Essay Reaction to, "Children Need to Play Not Compete"

Jessica Statsky actively opposes youngsters participating in competitive sports. She describes how competition has harmed children's growth in the United States in her book "Children Deserve to Play, Not Compete." She has different viewpoints on how physical sports damage children's well-being (Statsky, 2010). Children are discouraged as a result of the first of these consequences. When an infant fails to contend with others, he or she develops a sense of defeat. This type of depression discourages the child from taking up the sport.
Children's professional sports have expectations that are past their level. These measures fail to encourage their development both physically and psychologically. According to Statsky (2010), these forms of encounters are excessive for children who are below ten years. Exposing children to vigorous physical activity is another negative implication of competitive sport which can result in injuries. The author emphasizes the importance of safeguarding children from all kinds of harm to protect their future health. Based on this implication, the author asserts that children should not be enrolled for vigorous competitive sports.
Response
What qualifies Statsky’s “Children Need to Play, Not Compete” as a dominant narrative in the debate on whether organized games may be harmful to children’s both physical and psychological health, is her employment of a coherent thesis statement and a complete prediction of the arguments she provides to support her position. The author carefully selects her essential terms like by sport, for instance, to relate to both non-contact and contact games that focus on competition. Additionally, she audibly defines to her readers that her primary concern regards children between ages six and twelve years.
In her article, the author depends on authorities to justify her assertion; hence it was a good idea for her to introduce them to the audience by giving their background information. Statsky (2010) introduces Thomas Tutko in paragraph 3 as “a psychological professor at San Jose State University and an author of the book Winning Is Everything and Other American Myths.” Also in the fifth paragraph, she informs the reader that Martin Rablovsk previously worked at the New York Times as an editor. Furthermore, she adds that he has extensive years of observing children play competitive games. Finally, the author extracts more information from two websites including a message board and the official site of Little League.
Additionally, Statsky selects a unique tactic to create a compelling emotional request to the audience using a wide range of anecdotes and examples. For a story to appear appropriate and believable, it needs to be representative and familiar to the audience. It should also be accurate and specific to life. Statsky wholly satisfies these requirements in the anecdotes and examples she employs to justify her points. For instance, in paragraph 4, the author manages to place the story from Peewee Football investigative report by Tosche, strategically combining the excerpt by an eight-year-old player’s mother who reported that children become terrified and fake injuries to leave the game.
The article is helpful in transforming the perception applied while planning and creating sporting activities for children. The risks put on planned sport for children are very high for a person who has not attained sixteen years. The author has noted in the article that involving children in a competitive game has many drawbacks. These defects can considerably hinder the children’s development and even in future as adults.
For children to appreciate sports activities, they must be informed enough regarding the benefits of sports. Another perspective of negative implications of engaging children in competitive sports is that it impedes the mood of play within them. When children fail to embrace the mood of play, they are unable to develop the necessary attitudes towards sports. Hence aspects of winning and losing should be stressed on young people as they engage in various sporting exercises. Because of the significant extent of competitiveness in sports for children, the majority prefer to watch from far than participate. This pattern is progressively prominent among many children in the United States because of the broad focus on competitive sports.
According to Statsky (2010), children ought to be encouraged to appreciate both losing and winning as a component of sports. Nevertheless, such a pattern is not supported by coaches in a variety of sports for children. The intrusion of parents is a common feature of organized children’s game. It means that parents are becoming more influential on the attitudes and paths adopted by children towards sports. Consequently, it can hinder the child from maximizing their capacity in the sport. The author provides an illustration of parental interruption in aggressive competition for children. The scenario is about 75 parents who were involved in a fight following a conflict in a game of football (Statsky, 2010). Such forms of parental interruption lead to a negative perception of children regarding sports. Also, such impact can influence children to avoid any sporting activity. Besides parents’ interruption, excessive pressure is also a disadvantage of organized or competitive games for children.
Children are prone to excessive pressure while trying to drive them towards winning in a particular game. This force is negative due to its undesirable impact on the psychological well-being of the child. Statsky (2010) strongly argues that there is a close relationship between organized sports activities and psychological trauma in children. She exemplifies her argument by noting how organized games have a negative psychological impact on professional players who already received psychological counselling. The audience is left to wonder what would happen to children who have no emotional balance if put under similar circumstances. Also, this form of pressure increases a child’s vulnerability to injuries. Furthermore, because of misunderstanding and immaturity among children, accidental injuries during games can cause more rivalry among the children after the game. This off-pitch competition discourages the development of friendship among schoolmates. Such settings do not depict ideal sportsmanship displayed by athletes. Still, children under the age of 12 years cannot understand the responsibilities required of them. This pressure originates from the high targets and expectations. These types of characteristics should be limited to organized games for older people.
The article also helps the reader to understand that valuable time is wasted when children engage in organized sports. Features like practice, coaching and training need great commitment about time. Children at tender ages should not commit too much time in games (Statsky, 2010).For example; it can impede their focus in academics and consequently affect their performance negatively.
Most people can relate to the insinuation by the author that organized games are very selective. Relating to experiences from high school, team players were selected based on individual performance. Development and talent building were not given priority. Unfortunately, many students were not included in school teams but, many players who never played in school teams became professional players after their studies. These players also cultivated their talents later on. At every level, competitive sports looks only for excellent performers and does not emphasize on upcoming talents. The use of such a selective way as observed in little leagues cause effects that are worse for children who have talent but cannot justify their abilities.
As observed in the article, the primary objective of children’s participation in sport should be playing. When children play, they acquire the required skills in games while also improving the physical health. Moreover, playing contributes tremendously towards emotional growth and positive social interactions. These types of benefits cannot be obtained from competitive activities for children. Competitive games are also a drawback regarding costs. Substantial financial resources are used to organize children’s games. Consequently, most parents in the United States have been strained on their economic status. While it is highly recommended to invest in children, parents should spend based on their financial abilities. There are many games for children which are not very costly. Besides being affordable, such games also help children to become psychologically healthy. These factors demonstrate that the author has significantly connected to the challenges and predicaments caused by competitive games for children.
Conclusion
Although organized sports should have a positive impact on children, the author’s assertion that it negatively influences the development of children aged between six and twelve years is correct. Jessica Statsky, using her neutral explanation conclusively supports her criticism of organized sports which engage children who are still developing mentally and physically. She displays hoe organized games can have a negative impact on the psychological, sociological and physical state of children. In agreement with the author's arguments, parents should allow their children to play rather than compete.
















Works Cited
Statsky, J. (2010), Children need to play, not compete. Accessed on 19th October 2017 from             http://www.redwoods.edu/instruct/jjohnston/english1a/readings/statsky.pdf