Alex Reed

What effects do organized

sports have on youth
development?

Price-Mitchell, M., PhD (2012, January 8). The

Psychology of Youth Sports.

Like the title suggests, Price-Mitchell

spends most of the article focusing on the
psychological elements of youth sports. She
quickly addresses what I believe to be a key
point in the youth sports debate which is how
some people view it as nothing but beneficial
and how others have nothing but negativity
about its effect on kids. She states The truth
is that neither portrait of youth sports is
completely correct. Research studies have
been conducted with hundreds of thousands
of children who participate in sports.
Generally, these studies show that youth who
participate in organized sports during middle
and high school do better academically and
are offered greater job prospects than
children who do not partake in sports
activities. However, nuances exist in these
studies that are important for parents to
understand. Like all studies that equate youth
activities with success in life, it is imperative to
look deeper to learn how these findings apply
to your own children. (Price-Mitchell, 2012).
She hits the mail on the head by saying that it
is different for every individual and goes on to
show the steps to make it the best experience
you can.

Lawrence, C. (2014, February 14). The Impact of

Sports in Young Children.

In this article, Lawrence references the

American Academy of Pediatrics and KidsHealth
to explain some benefits and drawbacks of
organized youth sports. She talks about how
sports can add structure to their schedules and
improve their physical health by taking part in
physical activities. She also hits on the social
aspect of team sports saying For young children
who may still be very egocentric, participating in
team sports teaches them to think about the
group as a whole and encourages them to be
happy for the success of their teammates.
(Lawrence, 2014). Also it is mentioned that it
helps with relationship building between players
and coaches which will help them later I life.
Stress and increased commitment are also a
matter to think about, however. In sport
situations, she says many children involved in
organized sports feel pressured to succeed. While
a little stress can be beneficial because it can
heighten alertness and lead children to perform
with increased focus, strength and stamina, too
much stress can leave young kids burnt out.
(Lawrence, 2014)

O'Sullivan, John. "The Detrimental Effect of Early Sport Specialization | Changing

the Game Project." Changing the Game Project. Changing the Game Project,
2015. Web.

This article shows a different point of view than the others. It talks about kids
who specialize in one particular sport and the effects it has on the children. The
greatest difference between our childrens sporting experience and our own is
the rise of year round, sport specific organizations that ask even require
season after season of participation in order to stay in the player development
pipeline. The pressure to have your child specialize in a single sport at a young
age has never been stronger. (OSullivan 2015) Whenever I played sport, I loved
it. I played a variety of them and did not feel pressured as I knew some of my
peers were. The parents of select kids feel like their kids will fall behind if they do
not stay in the program 24/7. OSullivan goes on to say This fear has forced kids
into sports that often are not of their own choosing, and in many cases compels
them to remain in activities that are not enjoyable, not intrinsically motivating,
nor are congruent with their actual athletic abilities. This path fails to consider
many of the physical, emotional and social costs to children who only play a
single sport.
"Understanding Child Development In Sports and Competition." Winning Edge Sports Psychology.
Winning Edge Sports Psychology LLC, 2012.

Winning Edge Sports Psychology is a company that specializes in what my topic is all about. In this
article what they have done is divide the kids into categories (Young kids, adolescent, and preadolescent) and list what challenges they face on the field and the best way to handle them. Preadolescents (ages 10-13 years) face the social challenges of developing best friends and gaining
acceptance from peers. Social relationships are one of the developmental milestones that this age
group is navigating. They want to be part of a group and often fear being embarrassed. Developing a
same sex best friend (s) is a major task of this social stage. Pre-teens tend to be loyal to their friends
and make many decisions based upon maintaining their friendships (Winning Edge Sports Psychology
LLC, 2012) They also hit on what motivates kids to play sports in the first place. Regardless of an
athlete's age, there are several common themes that relate to participation in sport. A study
completed by USA Swimming (1998-99) asked swimmers from age 7 to young adulthood why they
swam, and how they defined fun. The results of the study supply important information about
athlete's motivation for participation in sport. The swimmers rated the following four reasons as their
motivation for swimming: #1 To have fun. #2 For fitness. #3 Being with friends. #4 To compete.
(Winning Edge Sports Psychology LLC, 2012)

Felfe, C., Lechner, M., & Steinmayr, A. (2011, November 4). Does sport make your kids smarter? New
evidence from Germany

