The Effects of Professional Sports on Young Children

Athletes have always been looked up to, especially young ones, kids who have already reached their ultimate success and have a bright and guaranteed future ahead of them. Some even wish to be as equally talented as those athletes in order to access those opportunities. Despite the fact that professional sports does have a positive impact on young children, it can also impact them negatively because of the physical and psychological demands that this lifestyle requires. It can be very challenging to reach the expectations of a high level athlete at such a youthful age. Professional Sports can affect children physically, psychologically, and emotionally.

To begin, professional sports affect children in a negative way corporeally (physically)though most see it as a positive aspect to move at a young age, when done too intensively it can cause problems. As affirmed by Stanford children’s health website, more than 3.5 million children ages 14 and younger get hurt annually playing sports. Research also shows that during periods of increased growth velocity and closure of the growth plates in adolescence, young athletes are vulnerable to a variety of traumatic and overuse injuries (NCBI). Children’s bones are more fragile than their ligaments and so they are at an increased risk for fractures throughout the bone and the growth plate (NCBI). Such intense training at such a young age does not only cause physical damage but it can also put to much pressure on a young child and cause harm to their mental health.

To proceed, their mental health is also negatively affected by this activity. Considering that these young kids play at a competitive level, the pressure of always having to be on top can become a threat to their way of thinking. A competitive mindset is imprinted on them and can often cause them to overdo it to the point of injury or harm. According to the Men’s Journal, most injuries happen when athletes increase the intensity of their training and cut down on sleep (overdoing it). A certain amount of pressure from peers, coaches as well as the amount they put on themselves can lead to various eating disorders. As stated by Youth Development it is common that young professional athletes especially girls become so addicted to eating healthy and exercising that they start to become self-conscious and have self-esteem issues. Furthermore, that mindset of always having to be the best can lead to difficult situations when a young athlete is faced with failur. The feeling of failure can cause the athlete to feel like they’re not good enough and can generate depression and anxiety.

To conclude the negative effects of professional sports on young kids, playing at a high level can affect their emotional well being. Playing professional means to always and at all time give 100%. Supposing that this set goal is not reached due to a mistake or whatever reason, this can lead to depression because the athletes self-confidence is lowered. On the other side when a young athlete is successful in their sport they can (become overly confident)develop a competitive min. This way of thinking can lead to aggressive behaviours and they could later on release said aggression in their play or on their peers (bullying). Furthermore it can be observed when the athlete becomes a parent. Moreover, In some cases some parents who are athletes or who are extremely competitive, frequently want to feed that aggressive desire through their kids. This can make them stressed or sad if they struggle or are not able to please their parents. This follows with the child not feeling loved or feeling like the only reason that their parents love them is because of the sport.

To summarize, it is clear that professional sports do have a negative impact on young children because of the high demands this lifestyle requests, which can be especially hard to reach at a young age. This style of living affects children physically because of the intense training they have to go through in order to reach the standards of a professional athlete. Psychologically because of the pressure that is constantly put onto them, and finally because of the aggressive and depressive emotions the lifestyle exposes. Despite professional sports having some positive points like, improving a child's physical activity or helping a child practice their social skills. Just like all things it has a bad side, also it is important to support the athletes in the surroundings by finding any way possible to help Whether that be with school work or just being there for them. Together with parents to really listen to the young athletes in order to make sure that they are okay.