Competitive Sports at an Early Age :: essays research papers

Name Subject Date Should Children Participate in Competitive Sports at an Early Age? Many American p bents manage to answer the puzzling question of what the appropriate age children should start to infix in competitive sports. A subject like this is puzzling because there are many issues that must be addressed, because it is controversial. Some American parents push their children too far, too young. The average American child usually will start to participate actively in competitive sports between the ages of sextuplet and twelve and can be unhealthy to a childs development (CWG 131). The question at what age a child should start, has a different answer for each individual child. Parents often fail to realize that their child may not be physically ready for competitive sports, even though the child is ready. I believe that a child should participate in sports only if he is lacking(p) too participate and is not pushed by their parents. Every parent has a different way of lookin g at, if their child is ready to start. If a six year little boy wanted to start playing football, the child may not be fully capable of handling such strength and emphasis that might cause a life long injury (Koppett 294). Some parents may think he is ready, but is probably not. Determining whether or not a child is ready for competitiv e sports can sometimes be difficult to answer, because to determine if they are ready a child must be mentally ready also. Sports not only take physical strength, but a child must have psychological capacity to get them through and through such strenuous activity. A child may sometimes become stimulate when participating in sports. For example, A mother of an eight-year-old Peewee Football pseudo explained, "The kids get so scared. They get hit once and they dont want anything to do with football anymore. Theyll sit on the bench and pretend their degree hurts"(qtd. In Tosched A32). This quote is a true statement because if a six-year-ol d child is playing peewee football with an eight-year-old, the eight-year old is a lot bigger that the six year old is and he could cause physical hurt to the six-year-olds tiny body. The psychological part of the story would be that the child would be so scared that he might get hurt which causes physical hurt as well as mental hurt and may scar the child for the outride of their life, when that child could of been the next pro- football player of the next century.