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RJ Walker

Mr. Smith

Writing for College Section 3

April 26 2018

Play Ball: Sports are vital for childhood development

My dad had been trying for years to get me to move on from playing basketball and take

up wrestling. I wasn’t interested in wearing a singlet! I prefer a little more privacy; I am a bit of a

private person. I stick to myself. In ninth grade, I relented and decided to give it a shot. My dad

coaches football and wrestling so needless to say, my family values sports. Both my dad and

paternal grandfather are huge wrestling fans. My Pap John Walker was actually a professional

wrestler--Mr. Wrestling 2--and spent years traveling the country as a professional wrestler.

Sports are in my blood. I think they should be in every kid’s genes. They prove to be an overall

metaphor for life and individual success in the future as skills and traits learned from the playing

field transition into adulthood.

Wrestling is great, but not just wrestling. Youth sports in general are great; they are

essential to youth development as it teaches personal maturity and interpersonal relationship

skills. Youth participation in sports are often associated with many positive and negative

developmental outcomes. This is often referred to as sport-based positive youth development.

The lack of exercise is exacerbated by kids going home after school and watching television or

playing computer games rather than riding their bicycles or playing pickup basketball and

baseball games. As a result, advocates are pushing for an increased emphasis on physical activity

to combat diabetes, ADD, and childhood obesity.

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Youth participation in sport is associated with positive developmental outcomes at an

individual level, within peer and family dynamics, as well as throughout a broader socio

demographic. “Sport is multidimensional and can be used as a hook to garner interest, a medium

where lessons and skills can be taught, a mechanism to promote positive change,” stated

Newman Tarkington on his article “An Experiential Approach to Sport for Youth Development.”

Sports are a great way to balance homework and practice/games which ultimately lead to better

time management and responsibility. Being good at these tasks will help tremendously in

college, career path, and then onto life itself. Students also learn to become passionate about the

sports they love or enjoy and tend to make it a priority causing them to put in extra time to excel

at those sports. It teaches athletes to put in extra time by themselves to improve their skills and

get better overall as not only a player but as a person for the things they are passionate about. If

you don’t meet certain expectations/ responsibilities from coaches, there will be consequences

such as extra running or doing more of an intense workout just like if you fail to do your job

correctly or show up on time, you will get fired. They all ultimately apply to real life situations.

In the future, when you get a job, traits like these are great to have as it leads to nothing but a

higher chance for success and better responsibility skills to get your work done and more

importantly on time.

Commitment is a person’s dedication or obligation to a certain cause or activity. In the

world of physical activity/ exercise, sports teach players to be committed to their coaches,

teammates, family, the sport itself, and most importantly, themselves as a player. When

committed to a sport, you are making a devotion out of your daily lives to focus on strengthening

your skills to become a better player and serve as a greater asset to your team. “Dedication and

commitment are what’s it’s all about. You don’t have to be the most talented player on the field,
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but you better be the most determined,” stated Cherry Webster on her article regarding “Sports is

a metaphor for life and business success.” Many hours of hard work and dedication is required in

order to do so and can be mentally exhausting at times, but perseverance strengthens individual

skills and their mindset towards various life challenges. You must refuse to let fatigue,

exhaustion, and laziness win over your state of mind and continue to push through. Constantly

attacking your task at hand with high energy and enthusiasm, the better off you will be. Being

committed to yourself as an athlete also means that you must also hydrate properly, attain a

proper amount of rest/ recovery, and maintain healthy eating habits. All of these points will help

tremendously in the long run as your attitude in regards to what life has to offer will be overall

superior and will help to maximize the reward you get out of it. Commitment to your peers/

teammates is a huge aspect of self character. You must show that you are consistent with pushing

them to the best of their abilities, being unselfish, giving everyone the equal amount of respect

that they deserve, being both mentally and physically supportive, and being a universal team

player on and off the field. This leads me to my next point of commitment towards your coaches

and surrounding others. Players must commit to being hard working, responsible, honest,

coachable, and most importantly respectful. Coaches, athletic trainers, athletic advisors/

counselors, teachers, fans, and friends all take the time out of their day to show support and help

