paper:
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Giamatti, B. Take time for paradise: Americans and theirgames. Student perceptions of physicaleducation. Sports do not foster positive social relationships becauseparticipation is so fraught with self-criticism: "The fact that one's self-assessment of athletic ability is directly related to one's subjectivefeeling of satisfaction from participation in sports has importantimplications for school physical education programs and communityrecreational sports programs" (Snyder and Spreitzer, 1992, p. Organized youth sportsexhibit all the trappings of professional sports: colorful team uniforms,the use of regular playing fields, and a highly competitive attitude.Excesses abound as parents become obsessed with scores, team rankings, andnational championships. One point of view is that physical education is so importantto a child's welfare that it should be required of all children: "Physicaleducation programs have a positive impact on students' cardiorespiratoryfitness, muscular strength, endurance, and flexibility. 344). children are 1 or 12years of age before they develop a mature understanding of the competitiveprocess and are able to accurately determine their competence" (p. In sports, children are encouraged to delight in thefailure of others while simultaneously emphasizing their own successes.Children become so conditioned to these responses that they are no longerable to engage in play for the joy of it; everything boils down to winningand losing. 3 ). 1 ). The psychological side is the child's own instincts andpowers which, combined with a knowledge of social conditions past andpresent, enables the child to make mental projections about societalfutures. (199 ). Yet sports participationcan contribute to lowered self-esteem and aggressive, antisocial behaviorin some children. The way the individual acts with othersand regards others are social relationships that determine his or heracceptance. Society rarely questions the value of youth participation in sports.Many parents force their children to play sports, believing that suchactivity instills positive values like teamwork, cooperation, andsportsmanship. Most Americans are socialized to accept the values of sportsunquestioningly. In a survey of 85 preservice teachers, Bowyer (1996) found that19 percent expressed negative feelings about their own childhoodexperiences in elementary school physical education programs: "studentsrecalled a number of inappropriate activities and teaching approaches" (p.23). Since the UnitedStates, for the greater part of its history, has not felt the menace offoreign aggression and has no universal system of military training, sportsfulfill the need to develop in youth the principles of offensive anddefensive ability. (1992). 18 ). To require children toparticipate in sports robs them of their freedom of choice and in somecases prevents them from other, more worthwhile, pursuits. Sports force children to compete against each other, and emphasis isplaced on the outcome of the game or activity. The opposing viewpoint is that physical educationis not as important as other traditionally required subjects because of itslack of intellectual content. . References Bowyer, G. Dewey (1972)believed that the educational process has both a psychological and asociological side. Such parents enroll their children in adult-managed youth programs like Little League Baseball and Pop Warner footballto experience the vicarious pleasure of winning. One team or individualwins, another loses. (199 ). Champaign, IL: HumanKinetics. Sports do little to help children learn social competencies becausehuman beings generally learn those things that interest them. Mandatory participation in sports is a part of the physicaleducation curriculum in most elementary schools. This can be especially demoralizingfor children with low sports skills. Sports heroes are afforded superhuman prestige and status. Whereas the objective of children at play is themastery of certain skills, the objective of children in sports is winningthrough the domination of others. 86). 3 (6). Rader, B. As Roberts (1992) notes, "It must also beremembered that competing is learned behavior . Granted, children must learn about themselves in relationship tosociety, but sports do not necessarily fulfill this function. 56). Thus the knowledge and skills that all children must learn arethose that train for full mental capacity, judgment, and executive forces:"the only possible adjustment which we can give to the child under existingconditions, is that which arises through putting him in complete possessionof all his powers" (Dewey, 1972, p. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance,Vol. Theyinhabit special worlds, self-contained cultures, in which intense pressuresare exerted by the public, coaches, and the media: "The cultic dimensionof sports--with the attendant fantacism of some fans, and the completeabsorption into the temple such that nothing else obtrudes or matters tomany athletes--is dangerous" (Giamatti, 199 , p. As Dewey (1972) puts it, "The interest is always the sign ofsome power below; the important thing is to discover this power" (p. This study indicates that schools must reevaluate their physicaleducation programs to, at minimum, ensure that the needs and interests ofall students are met. (December 1997). 65, No.1, p. Englewood Cliffs,NJ: Prentice Hall. 18 ). (March 1997). In Andrew Yiannakis and Susan Greendorfer(Eds.) Applied Sociology of Sport, pp. 18 ).Competition is learned through the parental and school socializationprocesses. American sports arehighly organized and commercial, the same elements that have rapidlyinfiltrated organized sports for children. Few, however, have acquired theability to express themselves in that language. The most important aspect of play is the element of freedom. As Dewey (1972) puts it,the good citizen must be a group participant, "he is stimulated to act as amember of a unity, to emerge from his original narrowness of action andfeeling and to conceive of himself from the standpoint of the welfare ofthe group to which he belongs" (p. Play is a voluntary activity whereas sports is often involuntary.Children play because it is instinctive; it serves to develop their bodilyfaculties and their powers of selection. For many, sports take on religious and patrioticovertones. Competitive sports reflect society's value system. (1992). An effectivephysical education program should encourage students to include regularexercise in their daily lives and maintain those activities into adulthood"(Sterne, 1997, p. Oneof the most frequent arguments given in favor of sports participation isthat it instills a sense of teamwork. and Rank, B. Sports encourage a wide range of negative behaviors in children.Participants are taught that winning is everything. This depends, however, upon whether the individual belongs to thegroup or is accepted by the group. Sports do little to promote emotional well-being in children becausepersonal happiness is dependent upon social adjustment