Why Organized Sports Are Beneficial
Essay by 24 • August 30, 2010 • 512 Words (3 Pages) • 3,446 Views
25 million American children can not be wrong. Even though at least 20 million of these
kids will suffer injury by the age of 15, only 10% of the injuries are serious enough to require
more than one visit to the doctor. I have been playing baseball as well as other organized sports
for almost 15 years; and in my opinion, sports develop friendship and self-esteem. I believe that
coaches should take a "how-to" class on what a coach should and should not do.
Injuries occur for three main reasons. First, because parents push their children past their
natural ability level, thus it causes injury to the over worked body parts. Second, an accident
occurs such as a turned ankle or a ball taking a bad bounce and hitting a player. The third, and
most common reason, a coach teaches a player the wrong way to perform specific task. For
example, when I was 12 years old, my baseball coach taught me the wrong way to throw a curve
ball. After repeatedly throwing the wrong way, I tore a ligament in my right elbow. If my coach
at that time, would have taken some kind of class, he would have known the proper way to teach
the technique.
Nevertheless, I feel that sports should greatly benefit a child's self-esteem. Competition
also builds self-esteem because children grow both emotionally and physically and sports help to
develop a positive view of both themselves and their athletic skills. As long as children feel that
they are beneficial to the team, they are developing self-esteem because they see their personal
role in the team as important to the whole cause. If a child is not athletically gifted, he can
always take up a more non-competitive sport such as jogging or weight-training. This will also
build self-esteem because the child can see his improvement and relate to others at the same
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