you to perform to the best of your ability. “Coaches have a critical role in the psychological

development of youth sport participants as they are often considered a significant agent in

shaping the character of the young people whom they coach and the environment that the young

people experience,” states Lee Ye Hoon in his article on Social Responsibility, behavior and

personality. Having said that, the least you can do to show appreciation back is to simply commit

to those actions.
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Responsibility is something youths don't fully understand. Through sports, responsibility

is taught without even realizing it. Being on time for practice, fundraising, managing your time

are just a few things that are the early cornerstones that are molding the athletes into the people

they will become. It makes you dependable for you own actions and ensures that you will fulfil

your obligations. These are such important life lessons that will carry on with you for life. As

you get older your responsibilities become more defined and specific, such as doing what you

say your going to do. “Each player had to complete his task to achieve a common goal. If one

team member did not carry his load then our collective efforts would collapse,” says Earl Butch

Graves in his article “What Playing The Game Will Teach You About Business.” The

responsibility factor gained from sports teaches to maintain good self control, judgement, and not

making excuses when you are truly at fault. Being accountable for your decisions, good or bad,

makes the individual realize that there are consequences for being irresponsible. With any sport

in general, every position has a very specific purpose and if one person does not follow through

it can cause a broken play, game loss, or even injury. This lead us back to the factor of

responsibility and how crucial it is to proceed with your best efforts in every action/ decision

made.

Teamwork in sports not only contributes to a better performance by the team, but also

helps to practice good life virtues and traits to have when it comes to working with others,

especially to accomplish a common goal. “Your team is your most valuable asset. Surround

yourself with people who can help you achieve your goals, people who respect and value you,

people who sincerely want to see you achieve your dreams,” says Cherry Webster on her article

regarding “Sports is a metaphor for life and business success.” When student athletes partake in

sports, they strengthen themselves as individuals on the field, which ultimately translates to skills
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needed in their present and future life. Teamwork is also crucial due to the fact that it helps to

build stronger social skills in terms of communication with others/ peers. “All parts of life

require some type of cooperation for everyone to move forward,” says Tom Bowen on his article

“Why it’s important to develop teamwork skills in sports.” Contributions and sacrifices that are

learned to make throughout sports follow into future school and career paths. When teams work

together and have great teamwork skills, they grow stronger together and overall, make the team

that much better. It is important to realize that when dealing with a team (job, school, or sports)

that no one person is at fault for not achieving something in particular or accomplish a certain

goal. As a team you must come back together and review the things that you did wrong in the

first place to avoid doing it again in any similar upcoming scenarios. “When a group of athletes

identifies itself as a cohesive unit, the entire team benefits and grows stronger together.

Teamwork skills lift everyone to new heights,” states Tom Bowen on his article “Why it’s

important to develop teamwork skills in sports.” Whatever profession you go into, it is crucial to

minimize the amount of mistakes made as too many can result in a job loss.

Kids also learn to respect authorities, rules, team colleagues, and opponents as this is very

important to be aware of when dealing with your career or job in the future. By playing sports,

children will not only become stronger physically, but mentally too. Best of all, kids will learn

how to overcome any obstacles and challenges that will come their way. Sports are quite

beneficial for children as it develops good physical skills, exercise, new friendships, having fun,

learning to be a team member, learning about play fair, improving self-esteem, etc. Overall,

responsibility as a whole is key to a team’s success and towards achieving goals. In sports,

teamwork directly converts to team success, which the same goes for business/ career success, as

professions require an ample amount of communication and working with others. With
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teamwork comes great responsibility in both sports/ school and career path as we will take better

care of our surroundings and hold each other accountable for higher expectations/ duties.

Respect is a huge aspect of life that is taken into account in teenage years and adulthood.

The mindfulness about respect must be imparted in each individual from his youth whether he

has a place with a lower social class or lives in a higher segment of society. Respecting your

folks, educators and elders is the principle towards instructing the importance and significance of

respect in our life. Respecting others is a noiseless method to express our inclination for them.