or orientation. Children in competition: A theoreticalperspective and recommendations for practice. Competition is based on struggle, the survival of thefittest: "Youth sports has traditionally been viewed as an avenue forchanneling negative aggressive behavior into a positive, constructivedirection" (Ramsey and Rank, 1997, p. Sterne, L. Some children may feel that they can use the timeto better advantage by studying a subject of interest or merely resting.Children learn when they become personally involved with the subjectmatter; in other words, they learn when their self-interests arestimulated. (January 1996). Although studies on the longrange psychological effects of intensive, early training are inconclusive,prospective sports superstars inevitably cross a boundary, early in life,where sports are no longer played simply for fun; winning becomeseverything. Society also aspires to produce human beings who are good citizens, agoal that some experts believe is fulfilled with competitive sports. Should physical education be required forhome-schooled children? In modernsociety, a child who demonstrates aptitude in any sport is likely to bepushed in the direction of systematic training: "Those who aspired tonational or international competition in individual sports had to begin aspreadolescents, training three or four hours daily with careful supervisionby individual coaches" (Rader, 199 , p. It is doubtful, however,that good citizenship can be taught through sports in today's society:"with the decline of sportsmanship and fair play and the increased emphasisupon aggressive, win-at-all behaviors in sports, some question the value ofyouth sport participation" (Ramsey and Rank, 1997, p. In Andrew Yiannakis andSusan Greendorfer (Eds.) Applied Sociology of Sport, pp. Ifan individual is happy and satisfied in a group, he or she will do betterwork. Winning enhances self-esteem, losing has the exactopposite effect. Rethinking youth sports.Parks and Recreation, Volume 32, No. Even educators disagree about the merits of mandatory physicaleducation. 12, pp. 68, No. By the time most people graduatefrom institutions of higher education they have taken foreign languageclasses both in high school and college. Incontrast, the outcome of sports takes on a life of its own, often longafter the sporting event has ended. Infree activities, children are empowered to create their own imaginaryworlds and make up their own rules; sports, in contrast, are rule-bound.Play is a temporary activity that satisfies itself and ends there. Roberts, G. Most preadolescent youth are incapable of making decisions aboutparticipating in sports, and therefore neither parents nor educators shouldnot force them to do so. Nowhere is sports more ingrained in the socialization process than ineducation. This viewpoint is supported by the fact thatin most secondary schools, physical education is a non-academic subject,and frequently is offered with no credit, and sometimes as an electivesubject. Ramsey, G. Because society consists of diversegroups of individuals, citizens must be willing to join with others toeffect change through a collaborative process. Whereas play promotes relaxation, sports foster tension, notonly on the playing field but in the social setting in which memories ofthe sporting event linger. Noncooperative behaviors arecondoned, as children vie to become "star" athletes, thereby enhancingtheir esteem in the eyes of society: "Children in the age range ofapproximately five years of age through adolescence are going through astage in their cognitive development in which they utilize socialcomparison processes almost exclusively in order to judge their owncapabilities and self-worth" (Roberts, 1992, p. Parents and peers assume the roles of"Monday morning quarterbacks," berating the child for shortcomings real andimagined. Many parents pursue their own self-interests in forcing theirchildren to play sports. The objectives of children's play differ from the objectives ofparticipation in sports. 179-192.Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Success in competitivegames is based on athletic skill level, which places children with lowskill levels at a distinct disadvantage. 8 ). 3, p. 84). 3 ). Dewey, J. In other words, the good citizencares about his or her society and its future. Children sense their parents' reactions to their own andothers' successes and failures on the playing field. The early works of John Dewey, 1882-1898.Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press. But if a person developsan interest in traveling to the particular country where the foreignlanguage is spoken, he or she will acquire the language, based on theinterest. Fans are devoted to "their" teams and the outcomes of importantgames such as the Super Bowl, the World Series, and the NBA championship.Baseball, for example, is considered a national pastime, as American asapple pie: "Baseball is part of America's plot, part of America'smysterious, underlying design--the plot in which we all conspire andcollude, the plot of the story of our national life" (Giamatti, 199 , p.83). American sports, 2nd edition. Snyder, E. Children play because they enjoyplaying. New York: Summit. Patterns of adherence to aphysical conditioning program. 1 .----------------------- 1 An exampleis the acquisition of a foreign language. Parents force their children into rigorous after-schoolpractice regimes in tennis, track, gymnastics, figure skating, skiing, andswimming in hopes of developing the next child sports superstar. . By the time theyreach adolescence, children have undergone years of mandatory sportsparticipation in the schools in which they are ranked and grouped accordingto athletic ability. 71-85. When sports are forced on thechild a downward cycle of self-esteem occurs: "This child perceives lowsports competence and sees little opportunity to improve or to effect anychange so he or she drops out of the activity completely. Individual youth sports have likewise become a national obsession forsome parents due, in part, to media attention given to young Olympicscontenders. Children who are forced into sports will never reap thepositive benefits of participation because the experience is not connectedto their self-interests in a meaningful way. (1972). and Spreitzer, E. Journal of Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, Vol. This decisionmay be traumatic to the child and generate low confidence and low self-concept" (Roberts, 1992, p. 23(4). Physical education in the schools is concerned not only withthe physical development of the child but also with his or herpsychological and personality development, despite the fact that the placeof physical education in the curriculum has long been a point ofcontention. The veiled aim of many physicaleducation programs is to develop strength in the masses, which is necessaryfor the survival of the nation in times of war. 93).If a child is not interested in playing sports, he or she will lack themotivation to develop the skills to do so.
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