Playing sports is a privilege no matter how you look at it. I think that's one of the best ways to view it no matter who you are. So of course there are going to rules to playing sports that everyone will just have to live with. I don't think that any of the rules that are set in place for any sport is outrageous or uncomprehensible. Most of the rules are there so that not only will the atlete be better or the field, but better is life as well. There are rules such as for student athletes you have to maintain a certain gpa just to be eligible to play, or that suspension from the team could happen for any off the field infractions. Then you have some rules that make it mandatory for all athletes to dress up in professional attire when traveling with the team. Just looking at some of these rules, the purpose is to get athletes prepared to take on other aspects of life not just sports. So can we really get mad at these rules? I seriously doubt it. I only have a problem when there are rules placed on kids that are expecting them to act like adults. That's what I don't think is fair. Starting in junior high and so on is when having rules begins to make sense. Any children playing sports before they are in junior high school are just playing sports because their parents put them there. Their whole purpose for playing is for them to have fun. You really can't expect a child at those ages to have the mental capacity to understand each and every rule in their entirety. For those that believe that they can are just being completely unreasonable. So when I hear about a 9 year old girl being banned from a tennis club because she grunted during her match, that bothers me. First of all, why would a 9 year old be playing at a tennis club anyway? To me that seems to be way more advanced than normal tennis. Secondly, how would you expect a 9 year old to act? Again it all goes back to mental capacity or the lack of at that age.
I believe that parents play a major role in kids playing sports. I also believe that parents tend to take things way too far at times. Instead of explaining these rules to kids in terms that they can understand is major. Once these kids know the rules they also have to be aware of what could and probably will happen if they break these rules. The only thing is as adults we can't be but so hard on a child if they do break these rules. Honestly who really cares if they break these rules or not at that age. They are supposed to be having fun playing sports not dealing with all of the added pressures that we as adults place upon them. In this situation I don't think the little girl should be held accountable and punished. I think that we as adults should be held accountable and punished.

Growing up as a rather wild child my parents threw me in many different sports. My parents did not make me see s doctor for my problems they just had me get rid of all my extra energy by playing sports. I personally believe today that sports have helped me through out the years to grow and mature as an adult and student. Sports can teach you many things and when you start sports at a young age, for fun, you begin to learn important life skills to help you mature at a faster rate. When you start playing sports at a young age you learn a lot about respect. You must have respect for the coach as well as respect for the others on your team. You then carry that respect into your own house with your family as well as to school with teachers and other students.
Of all the sports I did I choose to continue swimming because it was the sport the personally helped me the most. I mean how a child could not be tired after swimming lap after lap for two hours. When I started swimming more seriously my parents had less problems with my behaviors, I would come home at night do my homework and go right to bed there were very few times they had to ask me more than once to sit down and do work. While at swim practice there were a few times when I would find myself getting in trouble. It was hard to concentrate when all I wanted to do was play under water. For a long period of time my coach would have me sit on the side when he was describing a set to us. Others times when I still could not sit still in listen he would make me sit out of part of practice which to me was possibly the worse thing in the world. Overall I had a very positive experience with swimming and it has helped me grow and mature. Without my coaches helping me along the way I would not be the young lady I am today.
I participated in some other sports as a child like softball, soccer, and hockey. I did not do them as seriously so I do not remember much about them. But I believe that a child should choose to do an after school activity whether it is a sport or a club to keep them occupied and out of trouble. In today�??s society we find children becoming trouble in school. �??Bullying has become- no doubt for just a brief moment- a nationally obsession as we discover that everyone in high school is either a bully or a victim.�?� (Grossberg 2005) If children were to attend regular after school activities they would learn to have respect for each other and therefore there may not be as much as a bullying problem.

People that participate in sport at a very young age can either have a very positive impact on his/her childhood or it can have a negative one. After reading the ESPN article about the nine year old girl who was kicked out of a tennis league for grunting too much I was absolutely appalled. What happened to her should be a lesson for coaches and league managers everywhere. Children are very sensitive and they need to take proper precautions to nurture the children of our future not try and demean them for something as simple as grunting while swinging the racket. I, myself was fortunate enough to have for the most part positive sporting experiences as a child.
Growing up, I played just about every sport, sports considered upper class sports (golf and swimming), �??middle class�?� sports such as football and baseball, and my favorite category, the lower class sports (I boxed and wrestled). I benefited from excellent parenting and was taught to always try to have fun and enjoy myself, and although I did achieve a good amount of success in most all the sports I played the most important thing was always the fact that these sports were fun to me. However, I do have one sad reminder as an adult of how many people do not have the child�??s best interests in their heart and rather winning and financial gain is more important.
When I was only 14 years old I began boxing and immediately fell in love with the sport. I couldn�??t wait to get to the gym after school and even had my mom give me rides on the weekend to the gym. I achieved a good amount of success and my trainer noticed I had potential. I continued boxing until this day. However, I am no longer with the same trainer (or any trainer for that matter) because I came to believe that the only reason he was treating me so nicely and buying me all kinds of equipment was so that he could put me in the position to owe him something. I told him I felt uncomfortable with him buying all of my equipment and to let me pay for my own, he persisted anyway. When I turned 18 he began pressuring me to turn pro so that he could make money off me even though I told him I didn�??t feel I was ready. Eventually, we had to part ties because when I decided I wasn�??t going to turn pro until after school things began to change between me and my trainer.
I think its sad that we live in a world where people are more money and power driven then love driven and many really do not �??love thy neighbor.�?� I also cannot believe that kids are being prescribed Ritalin at such young ages, of course they are going to be hyper! I was a hyper child, but thankfully my parents had the presence of mind to research ADD before they decided weather or not they would let a doctor take my childhood from me. As a result I feel that I thoroughly was able to enjoy my childhood as well as my sporting practices.