The writers of this article are economic professors and econometric chairs in Munich, Germany. Their
focus in this article is measuring the effect of sports during childhood. They did this by running an
empirical analysis that draws upon a cross-sectional (medical) survey (Lechner, 2011). It is called
KiGGS. They go on to better describe it by saying, This dataset provides us not only with a wide array
of children's cognitive and non-cognitive skill measures, but also with detailed information on children's
health, sport participation, and their family background (5,632 children). Our main empirical approach
is based on a matching estimation strategy. The basic idea is that we compare the outcomes of children
who participate in sport with children who do not participate but are almost identical in other aspects,
such as sex and age, their parents education and income, their brothers and sisters, their parents
parenting style, or the characteristics of the neighborhood they live in. (Felfe, 2011) The results they
found showed positive effects of sports on kids cognitive and non-cognitive abilities. They support
their findings with this data; We normalise our measures of children's skills to be zero on average and
have a standard deviation of one. In so doing we can interpret the size of the effects in relationship to
the general variation in children's skills (measured by one standard deviation (henceforth, sd). Both
cognitive skills, measured by overall school grades, and overall non-cognitive skills improve by 0.13 sd.
The latter effect is mainly driven by a reduction in emotional problems (0.10 sd) and in peer problems
(0.22 sd). The fact that children who engage in sport also fare better in terms of health (0.12 sd) and
general wellbeing (0.11 sd) support these findings. (Steinmavr, 2011)
Paula, Elle. "Psychological Effects of Sports on Children and Youth."
LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 14 Aug. 2015.

Elle Paula has a certificate in holistic nutrition as well as a Bachelor of

Science degree from Framingham State College. Her article hits on the
basics as it highlights how the data shows how the participation in sports
as an adolescence helps increase both emotional and behavioral wellbeing leading to higher self-esteem and confidence, which results in
better overall performance. (Paula, 2015). She goes on explaining the
good that comes from working together as a team to accomplish a
common goal, elaborating that it builds strong peer relationships and
increases childrens social support. She also focuses a lot of her attention
on potential drawbacks, saying it is not all rainbows. If the pressure to
win is overemphasized or the expectations of parents or coaches become
too great, kids may experience psychological stress.

Dr. Holt, Nick. "Can Sport Help Develop Life Skills?" Http://www.wiseqatar.org. N.p., 2014. Web.

Dr. Nick Holt has a very interesting take on the subject. He does, like the
rest, spend time talking about the basics skills that team sports could
possibly help flourish, but he makes a staggering point that many others
skip over or do not address. In a simple statement, bringing up a youth
researchers quote, life skills are taught, not caught, it shifts the
attention to the massive role the coaches and parents have over the
type of experience the child has playing these sports. He goes on to say
So how can sport produce both positive and negative outcomes? It is
because the outcomes of sport are contingent on the ways in which
sport is delivered by parents and coaches and experienced by children.
Different types of delivery and experiences will lead to different types of
outcomes. Positive outcomes, such as life skills, must be directly taught
to young athletes. They do not naturally occur just by playing a sport.
(Holt, 2014) When I read this, I immediately sat back and thought about
it. It makes perfect sense. So many articles are either about how sports
cause either negativity or positivity. Everyone is so caught up in relating
it to their past experiences that they dont stop and think about how
different everyones experience is, and I think that is a powerful
statement within itself.
Harris MD MPH, Sally S. "Physical Activity, Sports and the Prepubescent Child." Physical Activity, Sports
and the Pre-pubescent Child. Palo Alto Medical Foundation, Dec. 2005. Web

Sally S. Harris writes along the same lines as Dr. Holt. She states that when parents ask what the best
exercises and sports for kids are she tells them there is not one. That it is not a matter of a type of
sport, but that all physical activity is important paired with the special ingredient which is
encouragement. Again we see the link that takes us back to what really shapes the overall takeaway
that kids have from participating in sports. The effect that the coach and parent have on the kid. She
then focuses on how much time is being spent on sports and talks about how, like all things, too much
can have various consequences. Sometimes parents are concerned that their child's participation on a
team that has hour-long daily practices, and several hours of games on weekends may put the child at
risk for overuse injuries. (Harris, 2005) Overuse injuries can be prevented by curtailing the activity
associated with pain. The philosophy of "no pain, no gain" is not appropriate for children.
Fortunately, most injuries in this age group are minor, such as bruises, abrasions, strains and sprains.
(Harris, 2005)