Youth Sports Are Beneficial

Nearly every child, at one point or another in his young and impressionable life, has particiapated in sports. Whether it is a pick-up basketball game at a playground after school, or organized Little League, complete with ninety-foot bases and replicated major league uniforms, sports play an intricate part of the development and maturation of a youngster. Beneath it’s presumed purity, however, lies an occasionally seedy underbelly. Win-at-all cost coaches and tyrannical, overbearing parents have turned this innocent recreational activity into a nightmarish hell for some juvenile participants, and have left many wondering if sports is a helpful or a harmful stage in a child’s life.

Conventional wisdom tells us that the greatest rewards obtained by sport participation is how it enhances ones growth physically. A valid point, yes, but that cannot be the only reason. If so, how can you explain coaches and parents who take their amateur atheletes out for greasy pizza or fattening ice cream the minute after the last pitch is thr...

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...alty, teamwork, and sportsmanship, invaluable lessons that can forever be implemented in the real world. It also helps gives a child social skills that he cannot possibly learn by reading a book, or spending hours in the classroom. Parents and coaches are the only ones who can really mar a childs athletic experience. And as long they root for their child, not against the others, and do not let a child do what he does not want to do, everything will be okay. Sports are vital, something no kid should be without. Take it from someone who