It's an implicit method for correspondence which construct strong and solid relations between

individuals regarding each other. “When children learn positive life lessons through sports, there

is no doubt they will become honest, reliable adults who will try to help others in need at any

moment,” quoted by the Novak Djokovic Foundation on their article on “The Importance of

Sports for Children.” At the point when someone indicates respect for somebody, it implies that

the individual has some type of value for that individual. Having said all that, respect is built

throughout the players when dealing with opposing teams, peers/ teammates, coaches, other

parents, referees, and higher authority in general. Treating everyone with courtesy and

appreciation, avoiding trash talking, negative comments/ cheers, and not going overboard with

celebrations/ taunts are some of the fews ways of showing good respect. Just as the golden rule

states, treat others the way you want to be treated. All players should be appreciated regardless of

ethnicity, race, religion, etc, and ultimately shows good sportsmanship. It puts a non monetary

value on your self worth and your perception from others. This could be the difference of getting

that job you always wanted, getting a promotion, or even making a new meaningful relationship

in your life.
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Social habits and skills are vital in sports whether it’s between teammates, coaches, or

even parents. Good communication/ social skills are the foundation of any strong relationship

between two individuals. In regards to sports, there are many conversations, activities, and

complex plays that can’t be executed without proper communication between players and

coaches. Social skills are enhanced without much effort in sports as it is just a natural thing to do,

especially in team sports. Social habits go a long way and can be a huge first impression so you

want to make sure you sound as smart and respectable as possible. “Engagement with others as

part of a team or through group activities allows youth to develop skills in social interaction, goal

setting, discipline, emotional maturity, physical activity competence, and many other abilities,”

states Margaret Storm on her article regarding "Sink or Swim: Promoting Youth Development

through Aquatics Programs in Baltimore, Maryland." Team sports also teach youth athletes to

work well with others and how to approach others when having to work with them or when

learning their values to the team. When communicating in the workforce, social skills are

essential especially when dealing with various personalities. You must adapt and change in order

to get your point across or come to agreement on specific things when dealing with co-workers.

As youths develop in school and in life, they grow into levels of personal maturity. Sports

that are infused into their lives allow them to grow and mature in different ways and stages of

life. Emotional reactions play a big part on how you fit in with your peers and determines to

what extent you allow yourself to be fulfilled. Happiness, anger, sadness and excitement are all

emotions that have a different levels of how one copes with any situation they are faced. For

example, during a basketball game, one may take the shot instead of passing the ball. Their level

maturity may allow patience or a more level headed decision. Additional ideas when faced with

adversity or things don't go as planned, mature approaches could be listening more, not talking
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back, realizing how much you dont know, being considerate of others, not taking things

personally, taking into consideration your actions, good manners and thinking before you speak

or act. All of these emotions create different paths based on your level of maturity, as I truly

believe that through adversity comes wisdom. Youth and high school sports are filled with

adversity and this is when pivotal decisions are made. Based on the outcome, it allows for

gradual mature growth.

Wrestling is one sport that you contribute to the team, but have the most physically

demanding and mentally challenging factors on an individual. From the discipline of weight

management and conditioning to mental roller coaster of wins and defeats. A single point to a

single second can make the difference of a champion or not. Talking from personal experience,

the bonds you make with your teammates are typically like no other, because of the sacrifices

that are made and physical challenges you put on each other, sharing in the highs and lows of

success. There is success even for losses because their is a gain with every loss and a level of

determination that is achieved when heightening your level of success every time.

Football, wrestling, and basketball have all helped to contribute to the young man that I

am today. They have all developed my morals, decision making, life skills, and has helped me to

realize that I would probably be a mess if it wasn’t for sports in my daily life. It has established

lifelong friendships, memorable coaches, and countless memories. Football taught me how to

persevere through cuts and bruises which ultimately feeds on to a strong mindset when faced

with challenges. Wrestling has taught me a lot about conditioning and that pain is temporary. It

stresses the fact that self confidence is key to self success and that you are accountable for your

own actions, especially with it being an individual based sport. Last but not least, basketball

taught me about the importance of teamwork and the basic principle of practice makes perfect.
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Making a basketball into a hoop is not easy and is definitely not a guarantee score, no matter

how many times you practice. With that being said, I practiced day in and day out with shooting

hoops in my backyard, at the local park, practice, or even during recess at school to improve my

accuracy and skills as a player. “No other thing in life affords children such opportunity to

develop positive character traits and to soak up many quality values as sports does,” stated the

Novak Djokovic Foundation on their article on “The Importance of Sports for Children.” This

leads me back to the fact that commitment, dedication, and responsibility are major components

in sports and promote future life success.

