Recently there has been an increased focus on teenagers and students who lack motivation, suffer from depression, and who are misplaced in our society. For me, sports and activity have always been a way to step away from these problems. Soccer brings my focus away from school problems, girl problems, and family issues. It has also helped me to grow personally and give my life structure. For these reasons, this topic means a lot to me. It has helped my life a lot, and I know it can help the lives others as well. That does not mean, though, that there is not a negative side to sports; I have seen both bright and dark sides in my own experience. However, after analyzing my own involvement and doing extensive research on the topic, I have concluded that the pros outweigh the cons. Therefore, my view is that children should be involved with sports in order to promote mental health, personal growth, and life structure.  

I am a 20-year-old male student that has played sports my whole life. I have played, and still continued to play soccer. I also participated in track and field and Badminton. Even though the sports were different, they gave me the same joy and helped me acquire a lot of the same skills.  I know for a fact that without sport and exercise, my life would not have been as fulfilling as it is today. I would not have the same experiences, life skills, or attitude without sports. I want to show this to others, how much sport and general activity can improve everyone's lives. With my life filled with sport, I know how it has affected me, both good and bad. When researching this topic, I found that a lot of my experiences showed up in research statistics as well.  

For example, in "Can Sport and Physical Activity Promote Young Peoples' Psychosocial Health?" from the journal of the Norwegian Medical Association, the author Ommundsen reveals the research on how sports affects physical activity and promotes psychosocial health. Ommundsen explains that the results of the research supports, with reasonable certainty, that physical activity and sports can promote children's and teenager's self-esteem. This research is provided by "Tidskrift for Den norske legeforening", (journal of the Norwegian Medical Association), which is the Norwegian Medical Association's own channel to publish their research. This means that the information is fully reliable, due to its strong ethos. The author's interest is to provide a secure source of reliable information that brings the newest research to the topic.  

On the contrary, "The Rising Costs of Youth Sports, in Money and Emotion" from the New York Times, discusses the costs of youth sport, both in terms of dollars spent, and in emotions for the youth athletes. Author Paul Sullivan discusses the topic with former professional athletes, who explain that there is an enormous amount of money spent by parents their children's sports involvements, thus an investment for potential scholarship or jobs. Sullivan wants to highlight this issue, and explain that the amount of money spent on sports does not justify the risk and the low possibility for success. 

Likewise, a Washington Post article written by Michael Rosenwald makes the statement that parents are ruining the youth sport.  He says that the sports are getting so serious that children lose interest, thus today there is a decreasing amount of youth athletes in America.  The focus on talent and specialization is caused by parents driven on status and the pursuit of scholarships, according to Rosenwald.  Due to this simple generalization for such a complex and advanced topic, the credibility of this article is questionable. The article is biased rather than academic, and the reader has to treat to that matter. Washington Post is a reliable source, meaning that the article itself, is well-written, even though it is biased.  

I was fully aware of the negatives concerning sport in youth, though it must be said, that the negatives were only Dr. Murphy points, and not statistically proven with rates and frequency. The True Sport report confirmed my assumptions about the effects of sport in youth, though the information provided showed a bigger effect that I assumed.   Right now, I am mostly focused on the positives of youth sports, though to further revise my research question I might choose to focus on how the sport system can improve to better provide help to teenagers. Where the school vs Club question becomes essential.  This is a more specific topic that can bring up actions instead of only discussing facts and information. 