According to an article written by Amber Moore at University of Maryland College Park, the National Federation of State High School Associations reported that 7 million youth participated in high school sports in 2004-2005 and over 42 percent of youth participated in recreational sports during high school (Moore). What do these statistics mean for today�??s youth and our society?
It means that involvement in sport is a big part of being a kid. Much of a kid�??s childhood is spent on a practice field or in some kind of lesson. Relationships with their fellow players or students are built all throughout their life. These relationships also foster their sibling�??s experiences as well. For example, if an older brother plays baseball and a younger sister comes along, chances are she will play softball due to the environment that she is exposed to. I am can personally attest to this. I am the older brother. I have played baseball since I was four years old. My brother, four years younger than me, has also played baseball. I am sure it would have been the same pattern had I played lacrosse or basketball.
My sporting experience as a youth stems from my uncle. He is a physical education teacher. During the summer, he would spend a lot of time with my brother and I because he had summer break. So the majority of the activities that we were exposed to were sport-based. This gave the both of us a great amount of exposure to a variety of sports. My experience with sport is definitely unique.
My parents were also very cool with the discipline thing. I was not forced to play a sport or pick up an instrument. My parents left that choice up to me. The influence that I had was what led me to play the sports that I did. On the other hand, there are many kids that attend a sports camp, which I run during the summer and parents force their children there. �??I want to toughen him up,�?� one parent said to me. This attitude seems to occur more often than not. Some parents even go to the length to tell me that their kid needs to lose weight so that is why we decided to enroll him in sports camp. Another issue that pops up a lot is the area of discipline. Parents tell me that they have taken their child off of their medication for the summer and need them to be active in order to control their behavior. Grossberg says that we live in fear of our kids and in order to control them medication and imprisonment have, lately, been our means (Grossberg).
As a physical education major, I feel that Grossberg�??s foresight into this growing endemic is true but something must be done. Is sport the way to go? Absolutely! Youth sport involvement as a practical means of combating youth delinquency. Who in their right mind would do such a thing? �??Initiation into sports at a young age allows for the positive filling of a void in a youth�??s life at a critical stage.�?� Moore goes on to say, �??Offering an alternate activity that provides the same qualities as gang membership should become part of the recruitment strategy for youth sports (Moore).�?�
That is what my argument is all about. Alternatives to the medicinally driven disciplinary tactics are in dire need. Involvement in sports and team building activities are a great way to combat this issue of discipline. Like I said, my parents were never big on forcing me into a sport and I never really was a bad kid. As a youth sports instructor, this is a great method for kids to get on and stay on the right track.

As a kid I never participated in organized sports, not by choice! Unless you count gymnastics and ballet in elementry school, but that�??s where it stopped! I was raised by a single parent who had so much to do that sports were not an option for me. I would have liked to been able to participate but was not given the opportunity. But, I had many activities and games I enjoyed. I would skateboard, complete ropes courses, flag football, ride bikes, hike and enjoy many other activities in the neighborhood as a child. But, structured teams and games I have never have been apart of. I would have loved to been the kid on the soccer team getting orange slices and winning a game! In High School I was friends with everyone but, I felt uncomfortable around certain �??Preps�?�. And even more how the teachers let them do whatever they wanted. I attended Aberdeen High School and we have always had a strong basketball program, football and baseball program. We also have lacrosse, soccer, wrestling, golf, track and field, field hockey and so many other sports to choose from. I was proud of our schools athletic department just never got to be a part of it. Our coaches were the gym teachers and they definitely had their favorites. Not only in class but on the field you would build a relationship with the coach. In class you would notice certain benefits of being involved in certain sports. The students who were not involved barely existed! Varsity students could break rules that other students couldn�??t. What you receive from organized sport is such an individualized experience! As an outsider looking in I feel it�??s a positive experience as long as everyone involved is making their own positive decisions. Youth need understanding and compassion in their life not competitive banter! However most of my cousins did participate in sports. Two of my male cousins received full scholarships to Boys Latin for wrestling. Their father was so hard on them. They felt as if their father was trying to live through them. Just as the Espn article discussed of the 9 year old tennis player who was pushed to be the best and showed her ugly side, so do a lot of athletes. This explains my choice of recreational activities now. I like to inline skate, long board, snowboard, swim, walk, hike and so many other individual sports. Individual sport makes me feel comfortable and un-controlled! I am the Director of a skatepark at which I practice my inline skating. I practice yoga and pilates and feel very balanced as a person raised with out organized sports in my life. But, I would have liked to been able to choose between organized or unorganized sport. Some of my friends remember organized sport as a horrible experience. We are pre-molded from our youth and every circumstance teaches us about life and leaves us with a memory/feeling. Some of my friends remember organized sport as a horrible experience. The people that you deal with in these experiences what determines if the memories are positive or negative.

