DISers...I need your opinions

[Megster]

Hi guys! I'm writing a paper for my english class about kids sports. I need to know whether you think they're a good idea and why or why not.

So far I'm trying to focus on the negative aspects of them, so if you have specific examples about why you think they can be detremental that would be great. Thank you so much!!!

 

[noseybuddy]

Well when my son was five I signed him up for street hockey. So at that age they have games but who wins or loses doesn't mean that much. Well these parents would stand there and scream "Get him Johnny, push him into the boards, yeah you get em" I wish you could hear the tone in which they screamed it. It wasn't nice. More scary than anything. It was terrible, these kids were 5 yrs old. Well, we never went back.

 

[Christine]

In general, I believe sports are great. The negative side of sports is the extreme competitiveness exhibited by some people. I think that attitude can have a negative impact on people who like sports for pleasure but necessary and their prime goal in life. I think it drives a lot of people away from them.

 

[disneysteve]

I'm a family practice physician and take care of lots of kids and teens. I frequently see kids for sports-related injuries. I feel many of these injuries develop as a result of overuse. For example, the high school football team practices 3 hours/day plus a weekly game on the weekend. That's just way too much abuse on still developing knees, ankles, etc. Same goes for some young female gymnasts I see. They are just overdoing it and some problems show up now but I worry also about the issues that will arise down the line due to the repetitive microtrauma to their joints and muscles.

Another negative is that these kids are way overscheduled. They just don't have time to be kids anymore. All the time devoted to organized sports also takes away from homework/learning time.

When I was growing up, we played all kinds of sports in the street, at the local playground, in the schoolyard, etc. Very few of us played organized sports - Little League baseball was one of the few exceptions. Now, the vast majority of kids who regularly play sports do so in an organized league. More likely than not, kids don't play sports outside of those organized activities. They no longer play just for the sake of playing. It is no longer fun for most of them. And if you really ask the kids, most of them are doing it because their parents make them do it, not because they really enjoy it. Most would prefer staying home and playing with their friends.

 

[noseybuddy]

I'm a family practice physician and take care of lots of kids and teens. I frequently see kids for sports-related injuries. I feel many of these injuries develop as a result of overuse. For example, the high school football team practices 3 hours/day plus a weekly game on the weekend. That's just way too much abuse on still developing knees, ankles, etc. Same goes for some young female gymnasts I see. They are just overdoing it and some problems show up now but I worry also about the issues that will arise down the line due to the repetitive microtrauma to their joints and muscles.

Another negative is that these kids are way overscheduled. They just don't have time to be kids anymore. All the time devoted to organized sports also takes away from homework/learning time.

When I was growing up, we played all kinds of sports in the street, at the local playground, in the schoolyard, etc. Very few of us played organized sports - Little League baseball was one of the few exceptions. Now, the vast majority of kids who regularly play sports do so in an organized league. More likely than not, kids don't play sports outside of those organized activities. They no longer play just for the sake of playing. It is no longer fun for most of them. And if you really ask the kids, most of them are doing it because their parents make them do it, not because they really enjoy it. Most would prefer staying home and playing with their friends.

ITA!!

 

[ElizaB39]

Hi guys! I'm writing a paper for my english class about kids sports. I need to know whether you think they're a good idea and why or why not.

So far I'm trying to focus on the negative aspects of them, so if you have specific examples about why you think they can be detremental that would be great. Thank you so much!!!

They can be detrimental because the parents become raving lunatics (not ME of course ) and they (the parents) have actually been know to fight and kill one another. This has happened with cheerleading as well (remember the texas mom)?

ANother way they are detrimental is that it exposes kids to a certain sport TOO early and s/he may simply make up their mind that they don't want to ever have anything to do with that sport again in their whole life, and perhaps they would have JUST LOVED the sport as a more mature individual.

 

[popeyeohoh]

Detriments of organized sport:

My experience or observations only of course.

• From the very beginning, coaches only want the best players on their teams.
• Kids without good skills are not encouraged enough.
• Parents forming cliques, so only their children will be on the same team.
• Practice 3 times a week during the summer. How can a family take a vacation without worrying if their child will be benched when they return.
• Broken bones:
• My two sons alone: Wrist, thumb, and stress fracture of 4th lumbar.
• Various other conditions or injuries: Osgood Schlatter(sp), Zingers to the neck, and knee injuries from hits.
• Student athletes are pretty much encouraged to play with injuries. Athletic trainers do not have enough knowledge to diagnose injuries accurately.
• Morals seem to take a back seat to winning. High School coaches often know that their athlete smoke, drink and do drugs and do nothing to discourage it. They just don't want their athlete to get caught.

 

[Suzyq9241]

Okay ... here is a story about a 16 year old... my daughter (Junior)...who played "softball" for her highschool team.

It was a normal Wednesday morning in April.

My daughter had a big softball game against Wall Township, which Eileen and the team was so excited about all day.
She was running late to get to the bus for this game, so as she was running down the hall, she said hello and goodbye to her friends and told them to call her later and she will tell them how it went.

Well during practice (warm ups they call it) when all the girls stand side by side and across from each other throwing the ball to each other. This girl (K) was throwing the ball to Eileen, no hats just visors- when bam on the side of her head, Eileen falls down and starts throwing up, passing out, and shaking. They rushed her to our trama center and come to find out she had a blood clot on the brain. Winding up to have a brain surgery. She had lost her memory of the younger ages- all of her coaches she didn't know and people who really helped her to become a good softball player - boy did she have a great arm- her grades went down because she was having problems with headaches for the longest times and having seizures of some sort- also when there is a storm she twitches same as before she falls a sleep-
she wound up not playing softball anymore - All this because of softball - no hats just visors.

She is not My Eileen anymore- she is a different child since this happen- even though she will be 21 in 11 days

 

[stm61]

conversation between my ds(11 at the time) and some other team members last spring. Background: same kids played same positions every game while other kids spent most of the game on the bench.
ds: so how come you guys don't try? You act like you don't care if we win or lose, you do it every game.
coaches ds: we don't have to try.
other bench sitter: why don't you have to try?
coach's ds's friend: because we don't have to.
ds: why not?
other coach's ds: because we know we're gonna play, it don't matter what we do.
coach's ds: yeah, we're always gonna play where we want, we don't have to sit, and we know we're gonna play all-stars with all our friends.
other team member: how do you know all that?
coach's ds's friend: because his dad is the coach and he makes sure we always play and so do our friends, it doesn't matter if we try or not.
coach's ds: yeah, we don't care, we only play this so we can be all-stars.

Parents in the bleachers had to break up the fight. Coaches didn't see what the problem was!

Example #2: this is fall ball, suppossed to be non-competitive rec league.
Coach, who is also on the board, decides the team isnt winning enough. Brings in a kid who never signed up when there are 14 on the waiting list to play. This kid plays every inning while 3+ team members sit the bench. Coach can't understand why parents are upset. Best part of this: ringer kid is put in to pitch. Score has been 3-0 since 1st inning, it's now bottom of the last inning. Ringer kid is so bad the team loses 6-7!