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Leonard Gordon
Ms. Bessire
English 1010-099
7 May, 2014
Final Draft
Psychological Effect Sports Has on the Youth in America.
Growing up in a small town in West Texas playing football was a given and winning was
above everything. I played football, basketball, baseball, and even competed at the local boxing
gym, but I never put much thought into how being driven by coaches to win affected me
psychologically. As long as we were winning; thats all that mattered. Not many athletes or
parents put much thought into what life lessons are being taught in competition sports other then
the wins and losses. At first glance competition sports seems to be a great tool to help with
development, but with closer inspection coaches and parents have a huge impact on what life
lessons are being taken away from our youths overall experience when it comes to competition
sports. Sports can be an amazing tool and can have a lasting effect in the lives of many young
people. Whether the affects are positive or negative has many factors; mainly coaches and
parents. A coach who teaches positive life lessons and supportive parents can greatly affect a
young persons life but a coach who only cares about winning and out of control parent also
affect a young person greatly.
Parents, of course, may want to question whether their child/children are learning the
right life lessons when it comes to youth sports. In her book, Brooke De Lench maintains that
Whether as parent or coach, most men want to see that their team/child wins. Because they are
so intent on experiencing more emotional highs (and trying to avoid the emotional letdown when
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their child loses), such parents literally let their emotions get the better of them, with just about
any kind of behavior justified in their minds if it helps the child or child's team win. They
imagine that they identify with their child but in fact they end up ignoring their children's real
feelings, goals, and dreams and focusing instead on their own (De Lench). By focusing on
emotions De Lench looks right into the heart of the issues surrounding youth sports. Everyone
wants to see their child do well and it can be hard to keep emotions in check when it comes to
someone watching their own child compete.
Emotions are a part of sports and its completely natural to feel good when someones
own child is doing well and feel bad when their child isnt. Could the deeper issue be the
importance of winning placed on athletes by parents and coaches? In Alan Goldbergs article,
Coaching Abuse: The dirty, not so little secret in sports, he writes, What is wrong with a society
that places so much importance on winning in sports that it blatantly neglects the needs and well
being of the child-athletes that its charged with educating and protecting? Are we that out of
touch that weve lost our perspective on what really matters in life... Heres the problem the way
I see it. Because winning has become so important to us as a culture, because being numero
uno has been erroneously equated with coaching success and competence, some of our youth
sport, club, high school and college coaches have forgotten what their real mission as a
professional is (Goldberg). Goldbergs article really hits to the heart of the issue and asks the
right questions. How important is winning over the emotional and psychological needs of the
youth who compete in sports?
Are we asking the right questions when putting our child/children in competition sports?
As a coach I have always tried to teach positive life lessons through sports and have always
believed sports can have a great effect on someone. Professor Jomills Braddock II, director of the
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University of Miami's Center for Research on Sport in Society was quoted in an article in
Newswise.com as saying, We are finding that individual students who participate in sports are
less likely to be hostile or antagonistic toward other students regardless of their race or ethnicity
(Rhodes). Competing in sports can teach the right life lessons and Braddocks research suggests
as such. Ana Rhodes agrees when she writes, Data from the study shows that African American
student-athletes are 10 percent more likely than non-athletes to plan to take college AP courses
and 10 percent more likely to make plans for attending college (Rhodes). According to
Braddock, Involvement in sports appears to enhance a student's academic aspirations,
investments, and achievements (Rhodes). Recent studies like these shed new light on the
psychological effect of sports; which previous studies had not addressed. Sports can keep
someone in school and it is also important to know that most schools require scholastic
achievement for someone to be allowed to compete or participate in sports or extra curricular
activities. In Texas they have the No Pass - No Play rule which doesnt allow anyone to compete
in school extra curricular activities unless all their grades are seventy percent or above.
With most States following rigid guidelines for student athletes academic performance,
this helps greatly with preparing students for college and for life. Sports can help greatly with
child development. Angus Koolbreeze of Livestrong.com writes, Another effect of sports in the
development of young children is the building of character. One aspect of character development
is being able to honor a long-term commitment, whether it's to a team, to the choir at church or to
schoolwork. This is a positive trait that will help him later in life as he enters the job market or
cultivates a long-term relationship. By playing sports, he learns that he's part of a team that's
counting on him to stand by them, through the good and bad times (KoolBreeze). I agree sports
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can help prepare someone for life because I can still take from the lessons I learned from
competing in many different sports and from coaching competition sports.
As much as sports can assist with preparing someone for life; the issue still comes back to
the parents and coaches on what life lessons are being taught through competition sports. As the
prominent Marilyn Price-Mitchell of Psychology Today writes, Psychological studies on the
value of youth sports offer broad insights into child development and often contradict one
another. Since no one child is exactly like another, parents who understand the benefits and
pitfalls of sports and who pay attention to the individual needs of their children are more likely to
raise kids that thrive in life (Price-Mitchell). I agree not everyone is the same but the issue still
comes back to the parents and coaches.
Competing in sports all through my youth and through high school; being a coach in
youth football and youth basketball for over 13 years, and my endless quest to teach kids how to
compete while teaching positive life lessons has lead to some astounding realizations. First, most
parents try to live vicariously through their kids. Some parents take all the enjoyment out of
youth sports and make it an unpleasant experience for their kids. Second, the majority of youth
coaches either only care about winning or only care about making their kid the star of the team.
Thirdly, when you ask most kids what they remember most about the season they will say
something completely different from the parents or the coaches. Rarely will a child say winning
or learning how to play properly. Most parents will say watching their kid score, or their kid
learning to win; while kids will say they remember something like, the pizza party, making new
friends, or something not even related to what the parents or coaches will take from the season.
We need to remember that kids are growing and learning from our actions. When a child
competes in sports many parents just assume theyre learning to win but parents need to be aware
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that children are learning life lessons at all times and shaping their morals and values around
their friends, role models, coaches, and especially their parents. Maybe the next time someone
sees a coach or a parent yelling at a kid for making a mistake, remember what lesson that child is
taking away from the experience.













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Works Cited

De Lench, Brooke. Home Team Advantage: The Critical Role of Mothers in Youth Sports. New
York: HarperCollins Publishers. 2006. Print
Goldberg, Alan. Coaching Abuse: The dirty, not so little secret in sports. Competitive
Advantage, n.d. Web. 09 April, 2014.
Koolbreeze, Angus. Social Effects of Sports on Young Children. Livestrong.Com. 21 October,
2013. Web. 15 April, 2013
Price-Mitchell, Marilyn. The Moment of Youth: Helping Teens Believe in Themselves.
Psychology Today. 08 January, 2012. Web. 15 April, 2013
Rhodes, Ana. Sports Have Positive Effect on Students. Newswise, 09 November, 1998. Web.
15 April, 2013