I agree with Towsongurl08's opinion on the lack of communication between children and parents. There is more and more pressure put on adults to be successful in the workplace. Too often, parents choose their work over their children. Society has greatly changed from the stay at home mom who takes care of the kids, to the working mom who calls a babysitter. I think this causes children to act out and find people other people to model. Without proper discipline from parents, we can't expect children to behave properly.

I am responding to Karagoodwin25 that I agree how the media exploits all the wrong things about the youth today. They tie children to drugs and violence all the time in the media. Although my high school was huge and in a small town, they still wanted to get metal detectors in our hallways. Why doesn't the media go to to Universities campuses and leave the youth alone to have their innocent fun sometimes? You constanly tell these kids that their violent and watch what they are going to give you, exactly what you asked them for.

�??Urban communities have recently had a significant growth in the number of public and privately sponsored initiatives that endorse and promote providing sport and recreation activities for underserved youth as a means to alleviate urban distress�?�(Pitter and Andrews, Serving America Underserved Youth). Youth athletics participation is at an all-time high today. They were invented as a form of entertainment for children, but have now turned their focus on administering discipline and introducing competition. Children are no longer having the same levels of enjoyment, and it may sometimes affect the child�??s character in the future.

I began participation in sports by the age of four. Visiting Honduras with my mother was the highlight of my summer. I would play courtyard soccer for hours everyday, and I was also involved in city-wide youth soccer leagues. Although my parents were constantly pushing me to take up boxing and play soccer, I eventually made the decision to play football at the age of six.

Youth league football, also known as Pee-Wee football, has the largest turnout of any other sports. The leagues are divided by each elementary school instead of city-to-city teams like most leagues in Maryland. The age groups are 7 to 8 year olds, 9 to 10 year olds, and 11 to 12 year olds. The first day of practice usually involved the basic fundamentals, weighting-in, assigning lockers, and positions. The part of the day where the coaches assigned position was more like the NFL draft, where they examined from head to toe. Once the second day began, things got a little more real.

In youth league football programs throughout the south, children are first taught the skill of aggression. They want a children to be aggressive every time the ball is snapped. Then, they teach them discipline. Children are punished with conditioning when they make mistakes on the field. I first experience discipline when I was picked for the position of tight-end. The league had a rule that no one over 130 pounds could run or catch the football. I apparently varied one or two pounds over and under from week to week. The coaches would tell me to run laps around the field until I began to sweat and then run inside to take a shower immediately before weighing in for a game.

This treatment continued all through elementary football, and then things changed a bit when I reached junior high school. Junior high school football teaches an athlete that football is not about born talent, but that it is about gaining strength and speed to become a talent. At this grade level, football, basketball, and baseball players are required to schedule their 2nd period class as their sport. This is an actual class where we would run and lift weights. By the age of twelve, I was working out three days a week and running two days a week already. I did earn a starting spot though for the junior high squad. The discipline and competition increased drastically when I then attended high school.

Varsity sports are another from of discipline and competition compared to elementary and junior high school. When I began 9th grade, I had to try out for high school football. After four weeks of brutal spring training, I ended up starting for the Varsity squad and playing a maximum of 12 minutes for the Junior Varsity squad. I had two huge responsibilities to cover. Best way to describe my freshman year was that I was constantly being yelled out, but they would make an excuse that yelling at me was only going to make me better. I was a 6ft 1in., 215 pound freshman playing offensive and defensive line that had a weight average of 275 pounds. I was constantly being beat up, thrown down, and pushed aside, even though I was still part of the starting team. Then, on the other hand, our Junior Varsity squad had been undefeated for four years, so I had to play my hardest for those 12 minutes before us Varsity starters were removed from the game. As the next year came around though, I was one of the top players in the region and even made All-State First Team. The discipline had paid off, but my body and mind was worn out.

I attended Louisiana State University and play football for the LSU Tigers. The two years I played college football there were the greatest days of my life. Those moments did not come easy though. In college, football becomes a job where you work in the morning, in the afternoon, and then again at night. It became a constant overload of conditioning, and then there was also keeping up with my academics. When I transferred to the University of Maryland, my football days ended. I was tired of the constant practicing and huge ordeal that goes on behind he scenes of sports. I have now decided to only play in recreational leagues.

