Sports are the majority of America’s pastime. Saturdays and Sundays are now filled with watching games on the tv or sitting in the stands twirling a towel whether supporting a professional team, high school event, or organized club sport. The number of athletes at the college and professional level is very high but the number of kids participating in sports is even higher. Only a select amount of people are given the gift of playing at a higher level. According to the NCAA, there is nearly 480,000 athletes in the NCAA and close to 8 million high school athletes (NCAA). Parents nowadays are signing their children up starting at the age of 3 to participate in organized sports teams. Children ranging from the ages of three to eighteen are becoming fully involved in one or more sport whether it is a sport such as football, soccer, or any other sport. ESPN released information stating, that in 2011 there was 21.5 million kids participating in sports between the ages of 6 to 17 (Kelley). With this number being so high there has become a sense of importance that these sports have created. There are many reasons that sports benefit a child’s life. The sports offer multiple physical benefits and can increase the lifestyle of the child past their adolescence. Psychological benefits of sports help the child build up their self-esteem and confidence in themselves. Sports also offer an abundance of life skills and characteristics which can help with success in the future as well as building their character during the participation of the sport.

There are many benefits to playing sports at a young age but the biggest is the physical benefits that come from them. The CDC states that, “Children and adolescents should do 60 minutes (1 hour) or more of physical activity each day” (CDC). These activities could range from being aerobic exercises which the majority include running or brisk walking. Some sports that fall under this category are flag football, soccer, or tennis. Most sports are considered this category of being aerobic because they require some amount of running and sprints. Muscle strength is another category that consists of using the child’s own body weight to strengthen the muscles. This includes gymnastics and cheerleading mainly because the exercises and activities include flipping and the pulling up of their own body weight. There are also bone strengthening sports such as basketball, volleyball, and tennis. These sports require a lot of jumping and side to side motions which is weight bearing resulting in the building of new tissue which strengthens the bones. Livestrong released an article about youth sports relating to bone strength and furthermore the article states, “While approximately 25 percent of men will fracture a bone during their senior’s years, half of all women will, according to the National Osteoporosis Foundation. The Women's Sports Foundation recommends that teen girls participate in sports to help prevent osteoporosis later in life” (Edmunds). Overall, kids that participate in sports are helping their physical health for the future and are helping strengthen their bodies in different ways.

Sports in youth also help the body in other ways as well. With the increase of obesity in America, starting healthy habits at a younger age help the child develop into a healthy adult. The causes of obesity comes down to lack of exercise and a poor diet. Obesity also creates bigger issues like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, and increase risk for diseases like diabetes. These cardiovascular issues can help be avoided by exercise and sports. When participating in physical activity such as sports the fat gets burned and calories get burned as well. Keeping weight off as a child keeps the heart stay ahead of the game to remain healthy longer.  Livestrong says that “Regular aerobic exercise can raise high-density lipoproteins, or your body's ‘good’ cholesterol” (Edmunds). If kids participate in sports starting young they will be creating good cholesterol for their bodies. Cholesterol is a fatty substance that cannot be dissolved in water and also is hard to transport through the blood. Keeping the bad cholesterol under control is vital to allow our bodies to keep blood flowing. If the bad cholesterol gets built up in the arteries and veins it can cause a clot which causes a stroke or heart attack to occur. So as a result, playing sports at a young age can help to maintain the good cholesterol in the body creating a healthy pathway for blood to move freely.  Another way playing sports can help keep the heart stay healthy is by lowering hypertension or high blood pressure. According to the Mayo Clinic “Regular physical activity makes your heart stronger. A stronger heart can pump more blood with less effort. If your heart can work less to pump, the force on your arteries decreases, lowering your blood pressure” (Mayo Clinic). Overall this will help the blood circulation throughout the body and help keep the strain off of the arteries. Having children participate in sports will help them avoid obesity and the cardiovascular issues that are related to obesity in the future.

Children in sports are also exposed to many different situations that shape them psychologically. Sports and exercise have the ability to create a sense of well-being and improve the quality of someone’s life. Sports also can change the mood and the emotions of people. Playing sports with a team of people that you are close with helps you feel like you belong and are liked which helps boost the self-esteem of the athletes as well. I have played competitive soccer for 10 years of my life. I have played traveling club soccer with girls from all different high schools along with playing for my high school team right down the road. No matter what my day was like, whether I failed a test or had a really rough day with my parents or whatever the case would be when I went to practice my mood would change drastically. When I was there practicing it took my mind off of everything that had happened that day and when it was over I felt rejuvenated and fresh. A Ted-Ed video explains why so many athletes feel this way after playing sports. And the reason is that when we work out and exercise our bodies release a bunch of hormones like endorphins. These hormones overall can sharpen your focus and increase your mood and memory (Ted-Ed). Endorphins are the hormones that are natural for your body that make you feel good. Consequently, this also has the ability to also relieve stress and reduce the risk of depression. 

