Madeline Salib 10/2/15
Mathias Per: 4
Winning Isn’t Everything The joy of playing games and sports are often a happy memory for both children and adults. We often believe that organized sports help improve the health of children, socialization and play a part in good character development. Even though many studies reveal a correlation with parents who support their children’s engagement in sports and the child’s appreciation and enjoyment in the activity, it is sadly becoming clear that kids’ sports aren’t for kids anymore because of parental over-involvement. They are often modeling bad sportsmanship, becoming more focused on winning than participation and teamwork, and are causing more youth sports injuries. Youth…show more content… “According to Dr. DeBardino, adolescent sport-related injuries are on the rise, so much that they have become a “silent epidemic”.” (Source C) Kids keep getting hurt so much because of sports and it’s becoming dangerous. Kids and Sports: How Much Is Too Much? Are kids being over-coached? maintains that “… they should not overuse growing and developing tendons and ligaments by overdoing it any sport that involves repetitive motion.” ( Source E) Growing children tendency to over use their growing muscles and ligaments may eventually cause them severe pain. Jay Atkinson writes in his article, How Parents Are Ruining Youth Sports, “Some kids are sick of playing, and some are sick of playing in pain.” A number of kids play seven days a week for hours and always seem to be so tired because of the pain. Youths continuously keep getting hurt because they do the same or similar sports year round and do not take breaks from the activity because their parents believe that this will help them excel in their chosen sport. This specialization on one sport is not showing the improvement in performance that might be