Youth sport participation gives children the vision of a path that leads to a bright and successful future.   When do children have the opportunities to learn and practice life lessons and morals, such as learning how to lose?  How does one keep their child from being inactive, and becoming obese?  The answer to both questions is through youth sport participation.  The interaction among teammates gives young people a chance to find out who they are.  Some of our youth are very good scientists, some are exceptional mathematicians, but communities tend to forget about those with extraordinary athletic ability.  Society should strive to give as much effort in teaching math as in youth sports because of the positive effects a simple team sport can have on a child.  From the big apple, New York City to the small town of Chesterfield, South Carolina people in communities must realize that without youth sports, our children are not being prepared to the best and fullest ways possible.  Communities SHOULD promote youth sport participation because a healthy lifestyle will be maintained, children learn valuable life lessons and morals, and children learn how to face challenges through competition, just like they will have to do in their lives.

Young people in today’s generation need all the assistance and guidance that they can get.  Communities should have the children in the respective area’s best interest at heart and mind.  Children go to school five days of the seven day week and receive approximately 40 minutes of Physical Education class time per week.  That is not enough physical activity to counter the huge role the fun technology plays in keeping our youth from participating in sport activities.  The game consoles such as PlayStation, Wii, and Xbox are keeping the kids inside in the air conditioning sitting on the couch. The rising interest and use of technology make it an even harder challenge to steer our children towards more active life choices rather than sitting around drinking a Mountain Dew and playing on a game console.  A New Zealand study conducted in 2006 suggested participating in physical exercise before and during the onset of puberty helps reach peak bone mass, enabling them to develop stronger muscles and bones that will be the foundation for future growth (Health Fitness Revolution).  Along with maintaining weight, the youth playing sports will be able to maintain a healthy mind.  Communities must reach out and make changes in their individual areas before it can reach a larger level.  City and town government officials must talk among the parents and others in their respective areas about getting their children involved in the much needed, youth sporting activities.  Active communities are safer communities.  

Youth sports are a great way to make sure that we begin building the active communities.  The adults in which need to be promoting these activities are the generally inactive group that the children need to try and not be like.  Over one in three adult Americans are obese (Carroll, Flegal, Fryar, Ogden).  With the additions of these youth activities in young people’s lives, healthy lifestyle foundations are grounded.  Sports such as, youth soccer, basketball, baseball, and volleyball are just a select few of the potential sports that the young kids can participate in.  Depending on the climate in the area, sports such as swimming and diving and skiing could even be participated in.  

Why do children not want to participate in these sports?  Researchers found that the top five reasons for stopping were “loss of interest,” “not having fun,” “too much time required,” “coach was a poor teacher,” and “too much pressure” (Perkins).  The job of the communities is to change the environment in which the sports occur and make sure the kids are learning and having the best experience possible.  It is easy to get a group of children to come together and play a sport, but the challenge is to get that same group of children and give them a life changing experience that’s fun and reasonable.  Kids will not lose interest and will not stop having a good time in the sports they are playing in as long as the activity they are participating in remains fun and enjoyable.  Those things will only happen when the wrong mindsets are put in their minds.  Communities must make sure the appropriate coaches are in place to lead these youth sports.  Certification for coaches such as South Carolina Youth Soccer certification which is affiliated with USSF (United States Soccer Federation), should be acquired by all youth coaches to ensure appropriate coaching.  Coaches must understand the age appropriate coaching that should take place at this level.  Winning is great, but at this age a “win first” attitude is not the most acceptable choice of a coaching goal and it could be harmful towards the kids’ development of the sport skills.  It is the community’s obligation to put these coaches in place and it is also their obligation to make sure the children participating in these sports are competing in fun and safe environments.

Every day a human being takes on a challenge, a competition.  Whether one is competing with another person to outdo the other or is a having a personal or psychological competition with themselves, the challenge must be overcome.  Examples like, college aged students competing for the girl that some other guy likes, or the middle-aged businessman competing with coworkers to get the promotion, are two situations that occur regularly.  The point here is that every day some sort of competition is going to occur, and one must know how to handle the situation properly.  Not every young child has great success in the classroom and because one may not be as intelligent they will have no desire to compete to be better.  Youth sports gives the kids who may not be as skilled in the classroom an opportunity to practice the act of competition.  Just because a kid can compete in the classroom does not limit them to compete on the playing fields, and courts, but rather it gives them the doubled opportunity to compete with others through youth sports.  Competition teaches us to take risks. Once we realize that competition is not a terrifying thing, we can take risks. We can develop our confidence to do things that are hard or uncomfortable (Josephson).  One must be prepared to take on daily competition regularly and from the experiences learned while participating in sports the kids will be ready to just that.

Learning how to compete is extremely important for young adolescents as the reader can see stated above, but it is the communities job to make sure they are being taught how to compete in the correct manner.  During competition, there will be a mixture of good times hard times.  Winning is a great feeling and everyone loves to win.  Winning feels so great and is so fun because it is very easy to keep your head up and be prideful when you are on top.  What the community must do is make sure the kids are being taught how to win the right way, with class.  Children must be taught to show respect to the losing team, respect their effort, and shake their hand like grown men and women should do.  Along with winning, comes losing and it is much harder to deal with for everyone.  The communities must teach the youth that losing is a part of life.  A strong emphasis on, “you win some and you lose some,” should be taught to all children because life is hard, and they must know how to respond and bounce back from a loss or during tough times.  The actions that one takes after losing during a competition or challenge should be the same when one loses as when one wins.  Helpful lessons can be learned from this competitive atmosphere like, never fearing an opponent or a challenge, but respecting every opponent and / or challenge because one must never become complacent or become boastful in life either. Communities must make the changes so that youth are prepared to lose and win properly during the sports as well as when they go through future life challenges. 