The biggest priority of my youth was having as much fun as possible! This meant playing endless hours of Super Mario Brothers on the Nintendo video game system as well as participating in team sports such as baseball and basketball. I�??m pretty sure that my last concern was getting good grades. As I got older, my parents took away my video game time if I did not get good enough grades. They never took away the sports I wanted to play though because I think they felt I needed it to improve my social skills, due to the fact that I was extremely shy. Also, my parents did not force me to play any sport in particular. I was allowed to decide that for myself, which has had a big impact on my life today, because I could pretty much say that I know enough and am athletic enough to catch on and play every sport out there. Not only did I play baseball and basketball, but I went horseback riding, swam, played ping pong, hockey, bowling, football, golf and tennis. This is one of the reasons that being a gym teacher will come easy to me. I would definitely say that my sporting experience as a child was positive. Baseball was the most important sport to me when I was younger because it is where I met my best friend, Dorian, who was the largest and strongest kid in my grade. I, on the other hand, was the skinniest and weakest kid in my grade. Although I may have been skinny and small, that did not stop me from becoming the best pitcher on my school team, making the all-start team and leading my tee-shirt league team to a championship along with my friend Dorian. I took great interest in the articles I read this week because they related to my own life. In Grossberg�??s article, Kids, The Enemy Within, he says: �??Bullying has become-no doubt for just a brief moment-a national obsession as we discover that everyone in high school is either a bully or a victim of one. Bullying has become so extreme and so common that many teens just accept it as part of high school life in the 90�??s.�?� (17) I was constantly the victim of bullying, but Dorian was a tremendous body guard for me. Any time anyone would mess with me, he would step in and take care of business. One time he punched a kid in the mouth and chipped his tooth because the kid would not leave me alone. Although I do not condone that behavior, I felt it was fine due to the fact that I was not being left alone. During high school I played tennis. I was the best singles player on my team, and I must say that I always grunted during varsity matches. It really got into my opponent�??s head, so I just kept on doing it. It was the edge I needed against some really tough opponents. Therefore I find the fact that the young girl got kicked off the tennis team for grunting absolutely ridiculous. I have continued to play a few of the sports I participated in as a child mostly because of the same reasons as before. Being involved in sports is a way to meet new people, stay active and healthy. Currently, I tend to play sports that I am good at, such as tennis and basketball, although I am always interested in trying new things if I am given a comfortable environment to do so. In regards to the topic of the problem with our kids in this country, I must say that I place most of the blame on the parents. Kids are exposed to the television at a very young age. They begin to see commercials for such things as i-pods, video games and cell phones. When their class mates have these extremely expensive materialistic objects at such a young age, they in turn want to have the same things, and put tremendous pressure on their parents to obtain them. Most parents give in. These objects distract the kids in getting their school work done. When I was younger I was not allowed to watch certain television channels, watch pg-13 movies, or hang out at the mall on weekends. Actually, most of my weekend was spent doing chores where I earned stars for how many and how well I did them. Good deeds also earned me stars. Cursing and bad behavior took them away. A certain number of stars represented my weekly allowance. This taught me that being a good person and hard work paid off. But see, my parents took the time with my sister and I. It would have been easy for them to get rid of me on weekends and do the chores more efficiently themselves, but they wanted to teach me the right way for my benefit.

In response to karagoodwin25 's writing, I feel that you are absolutely on point with what you wrote about. That was cool how you did not quit softball because of your parents advice. I do think though that kids today are getting video games shoved in front of them by their parents because it shuts the kid up, and keeps them occupied. Overall, I enjoyed your writing, and I agree with most everything you had to say.

I agree with gstrat about playing because you love the sport. Now that I look back at the 13 years of effort I put into practicing and improving my game, I realize that it was all worth it because now I am doing exactly what I want to be doing�??playing lacrosse at a competitive division I school.

As I posted last week, I started playing sports at a very young age. I was about 6 when my parents signed me up for a youth lacrosse league. The league was for fun, and I did just that. I made friends, learned skills like teamwork and discipline, and learned about the game.

I believe this is how youth sports should be. I think parents are getting too pushy when it comes to sports. They are almost forcing their children to participate in athletics, which is not necessarily a bad thing, but then are also forcing them to like it. Most youth leagues are very political, because parents are so concern about their children getting enough playing time and being the best out on the field.

I was lucky to have my dad coach me throughout my childhood. He was the type of coach who did not give me special privileges, but at the same time was not too hard on me when I did something wrong. He told me that by signing me up for lacrosse, he was only trying to introduce me to new things. If I did not like playing, I could stop at anything and try something else.

I think this idea not as common as it should be. Parents are over enthusiastic about their own children, and worry about the things that are not as important, i.e. playing time. They should focus on more important things, such as their children�??s happiness.

On the other hand, it is important for parents to be involved in their children�??s athletic experiences. I also think that if a young child is excelling in a particular field, they should continue with that field. It is important for children to find something they are good at whether its school, sports, music or art.

