Leo Miguel

ENG 082
Karen Hansen
November 8, 2011
Are sports good for young people, or are they harmful?
Parents have become very protective of their children when it comes to sports. They think
keeping their children at home will help them to be safe. Most of the young people are limited in
their activities either in or out of school. Their daily routine is from home to school and from
school to home. They sit at home and watch television or surf the internet. They should be
encouraged to be involved in sports and do something that will help them in their lives. Sports
are good. Young people need to build friendships, become responsible, and learn to work as a
team throughout their lives.
Young people are very talented. They can perform anything. We need to give them a
chance to get out of their comfort area. One way is to provide sports that they can get into.
Sports will help them build self-esteem, keep them healthy and keep them out of trouble. If we
dont support and help our young people they end up doing drugs, consuming alcohol. They may
even get into gangs and end up in jail or dead in car accidents. In fact, we all know that the most
leading cause of accidents is alcohol consumption.
There is no safe option when it comes to drinking. Accordingly to the U.S. Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention three out of four teens have tried alcohol by the time they
graduate from high school. That's a worrying statistic, given the risks associated with underage
drinking (Crane, 2010, p. 8). Many teens think they can play it safe when it comes to alcohol.
They may stay away from wine and hard liquor, although they drink beer because they believe it

has lower alcohol and it is less dangerous. It may surprise you to discover that a can of beer, a
glass of wine, or a shot glass of hard liquor have actually the same amount.
The reality is that drinking any type of alcohol can harm your body and put your life at
risk. Drinking is against the law if you are younger than 21. It doesn't matter if its beer, wine, or
liquor. Drinking could lead you to do something risky or out of character. Whether you are
talking about car crashes, violence, or sexual assault; all of those things become much more
likely when you add alcohol into the mix. Alcohol can affect adolescents' developing brains
causing learning and memory problems. As a result, adolescents practice less sport. Teens that
drink alcoholic drinks have an increase chance of becoming addicted. This is the perfect time to
have a positive influence in our young people, because what they do in their youth will
determine what they will become in next ten years. Sports are good for young children.
The media is also playing a big role in their lives. Teenagers and young people tend to
spend 12-16 hours per week in the internet or watching television. "Everyone is using too much
media across the board. There are only so many hours in the day. They're going to miss out on a
lot of important things, especially face-to-face contact," says Eleanor Mackey, a clinical
psychologist with Children's National Medical Center in Washington, D.C. (Brophy Marcus,
2011, p. A1). That will definitely harm their vision. It is true that they build social networking,
but that doesnt help them in real life.
Most young children who spend time at home on computer-based activities spend no less
time on activities such as reading, sports or outside play than children without home computers.
However, young children who use home computers frequently, for over 8 hours a week, spend
much less time on sports and outdoor activities than non computer users. They also have
substantially heavier body mass index than children who do not use home computers. Parents

need to stop giving their children all kind of electronics and take a critical look at computers that
are a threat to the normal developmental processes of young children. Young children are not
ready for computer-based learning. They need to learn instead through hands-on interactions
with tangible materials, through play, and by interacting with nature. Young children need to
spend more time outdoors, and time in social interaction with teachers and other children. Sports
can help our young children to develop a good intellectual life.
Jane Healy identifies many potential dangers of children's computer use, from vision

problems to bad posture. Her main worry is that computers will adversely affect childhood
learning experiences. For young children, she is concerned that computer use will cut into play
and physical activities that are important for emotional and cognitive development, warning: "A
child with lopsided experiences is likely to end up with a lopsided brain" (Attewell, Paul, Battle,
& Suazo-Garcia, 2003, p. 1).
Having fun is the main reason kids join a team. Dr. Darrell J. Burnett, a sports
psychologist in California, says team sports have a lot to offer besides fun. He says a sense of
belonging is important too (Stiefer, 2001, p. 29). Some parents dont have the time to be part of
their children growth, because they are committed to work hard and long hours to provide and
secure a good future for their children. They need to start encouraging their children to play
sports because the sport will give them a good intellectual lifestyle. Something that parents can
rarely give, because it isnt given, its achieved.
There are many reasons to do sports; fitness is important for staying healthy. Being fit
makes you feel better and gives you better balance and coordination. If you're fit now, you'll
probably always be active and remain fit for life. It feels good to have self-confidence and be
able to master a sport by practice and by learning the rules of the game. This carries over into

other sports and activities in your life. You'll feel you can jump in and succeed in almost any
challenge you face. Self-esteem allows you to have all that fun and confidence can make you feel
good about yourself. When you feel good about yourself, you feel there's not much you can't do
in life. Thats how you build a solid friendship for life.
Camaraderie is teamwork, friendly, good feeling of sharing and working toward a
common goal with your teammates. Some teammates may become your best friends. Finally, you
can build the skills for future success. Right now you just want to have fun and enjoy your sport.
What you learn in working together with teammates will help you in other sports, in school, and
later in the workplace and in social situations.
Any sport will make anyone very athletic and it doesnt help only in sports, it helps to
maintain a well balanced body. Going further than the exercise, it helps to establish a good
outstanding behavior with others. It also helps to be out of trouble. The busier you are, the less
you can get in trouble. Sports are good for children.

References
Attewell, Paul, Battle, J., & Suazo-Garcia, B. (2003, September). Computer and young children:
social benefit or social problem? Social Forbes, 82.1(277). Retrieved from Gale
Opposing Viewpoints database. (GALE A108787470)
Brophy Marcus, M. (2011, June 8). Minority kids use media more. USA Today , p. A1. Retrieved
from Gale Opposing Viewpoints database. (GALE A262443439 )
Crane, C. (2010, September). Sobering Facts About Alcohol. Alcohol, 26(1), p8-11. Retrieved
from primary search database. (53474188)
Reisgies, T. (1995, April). helping daughters learn to love sports. Sports Illustrated for kids, 7(4),
p 10. Retrieved from primary search database. (9503292609)
Stiefer, S. (2001, September/). Current health. be a team player, 25(1), 29. Retrieved from
primary search database. (5144768)