Communities must do as much as possible to raise the most charismatic, disciplined, and committed youth as possible.  Merriam-Webster Online dictionary defines character as: “moral excellence and firmness,” which one should strive to show every day.  When a businessman wants to get to know the person that they about to begin working with, many would take them to play a round of golf.  The opportunities to see what kind of person someone is during sport are great because you get to see how one responds to good things and bad things (good and bad shots) during the round of golf.  Through sports, children experience opportunities to practice showing their character often.  Situationally, a youth baseball player is struck out three times in a row by the opposing pitcher; both players have the opportunity to show their character.  Does the pitcher point, laugh or talk junk to the kid who struck out?  Does the batter get mad and throw his bat, does he gesture at the pitcher as he walks back to the dugout?  Communities can make sure that none of that occurs.  The youth athletes will respect the opposing players and will show class because of the behavioral skills learned through youth sport participation.  One’s character is more important than how good you are at the sport, and one’s athleticism is only temporary, but your character lasts forever.  Research has demonstrated that when fair play, sportsmanship and moral development information is systematically and consistently taught to children in sport and physical education settings, character can be enhanced (Gould and Hedstrom). Character building will be present, and the game will be played in the right way.  

Discipline and commitment through youth sports are much needed.  A committed player is generally a disciplined player.  One that cares so little about their team that they cannot cooperate and listen to instruction they need to be retaught how to be disciplined properly.  It could be possible that the child has never been disciplined, and that is what leads to the behavior. There is no doubt that a coach’s attitude will rub off on his or her athletes. In the lead-up to an event, if a coach makes disrespectful comments or belittles or mocks an opponent as a tactic to somehow “motivate” his or her athletes, the coach is giving their permission for the athletes to act in this way as well (Wensor).  Communities must strictly follow an intent to teach approach rather than a punishment style approach.  Preach commitment to the youth athletes.  Commitment can be shown in multiple different ways like showing up to practice on time, being a team player, and following the team goals.  Communities should focus on the organization of the youth sports and have set calendar schedules given to players and parents.  Doing so, missing practices and tardiness should not be a regular occurrence, and if it does occur lack of commitment will be visible.  If being late continues to occur, then the player should be disciplined.  It should be disciplined in a way designed to teach them not to punish them.  Communities have the job of organizing and making sure that commitment to the team is the easiest thing to do.  Give them the time to be there and make it reasonable.   Howie Long said it best, “Sports ideally teach discipline and commitment. They challenge you and build character for everything you do in life.”

Some people believe that sports for our children are not something that society should promote.  Communities do not want their children in an unsafe environment, think that sports will take away from school work, and that it costs too much money.  The job of the community is to create the safest environment for competition to occur.  The ways that the community can get kids to play these sport games is to put money into facilities, coaches, and leaders to improve the playing experience.  When things are done the right way and coaches teacher proper form then injuries will be at much less risk.  Charles Basch of Columbia University said after research, “Drop-out rates were lower for youth who consistently participated in interscholastic sports,” and Active Living Research says, “In some cases, more time in physical education leads to improved grades and standardized test scores,” further giving more researched evidence that youth sports positively affect academics (Spark).  Along with these reasons, many people in communities believe that sports for adolescents are too expensive.  There are certain sports organizations for youth to play that do charge a lot of money, but communities also offer potential opportunities for kids to play at a cheaper rate.  Youth basketball at the YMCA in Columbia South Carolina that lasts from January through March costs are 45 dollars for member and 75 dollars for nonmembers.  Worst case scenario, parents in communities will be paying 25 dollars out of their pay check a month.  Although some efforts have been made to standardize curricula, provide training for coaches, and contain or prevent inappropriate parent behaviors, few efforts have been directed at investigating the self-described needs and concerns of the coaches from their perspectives (Wiersma).  Children can respond negatively to the sport that they are participating in because of the way the coach coaches or acts.  Communities must find the right people to lead youth sport organizations.  If a community can find someone who cares about and is passionate about helping our children to develop and grow into exceptional people, they will make sure the kids participating are successful.  Communities do not need to listen to the negative mindsets from the adults that think that youth sports are unsafe and that they negatively affect kids’ lives.  Get as many children participating in youth athletics as possible because the kid will be more prepared to take on the crazy world one lives in today.  

In conclusion, there is a challenge in balancing the positive and negative impact sports tends to have on youth, so that maximum benefits can be produced. Sports and recreation should be a fundamental part of children’s lives.  With supportive adults, peers, and interests, youth can form an identity through sport.  Despite signs pointing negatively in the youth sports culture communities can still turn things around and get children out of the house and participating in youth sports.  The youth will continue to do what they are doing until sports becoming the prominent choice again.  It’s the communities job to provide youth with fun, safe playing environment with appropriate leadership, mentoring, and coaching.  Through youth sport participation, the bright path to the future, previously stated, can be paved.  A healthy lifestyle will be maintained, children will learn valuable life lessons and morals, and children will learn how to face challenges through competition, just like they will have to do in their lives because of the efforts of the community to get children participating in youth sports.