In response to the young girl being diagnosed with ADD, I think America is over medicated. I think that people are too lazy and just assume that there has to be something wrong, something that can only be fixed by a prescription. I also believe that parents need a medical excuse for their child doing badly in school.

After reading the article, I have to sympathize with the 9-year-old girl. As an athlete who starting playing at a very young age, I understand how she feels. I don't think it is fair to take away something that she has found joy in at such a young age.

Overall. I had a very positive sports experience as a child. During my earlier years playing lacrosse, the leagues were mainly to teach the basics and to have fun. As I got older and better, I began participating in more challenging leagues, as well as camps, tournaments and clinics. It was my choice to participate in all the things I did, but my parents were there to support me 100 percent.

My sporting experience as a child was relatively a good one. I never had to deal with to many difficulties relating to discipline and control. As a youth I really did not get into playing sports with an organization until I was around 10 years old, and before this I was manly playing football, soccer, and roller hockey in the back yards of friends in the neighborhood. However, I do remember situations were politics came into play with certain organizations, relating to which players made which teams, and which players played more then others.
The first sport that I played for any youth organization was baseball. It was the easiest for my parents to get me started in and cost very little money. It was your basic non travel league, and consisted of like six or eight teams and we pretty much just played each other. It was sort of like a skill development league. Everyone got equal time and it was a good way to spend a Saturday afternoon. I remember that no matter what your talent level was, the coaches and people involved in the organization made everyone feel pretty equal. Looking back at this point in my sporting career, it really was a good experience. The people involved ran things the right way to keep the kids interested and having fun.
When I turned about 12 years old I started playing in the travel leagues for baseball, lacrosse, and soccer, and at this point is were I believe I was introduced to the politics of sports. When decisions need to be made about which kids make which teams, and which kids deserve playing time over others, those people with the power are not always going to make the fair decision. I remember that a lot of these travel teams had close knit relationships with the kids and parents that were on these teams in the past, and when it came to a decision about who makes the team or who plays, usually the new guy (although he was probably more talented) didn�??t make the cut.
I really started to notice this when I started to play ice hockey in high school. I remember me and my brothers first year trying out for the Howard Huskies. I remember my older brother trying out for midgets (the oldest age group 16 and 17 year olds). He was up for making the midget B team, and they cut him in favor of some guys who played for them the year before. This bothered me, because my brother was certainly good enough to play at that level, and instead had to play in the house leagues were he would score 3 to 4 goals a game.
Another incident that I can remember was when I was playing for the Washington Junior Capitals my junior year. I had the opportunity to go to the Chicago showcase tournament (a tournament for elite players to be seen by Div I, and pro scouts). The southeast district takes a team every year, and tries to take the best kids around, and how they do that is they form tryouts for kids who played little capitals (elite travel), MSHL (high school), and then the CBHL (travel leagues). Now majority of the time most of the kids come from the little caps organization, however there are those few talented players that decided that they could not afford, or could not make the commitment to play for the little caps, and therefore setting up tryouts for these other venues helps select the best possible kids to go to this tournament. Now, after our tryouts I actually made the team and was put on the roster. About a week later, I break my collarbone in a game against Towson (ironically), and was forced to miss our playoffs. Well a few players from our team decided that our junior team was not good enough to go any where in the playoffs that year, so they decided to stay down here and play for there high school (Dematha Catholic). They were working on an undefeated season, and these players felt that this was more important. Well the organization decided to punish those junior players that did not travel with our team to the playoffs by removing our names from the roster for the showcase. Now there was still in option for qualifying for the tournament but you had to be chosen from the MSHL tryouts. In the end, there were four of us removed from the roster and I was the only one that did not get invited back. The team actually had to add two roster slots in order to accommodate bring back the other players. I feel the reason behind this because I was only in my third year of this sport, these players had been playing since they were 2 and 3 years old, there fathers were district mangers, coaches, and organizers. They would make sure their kids had the opportunity to go to this tournament.
Ultimately I believe that my experience with sports as a youth was relatively pleasant and expected. Nothing in this world is fair or perfect, and sport, while being a great means for children to express themselves, build confidence, and spend there time constructively. It is in turn just a building block in the construction of our being. In the article that we read by Pitter and Andrews the stated that �??Although sport may provide the means of motivating youth and providing them with a more positive outlook on life, it can not by itself reverse the chronic unemployment , poverty, violent crime, and housing decay impacting their life chances�?�

I agree with DaVinci012 when he talks about the frustration caused by obsessed parents. Growing up I too saw my fair share of parents who went over board while attending a child's game and it made everyone feel uncomfortable.