Sports turn out to be a general illustration for life and individual achievement later on in

the future as skills and characteristics gained from the playing field change into adulthood. I

believe that every kid growing up or that are still in their early childhood years should be

actively participating in a local sport team or individual sport. Kids should be able to look back

to their parents when they’re older and heavily thank them for signing them up for sports early

on. Athletes should be able to look back on how sports have shaped them into the person that

they are to day and realize that sports has been a huge impact on their life. Living in the 21st

century, technology continues to dawn above us and the youth of society are starting to become

lazier and less productive by browsing the internet and playing video games indoors. This issue

leads to an even bigger issue of obesity, diabetes, ADD, etc. Sports have so much to bring to the

table and enhance youth skills but some parents just let their kids slide with not participating in

local sports. I understand that some kids are socially undeveloped, physically unstable, or a

simple no interest in playing but sports provide nothing but help for these problems and will

improve basic life skills that much more. It doesn’t hurt to try. Ultimately, sports are definitely a

metaphor for life as it advocates future/ business success and adulthood life skills.
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Works Cited

Bowen, Tom “Why it’s important to develop teamwork skills in sports”. State Champs. 4 Apr

2017.https://statechamps.com/teamwork-skills-sports/ Accessed 30 Oct 2017

Cherry Webster.”Sports is a metaphor for life and business success” Linkedin. Linkedin, 22 June.

2015. Web 8 Sep. 2017.

Earl Butch Graves. “What Playing The Game Will Teach You About Business” Ebsco Host. Black

Enterprise., 1 March. 2014.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=9&sid=95a93d43-421c-4d95-bc3

3-54d0661c87fa%40pdc-v-sessmgr01. Accessed 16 Nov 2017.

NDFAdmin. “The Importance of Sports for Children.” Novak Djokovic Foundation. Novak

Djokovic Foundation., 2 April. 2015.

https://novakdjokovicfoundation.org/the-importance-of-sports-for-children/. Accessed 9

October 2017.

“School sports teach teamwork and commitment.” CtPost. Hearst Media Services. 24 Nov 2009.

http://www.ctpost.com/news/article/School-sports-teach-teamwork-and-commitment-26360

3.php. Accessed 17 Oct 2017

“Sports is Life - Business and Sports.” On One Hand Business... On the Other Hand

Sports,garyhorvath.com/sports-in-general/sports-is-life/. Accessed 19 Sept. 2017.

Storm, Margaret K. "Sink or Swim: Promoting Youth Development through Aquatics Programs in

Baltimore, Maryland." Journal of Park & Recreation Administration, EBSCOhost, 1 Mar

2017.

http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=18&sid=9e38c466-d102-425d-9a

53-97d8613a3529%40pdc-v-sessmgr01. Accessed 31 Dec 2017.

Tarkington J. Newman. “An Experiential Approach to Sport for Youth Development.” EbscoHost.

Journal of Experiential Education. Sep. 2017.

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http://web.b.ebscohost.com/ehost/detail/detail?vid=0&sid=bcf5b77c-a668-4771-aaca-232bff6

8c2cb%40sessionmgr104&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZQ%3d%3d#AN

=124605604&db=tfh. Accessed 5 Dec 2017

YE HOON, LEE. "Relationship between Coaching Leadership Style and Young Athletes' Social

Responsibility." Social Behavior & Personality. EBSCOhost. Sept. 2017.

http://web.a.ebscohost.com/ehost/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?vid=13&sid=8396f58b-4c18-42c9-92

94-191fc0697d85%40sessionmgr4008. Accessed 29 December 2017