Sports also help athletes be an overall better person in the community and society. Sports teach the children valuable life lessons like how to work together with others to reach a common goal and how to respect others in the process. The athletes learn how to be good leaders and listeners and that even if they are not the captain of the team they can still be leader. Setting a good example for others to follow by being respectful, honest, and truthful. Supporting their teammates in time of need whether on or off the field, making them dependable to others. Sports also help the child build sportsmanship by accepting the times of defeat and not to flaunt the wins. The President of the Little Leagues International released the notices and observations he had seen while watching the players of the Little League. He stated that, “While striving to win, children learn about teamwork, leadership and sportsmanship, all of which can contribute to their development as solid citizens. In organized team sports, children work together to accomplish a task and learn from their mistakes. These lessons directly translate into the classroom and beyond” (Keener). The development of these traits will translate into other aspects of their lives and can easily be used in society. The use of these traits in the classroom will also help the learning experience as well. The student athlete can be a leader in the classroom by leading a group project and can make everyone feel like they belong by valuing their ideas. Being honest by not cheating or collaborating when not allowed to. Being a role model in the school and being someone in class that being enjoy being around. The traits that are used on the court or field can easily be transferred to other aspects of their lives.

There is a correlation in student athletes performing better in the classroom and on test as well. “High school athletes earned higher grades, graduated at a higher rate, dropped out of school less frequently, and scored higher on state assessments than did non-athletes” (Lumpkin). The reasoning behind this could be affected by student athletes being required to hold a certain GPA during the season to be able to participate. This is an incentive for the athlete to keep their grades up so they are eligible to play and not have to sit out of games and matches. In order to get good grades this means they have to be organized and have good time management skills in order to balance sports and academics. Making time to study and meet with teacher to get extra help. This time spent on keeping the grades up is also boosting test scores of the student because they are trying to be better learners. Another incentive that pushes the athlete to keep their grades up and to stay in school is to be looked at by schools to play for their sports team. In order to go to play at the collegiate level the grades and test scores also have to be good. 

The benefit of exercise is also good for the brain in ways of memory. The hippocampus is the main part of the brain that is responsive during exercise but the hippocampus is also the part of the brain responsible for memory. Since these two are related then when an athlete is participating in physical activity the memory of the brain is being stimulated and the more you use the hippocampus the less breakdown occurs resulting in the memory not being broken down and destroyed due to no use. The memory then helps during academics as well. The better memory a student has the better they will be able to recall information in school and testing. 

Playing sports at a young age also has perks in the future after high school and college sports. An article from The New York Times discusses the benefits that sports brings after all is said and done. “Those lessons presumably help to account for the findings that people who played for a varsity high school team tend to earn relatively higher salaries later in life. Research to which I contributed, complementing previous studies, showed that people who played high school sports tend to get better jobs, with better pay, and that those benefits last a lifetime” (Kniffen). This comes down to the personality and characteristics that the athlete acquired over time. Leadership qualities are more desirable when looking for a future coworker. Being able to work in a team environment translates into the workplace when working with colleagues and on team projects and proposals. Sports also teach time management which is used all the time in workplaces no matter what job you have. Having the ability to use your time wisely and manage schedules can be hectic but that is something that athletes do in balancing sports and schools. The ability to have self-control and discipline and being able to handle yourself in a positive way when problems arise is important because not everyone gets along but it is about how you handle the situation and having the ability to work around people’s differences.

With all the benefits sports brings you there is always the negative sides of things. Sports bring many benefits but when not handling things correctly things can go wrong. USA Today released statistics related to youth sports injuries and the stated that, “Occasional bumps and bruises are expected when kids play sports, but for more than 1.35 million children last year a sports-related injury was severe enough to send them to a hospital emergency department” (Healy). The issue of injuries in sports is common among all ages. There are injuries related to different things like injuries to the bones and muscles or the the nervous system, including the brain and spinal cord. The most common injuries are strains, sprains, fractures, and bruises. These injuries cannot just completely go away either nor can they be avoided. A common injury is overuse. Overuse injuries often occur when the same motions and muscles are being used over and over again until the point that they become damaged. This type of injury can also occur from returning back to play before the body is ready. These injuries can easily be avoided by simple steps. The first one is to put kids into multiple sports. That way the child is using different muscles and movements so the body is not overusing certain muscles. A sports medicine surgeons article discusses sports injuries and provided information on prevention of overuse and rules on returning to play, “In general, you should not increase your training program or activity more than 10 percent per week. This allows your body adequate time for recovery and response. This rule also applies to increasing pace or mileage for walkers and runners, as well as to the amount of weight added in strength training programs” (Mavata). Along with monitoring return rate, stretching and warming up of the muscles helps prevent muscle injuries as well. Stretching everyday will increase flexibility which helps the muscles to reach full potential as well.

Another issue in kids sports today is the increase in the number of concussions in youth. Concussions are caused by extreme blows to the head which causes the brain to violently shake. The statistics are larger than most people realize, “more than 60 percent of all teenage athletes will experience some type of concussive injury” (Faure). Even mild concussions can have lasting impacts and multiple concussions can build up creating even bigger issues. Prevention of concussions needs to be stricter in order to lower the statistics and make sports safer for all ages. A big thing is making sure that the coaches encourage the kids to respect the rules of the game and pay safe. Coaches need to encourage good sportsmanship to decrease the amount of unnecessary hits and tackles. Coaches and players also need to make sure they are wearing the proper equipment for the sport including during practice. Some concussions often occur during the time of practice. The use of concussion baseline testing also needs to be used in order to help create a guideline to the athlete’s recovery to determine when they can return to play.

There are pros and cons to every situation. Youth sports bring a variety of good to the individual at the time the sports are being played and years after. The health benefits are astounding and bring a good sense of well-being to the child. Playing sports also creates a well-rounded individual and shows them life lessons to live by every single day. Sports set children up for a successful future and a healthy lifestyle. There are risks to every situation but most of the times the good outweighs the bad and in this situation, this is true. Sports offer more benefits and kids should participate in sports in order to be a well-rounded human being. 