I guess my childhood sport experiences really do not reverberate the tendencies that fanatical sport parents put their child through now days. I had always been a competitive little tike and had always been involved with some sort of organized sporting event since the age of eight. But never involved to the extent of where officials of a sporting event get involved in this magnitude. As I would see it and based solely on my generated opinion, youth sports today have become ten times fold more competitive than they ever were just in the past decade alone. Growing up I had always been involved with youth soccer organizations, martial arts studios, jet ski racing, and YMCA swim team. As I progressed through the school years (mainly middle school and high school) The essence of the developing physical body only made me want to drive harder and further improve my skill knowledge wise and with better coordination. Most of my friends that I remember growing up with pretty much had the same frame of mind. Seldom back then did I see a parent verbally assail his or her child for a lackluster performance during a competitive event. Maybe it was my being naïve and always in the know that my parents never did that towards myself. I was always given the choice to pursue a competitive venture or back down from one if needed. Would this be just luck of the draw? Or was it because my parents fully understood the need of not to push and persuade my development into some science experiment sport freak? I guess I would have to ask them to be 100% positive. But I am probably about 99.999% positive that they had left the choice strictly up to me to continue in participating in organized sporting events financially and emotionally. There were times however, that I do remember bearing witness to team members that had families whom always pushed them to the limits when it came to any competitive edge. At first, I was envious of this person as to the reason being of the physical presence their �??sport mom�?� or �??sport dad�?� gave them during our games. I would figure growing up and competing generally would want you to have some sort of fan following whether it is your parents, girlfriend, or friends in general. But these instances that do standout to me were the parents that were always trying to �??coach�?� their kids from the sidelines or from sitting behind the team bench. The �??assistant�?� coach to them so to speak. Many kids viewed this as the cool dad coming to all the games and shouting his lungs out (with colorful vocabulary) and usually this was acceptable. But what stood out to me the most was the frustration of that person or team mate had shown simply because of the fact that his or her parent was in attendance shouting and coaching at all the games. I even remember one instance at our basketball game where our starting point guard got so frustrated with his dad, he actually stopped at the sidelines, looked up into the crowd, pointed to his dad and said �??shut the f*ck up!�?� This of course was greeted with the immature jeers and cheers of the moment, but clearly the frustration was evident and always was. This display was probably shown during every game to this particular team mate of mine.
I guess I can say that even I had witnessed instances of severely competitive parents showing their affection for their child�??s sporting performances. This I would have to conclude is due to the success of such young stars being portrayed in the media today. Given names such as LeBron James, Michelle Wie, Freddy Adu, and Michael Phelps just to name a few. The high hopes of one day landing that multimillion dollar contract or full ride scholarship to an A.C.C. or S.E.C. college of some type mat be the motive of some of these hardcore sport parents, or maybe just the fact that they really want their child to be recognized. Whatever the case, these actions can inadvertently affect a child�??s up bringing directly or indirectly in my opinion. The sad part is, I don�??t see this practice slowing down but gaining more momentum and younger stars rise and the media further glorifies them in front of today�??s youth.

My youth sporting experience was amazing. I started playing basketball and football in the fourth grade. My time with those youth organizations were about as good as it gets for your average nine year old. I wasn�??t good enough to play in any elite club leagues, nor was I exposed to any of the extra competitive AAU circuits. I believe that I would actually have enjoyed playing in those leagues. I certainly couldn�??t get enough of the normal regular season for football and basketball. But who am I to say that I wouldn�??t have become burned out as many of these young kids do nowadays playing these sports 310 or so days during a calendar year. I consider myself lucky to still enjoy playing the sports that I grew up playing. I attribute this to my parents. Some people have parents who don�??t really care at all what there children do or, their parents care too much. If a child doesn�??t want to play, they shouldn�??t be forced to play by anyone. I feel that could only lead to a poor attitude by the child who have no choice but to participate in something that they do not want to do. My parents would always show up and cheer for me at the games, and I received a lot of encouragement during the season. But if I wasn�??t feeling well on game day, they wouldn�??t force me to play. Instead, they left it up to me to make the decision to play or not. I wasn�??t questioned by my family as to why I didn�??t play football my freshmen year of high school. They let me make my decision and moved on. When I played the following year, they were there to cheer at my games, it was that simple. My mom and dad also used youth sports as a reward. The first sport that I ever played was football at the age of nine years old. I was having a great time but then midway through the year my grades started to slip. My mom removed me from the team and told me that I would only be able to play when my grades became acceptable. That may be the best thing that ever happened to me as far as my education went. From then on. I used sports as a motivational tool to do well in school. Due to my experiences as a youth athlete, I am kind of scared as to which parent that I will become. It is easy to say that I will be like my parents who did nothing but support and never forced me to do play something I didn�??t want to play. Or, because of my great experience, will I become the parent who forces there kid to play sports because �??I know�?� how much joy it could bring a child.
Last year, I wrote a paper on almost the exact same thing that Grossberg wrote about in his article of �??Kids, The Enemy Within�?�. My thesis was something along the lines of kids just do not care and that our future as America was in trouble. In my paper, I interviewed two previous teachers of mine. They helped me come to the decision that, kids themselves aren�??t worthless and they aren�??t necessarily taking a turn for the worse. Its just that in the age of the cell phone and the internet, a lot of information is readily available and they are more exposed to things that previous 13 and 14 year olds have not been. In the article it says�?��?�youth comes not only to represent everything that has gone wrong in this country but in the end be the cause of it�?�. I agree with this statement to an extent. Sure some kids do dumb things sometimes. But to give them the main responsibility as to why there is wrong in our country is completely ridiculous. I have seen shows like �??To Catch a Predator�?� that shows that there are still extremely disgusting adults out there, who are in a lot of cases the ones raising our kids of today. That, is scarier then any kid running around nowadays.

