“Talent wins games, but teamwork and intelligence win championships.” – Michael Jordan (Oregon Sports). Participation in sports can help keep teens out of trouble, though it’s not 100 percent thought. Teens who participate in sports have an easier transition out of high school after playing sports because they are more equipped to face real life challenges after over coming things on the field in practice and the classroom. Teens tend to have less time to get into any forms of mischief Sports have a huge impact on a teens life. Sports are grueling, and time demanding athletes have to be strong willed and always prepared. Not only are they trying to juggle practices and games they must navigate through classes and stay attentive through the tiredness and the soreness. Along with having practices and games there isn’t much time to get into mischief. Athletes are around other peers as your team mates, these relationships not only build bonds, but you also get held accountable by not only your team mates and your coaches. Teens who play sports build good time management skills and responsibility, it builds character .
When teens are busy doing positive things, they don’t have as much time to into trouble get. Marcus Felson and Lawrence E. Cohen came up with the routine activity theroy “ which assumes that crime and delinquency occur when there are opportunities, would also suggest that youth will not engage in delinquency because participating in sports would reduce their time and opportunities to engage in delinquent acts” (Spruit et al. 2016). As an athlete when you sign up for a sport you also sign a verbal contract saying that you will do what’s best for the team and yourself. If a teen on a sports team gets in trouble normally they are punished at a school as well as on the “field”. So, they try their best to avoid these suspensions. strong relationships with coaches and peers, and the teens have less time to get into trouble while being on a sports team.
Sports build a team oriented surrounding so an athlete has to not only think about how there actions effect them but also their team. Players learn dependability and responsibility when their actions effect others. This makes the athletes think through situations. “Since team sports require relying on everyone else on the team, teens will have to work hard and be responsible to make sure they help out their fellow teammates.” (Esterdahl). Responsibility isn’t only remberung all you equipment, your water, shoes. “Responsibility means accepting that you have control over your thoughts, actions, and feelings. It means recognizing that you have the power to make both good choices and poor choices. It means being accountable for the consequences of your actions”(goodcharacter). Responsible people are trustworthy and finish their obligations and duties. They don’t try to make excuse or lie about their actions. They take full creditability for everything they do. Athletes are held to a certain standard and in communitys, people look at athletes as if they are representing them and everyone else. As well as role models for little kids. The term role model is defined as “a person whose behavior, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially younger people” (Random House Dictionary).
Teens who play sports have a fan base whether or not that means family members, peers, or people in the community, this means all eyes are on them. Hearing your name called or being cheered on makes the teen proud of themselves. This helps the adolescents build self-esteem and build confidence. This confidence converts into being a happier person. Self worth is important for teens because they are in time where comformity is important. If a teen thinks that they fit in or are not excluded this will hold back the urge to act out for the attention that they want. Self esteem is how you see your self and how you value accomplishments and failures “Seven in 10 girls suffer from self-esteem issues, a thinking disorder in which individuals feel that they are not “good enough,” whether in school, physical appearance or relationships with friends and family members. Girls who have low self-esteem can sometimes be affected by depression, bulimia, anorexia or self harm”(Riehle).
Sports keep teens active and teach healthy habbits. Teens who are active reduce their chances of becoming obese and reduce symptoms of anxiety. Smoking and drinking have negative effects on the body. Smoking tobacco can cause severe lung problems, such as lung cancer. Smoking leads to shortness of breath and and weezing which comes in hand with asthma. Smoking not only effects your lungs but also your heart. Smoking makes your blood thicker by the poisons in the tar of the tobacco entering your blood. This cause your heart to work faster and making the teen more susceptible to heart attacks and stroke. Alcohol is something that would hinder the ability to perform for teens. Alcohol effects the nervous system causing it to slow down motor skills (the ability to move). Drinking alcohol at a teenage age is so much more dangerous then at the legal age because it hinders brain growth during the adolescents stage. Alcohol is a depressent and can effect a teens mood very negatively. Staying away from things things will effect the people teens decide to choose as their friends.
Sports help make good positive connections. As spoken about above sports help make good judgement calls not only on behavioral choices but in the choosing of friends. Teens need motivation and sports team build relationships with team mates who want to see each other succeed and be successful. Friends have a huge effect on a teens life they are with each other out side of the home life. Picking “good” friends effects the decisions a teen makes. With so many temptations that kids are faced with and to have a friend tell you that it isn’t the best for you and to help steer each other in the right direction. This help making decisions keep teens away from making decisions that will negatively potray them.
Teens build a lot of stress and anger while going through adolescents. Sports can act as an escape from these things. Practices and games can be used to let out this abundance of stress. Self esteem as talked about above also reduces stress levels while being on a team. Sports support confidence in the way you preform causing teens to feel good about them selves. Sports are tiring which cause athletes to get more sleep, more sleep helps the way teens feel. Stress can also be talked away by having positive conversations with peers and coaches. Motivation also lowers stress “Being around others who share a mutual goal motivates you. This motivation can significantly relieve anxiety and steer you away from depression.”(Inetwork)
One may argue that sports are competitively unhealthy. Highschool sports are competitively draining for teens. Teens feel the pressure from their peers and their coaches to perform well and fear failure. This cause anxiety and can increase stress levels. This pressure makes it hard for teens to be happy with themselves whether they win or lose because it stops being fun. The fear of loosing can cause athletes to over work them selves and causing injuries. Sports are focused on winning. If teens take winning as the most important thing then they will make decisions based on winning and not the well being if themselves or others thus causing the athletes to quarrel on and off the field. Sports also provide teens with the idea that they could get a division one scholarship or even go pro. “ About 2 percent of high school athletes are awarded some form of athletics scholarship to compete in college. Fewer than 2 percent of NCAA student-athletes go on to be professional athletes. In reality, most student-athletes depend on academics to prepare them for life after college”(NCAA) . Sports build a false feeling of superiority for athletes. Teens think because they are high ranking athlete that some rules don’t apply to them.
More than 55.5 percent of highschoolers play sports according to NFHS director Bob Gardner. Sports help keep teens out of the risks of the temptation to do things against better judgement and could to lead them getting into trouble by reducing the time they have to do problematic things with practices and games. They also build a team oriented surrounding with positive influnces. Sports teach accountability and responsibility by creating obligations to yourself and the team. Athletics create a positive environment for teens to build self esteem and release stress.
