Children Play At The Competitive Level example essay topic

Neil Meyer Professor Foreman ENC 1101 MWF 11: 00 Sept. 5, 2003 Children Could Play and Compete "Children Need to Play, Not Compete" by Jessica Statsky leaves the reader with several valid points denouncing competitive sports for children between the ages of six and twelve. While there is some truth to her article, her view cannot be applied to all children. For some athletically inclined youngsters, competitive sports are the only opportunity to play with others of similar abilities; it would be an injustice to hold the children back by forcing them to play at a level that caters to beginners. Statsky believes that competitive sports can. ".. be both physically and psychologically harmful". Injuries can and do happen, but, at that age they are so extremely rare as to be almost negligible.

The author undermines her criticism by quoting an article titled "What about My Child" that states sport injuries are far less common than other childhood activities, such as riding a bicycle, a bus, or a skateboard. Life is fraught with dangers; fear of such dangers should not prevent a child from participating any more than it prevents a child from learning to ride a bike, or rollerblade. More importantly, parents should not allow their parental fear for their child's well being to be instilled in the child. After all, who is a young child most likely to learn how to react to any given situation from? Children, whether involved in sports or not, often collide, fall down and skin their knees, get hit by a ball, or some such childhood trauma to which we can all relate. These injuries are painful at the time, but they are so minor, and a natural part Meyer 2 of growing up, that they should and in more cases than not, do not deter a child from participating in an activity he or she enjoys.

Unless parents feed the child's fear of minor injuries, the child should recover just as quickly as he or she was hurt. Many children play at the competitive level simply because they are too developed to play at an open level that caters to the worst players. Statsky says: .".. I oppose competitive sports for children: because they are so highly selective, very few children get to participate". She also mentions, a New York City basketball program called City Sports for Kids, in which. ".. every member on a team plays at least two of six eight-minute periods". By those standards a team can have no more than fifteen players, which logically means, that there has to be some sort of a selection process, though it may not be based on athleticism.

Furthermore, by those standards, each child only gets sixteen minutes, or a third of the game's play time. Those children that are better, and could perhaps change the course of the game by being allowed more play time, are benched, where they must sit and watch helplessly as their team loses. Instead of putting all children together, on larger teams that accept all children, the selection process should be used to group children of similar abilities together on smaller teams, and placing teams in appropriate leagues thus, allowing each child to learn best with other children at the same level. The feeling of helplessness, at being so much better, or worse, is also eliminated. Games have rules for a reason, and are structured a certain way because that is how they were meant to be played. Statsky mentions one example: .".. one New York Little League official... tried to ban scoring... but parents wouldn't support him".

How does this make the game more enjoyable for the children? Quite simply it doesn't. That's how the game is measured: by scores. Knowing whether the game was won or lost is a vital part of sportsmanship. A child Meyer 3 needs to learn how to cope with loses gracefully, and how to respect their opponents' feeling in the case of a win.

Teaching such things at a younger age will make far more of an impact later on than waiting until a child is too old to want to change. Winning is one of the best things a young athlete can experience; however, losing too can be an excellent motivator. A win and the euphoria that comes along with will entice the child to continue to play and become better; although a loss can be discouraging, with the proper teaching early on, a loss can help encourage a child to become better individually, or as a team. Throughout her essay Statsky takes on the tone of a worried, even overly protective parent. She can't seem to decide how to actually back up her assertion; she repeatedly counters her own supporting evidence. Her indecisiveness combined with her severely outdated sources leaves her essay open to a broad spectrum of criticism, little of it good.

Statsky's wish for children's well being is clear, however, her idea of what is better, is in fact not. Children will play, and competing is a great way to do it.