My experiences as a child were limited in youth sports. My parents decided to enroll me in dance lessons and Girl Scouts instead of a youth soccer or softball league. Instead of going to weekly practices and games, I danced about one time a week until middle school, when I started dancing two-three times a week. In addition to increasing the number of times I danced in a week, I switched dance studios for many reasons. The main reason was that I was not satisfied with my dance teachers and the studio itself. My parents and I both agreed that it was time for a change. At the new dance studio, I was happier and more content with the classes, teachers, and the style that the dance classes were taught in. I stopped taking dancing lessons once I hit high school because I wanted to get involved in one of the sports offered at my high school and with a more demanding schedule, I did not have enough time to dedicate to dance.

In high school, I was on the cross country for one year and the track team for 3 years. I did not have the typical high school experience mainly because I attended an all girls private Catholic high school. Many of the schools in the area considered my school as �??beneath�?� them simply because my school was very diverse not only in race but in religion as well. Our track team was known as the �??ghetto track team�?� in our division because we were not just a team of all white girls. All of the other all girls private high schools thought that they were better than us, but they were proven wrong. My high school�??s track team could outrun most of the other high schools that we were competing against in any event. In my sophomore year, we were undefeated and in my junior year, we only lost one meet. I do feel that I experienced very positive experiences during my high school athlete years. These days when I was on a team have been some of the best memories so far. It is a great feeling to be a part of a team and to fill that you belong to something. Even though my coaches expected a lot out of each of us on the team, they always supported us and did whatever they could to help improve our downfalls.

There is been a complete 180 to kids in schools today compared to when I attended elementary/middle school. The reasons contributing to this are influences from society and lack of communication between parents and their kids. During high school and the first two years of college, I was a camp counselor which has given me not only a lot of experience with children but insight into why a lot of adults are concerned about children. Children will look up to just about anyone that they think �??is cool�?�. During my sophomore year of college, I became a nanny for one particular family. Two-three days a week I would watch three girls�?? ages ranging from 6-10 years old until their parents got home. As soon as they got off the bus stop, they were my responsibility. I helped each of them with their homework as well as other odds and ends. The girls looked up to me, and it was my responsibility to make sure I was setting a good example for them. Majority of children look up to their older siblings because they are closer in age to them than their parents. In our present society, adults including young adults like, myself are too busy to take time out of our busy schedule�??s to spend with children and make a positive impact on their lives. As a result, children are looking up to celebrities who are not being very good role models such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. They are teaching kids especially girls in middle and high school that it is cool to dress like a �??slut�?�, drink, and use drugs. As Senator Bill Bradley states, �??We are in danger of losing a generation of young people to a self-indulgent, self-destructive life-style�?� (Kids, 22).

My experiences as a child were limited in youth sports. My parents decided to enroll me in dance lessons and Girl Scouts instead of a youth soccer or softball league. Instead of going to weekly practices and games, I danced about one time a week until middle school, when I started dancing two-three times a week. In addition to increasing the number of times I danced in a week, I switched dance studios for many reasons. The main reason was that I was not satisfied with my dance teachers and the studio itself. My parents and I both agreed that it was time for a change. At the new dance studio, I was happier and more content with the classes, teachers, and the style that the dance classes were taught in. I stopped taking dancing lessons once I hit high school because I wanted to get involved in one of the sports offered at my high school and with a more demanding schedule, I did not have enough time to dedicate to dance.

In high school, I was on the cross country for one year and the track team for 3 years. I did not have the typical high school experience mainly because I attended an all girls private Catholic high school. Many of the schools in the area considered my school as �??beneath�?� them simply because my school was very diverse not only in race but in religion as well. Our track team was known as the �??ghetto track team�?� in our division because we were not just a team of all white girls. All of the other all girls private high schools thought that they were better than us, but they were proven wrong. My high school�??s track team could outrun most of the other high schools that we were competing against in any event. In my sophomore year, we were undefeated and in my junior year, we only lost one meet. I do feel that I experienced very positive experiences during my high school athlete years. These days when I was on a team have been some of the best memories so far. It is a great feeling to be a part of a team and to fill that you belong to something. Even though my coaches expected a lot out of each of us on the team, they always supported us and did whatever they could to help improve our downfalls.

