Issues with Youth Sports

Youth sports have consistently provided an outlet for young children to develop their athletic and character traits, establish participation in fitness, and recognize enjoyable activities that they can share with their friends. As the importance of athletic performance has progressed in the last hundred years, sport-governing bodies are forced to handle the issues associated with youth sport activity. When one begins playing their designated sport at such a young age, their peers, coaches, and parents can easily be influential. As they continue to mature as athletes, scouts, college coaches, other family members, neighbors, and athletic directors may also choose to become stakeholders in their success. For many young athletes, the pressure put on them from all of these sources can be overbearing and overwhelming enough to ruin their chance of success.

According to Helen Jõesaar, Vello Hein, and Martin S. Hagger (2012) and their study “Youth athletes’ perception of autonomy support from the coach, peer motivational climate and intrinsic motivation in sport setting: One-year effects”, it has been proven that coach and peer relationships with an athlete can affect such athlete’s ability to make coherent decisions, influence their level of involvement and effort, and the understanding of their ability to directly affect success rates. More specifically, coaches have the ability to motivate a child to develop certain individual characteristics that lead to athletic performance. If a young athlete not only understands what it takes to be successful, but can also make a self-afflicting decision to attain those goals, they can determine their own opportunities. It is this realization about the significance of youth coaches that proves how they can have a negative or positive impact on a young athlete’s life. For youth sports, it is expected that coaches act more as teachers and mentors for young children as they acquire skills and knowledge to be successful in all aspects and activities in their lives.

Youth sports affect so many individuals throughout the country, and throughout the world, it is a catastrophe that it has dealt with number of problematic issues that it faces today. Sport organizations should begin to establish principles that bring them back to the original meaning behind youth sports. The future of our society is dependent on the young individuals developing their leadership, cooperative, and proactive qualities that can make an impact on their lives in the future. The parental, coaching, and peer pressures influencing children that winning is the most important quality is harming their social development and ability to reach their potential.

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