Benefits of Youth Sports Participation
It
has been estimated that 22 million children and
youth, ages 6 to 18, are involved in organized
sports outside of school (Poinsett, 1996). Research
indicates that participation in sports can promote
healthy development.
According to the American Sport Education Program
(1994), sports participation:
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Builds an appreciation of personal health and
fitness;
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Develops a positive self-image;
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Teaches how to work as part of a team;
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Develops social skills with other children and
adults (such as taking turns and sharing playing
time);
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Teaches both how to manage success and
disappointment; and,
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Teaches how to respect others.
In
order to better understand these benefits, much of
the research on youth sports has examined how sports
enhance aspects of children’s social development.
Specifically, studies have examined how sports
contribute to the development of social
competence—the ability to get along with and be
accepted by peers, family members, teachers, and
coaches; and, self-esteem—the extent to which an
individual believes him/herself to be capable,
significant, successful, and worthy (Ewing, 1997).
According to the findings, children learn to assess
their social competence in sports through the
feedback received from parents and coaches (Ewing,
1997). Self-esteem, on the other hand, is developed
through both evaluation of one’s own abilities as
well as evaluation of the responses received from
others. Children actively observe parents’ and
coaches’ responses to their performances by looking
for signs (often nonverbal) of approval or
disapproval of their behavior.
Lack of feedback and criticism is often interpreted
as a negative response to the behavior.
Because children often use social comparison as a
way of determining their ability in sport,
participation in youth sports activities provides
children with many opportunities to determine their
ability compared with others on their team (Ewing,
1997). Unfortunately, given the influence of other
factors such as maturation and previous knowledge of
a sport on one’s ability to perform a sport skill,
children often reach incorrect conclusions about
their abilities. Thus, the role of parents and
coaches is significant in helping children interpret
their strengths and weaknesses in a sport.
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What is Sportsmanship?
Most younger children do not understand fully what
is meant by sportsmanship. When one physical
education teacher asks his class to explain
sportsmanship, he hears such replies as: "Don’t
cheat," "Don’t get mad or cry when you lose," or
"Don’t yell at your teammates when they make a
mistake" (Sitz, 1997). Children often have a hard
time understanding the concepts of competition,
winning, and losing. This is understandable when you
consider that children see all of the attention and
rewards thrown toward winners while losers do not
receive such focus. The message that kids are
learning, then, is that people are valued only if
they are a winner (Sitz, 1997).
On
the other hand, most adults can explain
sportsmanship by discussing the respect for the
game, the players, the rules, and the officials (Sitz,
1997). Adults can understand that it is O.K. to lose
and that what is important is to do your best and
strive to improve your own abilities. Despite
adults’ ability to understand the complexities of
sportsmanship, some fail to display good
sportsmanship for a variety of reasons. Some parents
and adults get wrapped up in the competition because
they are living vicariously through their children
(Burnett, 1996). Others might have unrealistic
expectations about their child, thinking she or he
might be the next superstar. To ensure that children
gain the benefits of sports participation, however,
it is important for parents and coaches to evaluate
and monitor their own attitudes and behaviors so
that good sportsmanship is learned.
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Ways to Promote Sportsmanship
Coaches and parents can promote good sportsmanship
by:
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Maintaining a "Fun is Number 1" attitude. If
everyone is having fun, it’ll make learning all
aspects of the game more enjoyable and rewarding
(Burnett, 1996).
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Designing sport activities which facilitate
cooperation rather than just competition so that
youth learn about fair play (Ewing, 1997).
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Teaching children the rules of the game and
making sure that everyone (players, parents,
fans) abides by those rules during competition
(Ewing, 1997).
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Encouraging and supporting all players on a team
(American Sport Education Program, 1994).
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Controlling emotions in frustrating situations
(American Sport Education Program, 1994).
-
Treating officials, coaches, players, teammates,
and opponents with respect and avoiding ridicule
and sarcasm (Burnett, 1996).
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Using moments from the game to teach about being
a good sport ("I know it seemed like you got the
runner at first out, but I was really proud of
the way you didn’t argue with the umpire.")
(American Sport Education Program, 1994).
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Making sure there are consequences when poor
sportsmanship is displayed (Sitz, 1998).
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Providing examples of good sportsmanship such as
shaking hands with the opponent at the end of
the game (Ewing, 1997).
Participation in youth sports provides numerous
opportunities for healthy development physically,
socially, and morally. The key to children gaining
these benefits comes from coaches, parents, and
others adults not only teaching children how to play
the sports, but also supporting and demonstrating
how to be a good sport. This can be done not only
during the game, but also when playing softball in
the backyard.
Information gathered from Kids Source Online -
http://www.kidsource.com
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