For my research question, I would like to explore the impact of participating in sports on children and adolescents. I believe it is important for parents and guardians to be aware of the possible effects of sports participation on their children in order to make an informed decision on whether joining the sporting world is right for their child or not. Personally, I believe participating in sports is very beneficial because it teaches children many lessons such as working well with others, the importance of sportsmanship, how to handle losing, and many other things. I am interested in researching this topic because I participated in sports from a young age until I was about twelve; after that I gave it up in order to be a member of my sports medicine club at my high school. Through that role I was able to view the impact of sports on people about my age compared to those who were not participating. I believe through my involvement in sports during my lifetime, as well as the research I have gathered I will be able to effectively argue this topic.

In the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, multiple authors executed a study where they followed a group of people from birth to the age of 14 and then to the age of 31 to gauge their athletic activity. At ages 14 and 31, the authors sent out surveys to every person in their study to get an idea of their participation in athletic activities. The surveys showed that those who were generally athletic at the age of 14 were also athletic into adulthood at the age of 31. This shows that participation in physical activity at a young age carries over into adulthood, helping people to lead a continually healthy lifestyle. The interests brought into question for this article include how physical activity during adolescence affects physical activity during adulthood. This is important because physical activity is essential for adults to stay healthy. This experiment is also very credible due to the fact that it was put into the American Journal of Preventative Medicine, a database of articles focused on research and information about health and health related topics.

In the Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine, multiple authors executed an experiment at a school in western Michigan where they studied several sixth graders' academic scores compared to their time and extent of physical activity during physical education. The experiment was voluntary and included 214 students. The results showed that students that met or exceeded the Healthy People 2010 guidelines discussed in the authors' introduction, had higher academic scores compared to those who did not. This article makes readers think about the value of physical education in schools and why it is necessary. The article seems credible due to the fact that it comes from the Official Journal of the American College of Sports Medicine and the authors used an abundant amount of references to support their claims.

In the American Academy of Pediatrics, Dr. Murphy and Dr. Carbone wrote an article along with the Council on Children with Disabilities to explain the positive impact participation in sports can have for children with disabilities. The article explains how pediatricians should know the benefits of participation in sports in order to accurately direct parents of children with disabilities. The interest that is brought to attention for this article is how to help children with disabilities. The article has an abundant amount of information to explain the advantages of participation in sports for children with disabilities and can be trusted due to its source in the American Academy of Pediatrics.

The impact of participation in adolescent sports is arguable due to the fact that some people do not believe children should participate in sports and that they should be a part of other extracurricular activities. On the other hand some people, myself included, believe sports are an important part of a child's adolescence. Most of the sources I have found agree with my claim and explain the positive effects of sports for children. Some of the articles even bring a different view point to support my claim that I would have never thought about including the article from the American Academy of Pediatrics about the benefits of sports participation for children with disabilities. After researching more extensively into my topic, I believe it would benefit me to revise my research question to be more geared toward the impact of sports and physical activity in children. In addition, I might include not only how the activity impacts the child firsthand but also how it affects the child as they move into adulthood.