There is been a complete 180�?� to kids in schools today compared to when I attended elementary/middle school. The reasons contributing to this are influences from society and lack of communication between parents and their kids. During high school and the first two years of college, I was a camp counselor which has given me not only a lot of experience with children but insight into why a lot of adults are concerned about children. Children will look up to just about anyone that they think �??is cool�?�. During my sophomore year of college, I became a nanny for one particular family. Two-three days a week I would watch three girls�?? ages ranging from 6-10 years old until their parents got home. As soon as they got off the bus stop, they were my responsibility. I helped each of them with their homework as well as other odds and ends. The girls looked up to me, and it was my responsibility to make sure I was setting a good example for them. Majority of children look up to their older siblings because they are closer in age to them than their parents. In our present society, adults including young adults like, myself are too busy to take time out of our busy schedule�??s to spend with children and make a positive impact on their lives. As a result, children are looking up to celebrities who are not being very good role models such as Paris Hilton and Lindsay Lohan. They are teaching kids especially girls in middle and high school that it is cool to dress like a �??slut�?�, drink, and use drugs. As Senator Bill Bradley states, �??We are in danger of losing a generation of young people to a self-indulgent, self-destructive life-style�?� (Kids, 22).

I agree with jflesh1's points about parents getting their kids involved becuase of the apparent rise in youth crime. This is one of the main ways that parents think they are protecting children. I also agree with his statement about sports being a source of discipline, although I believe sometimes it is taken too far.

The way that children are being treated today is seen throughout the youth sporting experience. Fifty years ago, kids played sports more just for the fun aspect of it all. This is still seen somewhat today, but it had diminished greatly over that time span. Over the past few decades, children are being portrayed as more of a social and economic problem than who they really are. Grossberg talks about this in his book�??s chapter called, �??Kids, the Enemy Within�?�. It is commonly perceived that young children are unruly and need to be more closely monitored; at the same time, teenagers are perceived as downright dangerous to adults.
When I was growing up in the eighties and nineties, this perception was just beginning to come into the public eye. There was not as much trust, or even plain respect, for children to do their own thing as it was in my parents�?? generation. Parents started to see the outside world as a serious danger to their kids, when for them it was an adventure. At the same time, many parents weren�??t pleased with their kids staying in and just playing video games, which were emerging at my childhood days. I wasn�??t shut in, but I definitely didn�??t have a whole lot of freedom to venture off outside. I think these factors started to change the way youth sports were as well.
Parents want their kids to play in organized sports more now so that they are watched over, and the kids aren�??t just running the streets. I played in organized sports throughout most of my childhood. I might not have played as many as others, but I usually had one organized sport to play for that year. As I got older, I noticed that youth sports had become more and more structured and disciplined. This wasn�??t just because I was getting more mature; I noticed it in younger child groups as well. More and more coaches seemed to be harsher on the players and looked for more competition. I understand this approach to a certain extent. If the young athlete is trying to do something with the sport, then that�??s one thing. On the other hand, if a child just wants to play, then there is definite problem with that approach. This is especially wrong, in my opinion, when the harshness and competitiveness is geared toward very young children.
Adults think that the children are out of control. They don�??t take into account for changing factors of society and economy; they just want to believe that kids nowadays are generally deviant. Of course this attitude contributes to the more structured and disciplined sporting programs, but it also leads to other possibly detrimental actions. Children are being forced to take medications for basically just acting like a kid. Yes, there are some children that are maybe a little too rambunctious, but for the most part it�??s unnecessary. In my years growing up, not too many people I knew took medication for anything other than asthma. Now, it seems like half the children (not to mention the adults) are on something to regulate their body and mind. Ritalin is probably the best-known example of a child drug to regulate activity. As Bratter states in his article, �??The Myth of ADHD and the Scandal of Ritalin�?�, the drug can cause adverse reactions in the brain. It can lead to violence, psychosis, dysphoria, and excitability. This is no wonder since they�??re basically giving the kid some cocaine.

I agree with Jackie812 when she said she now plays for fun becuase she feels she has spent enough time being competitive and having a coach bark in her ear. That is how I felt after my senior year of high school and would rather have the pure fun I used to have years ago back.

i agree with what TOSteen was saying about the culture shock you recieve when you make the jump from youth sports to more competitive sports. I can remember my first day of travel team baseball. I was 13 on a team built for 15 and 16 year olds, and besides all the running I did that day, the coach lost his voice because he was so hoarse from yelling. If it wasnt for my determination and inability to quit something, I would have given up that first day. I didnt play much, but I did have plenty of bruises at the end of the season from how brutally hard they would hit baseballs at us to get us to not be "afraid" of the ball. If there was one thing i learned that summer, it was how bad the baseball hurt if you were dumb enough to throw your body in front of it.

Everyone�??s youth sporting experiences are different. There are kids who grew up lucky enough to have a parent as a coach, and in return usually saw the most playing time of anyone on the time, unless that coach happened to be granted a young Derek Jeter or Adrian Peterson-like gift from God. There are then the kids who saw no playing time at all, often because their parents pushed them into a sport in which they had zero talent, and usually no interest in playing. Finally, there the kids like myself, who spent the majority of my youth sports career on teams where I was not �??allowed�?� to outperform the coaches�?? son, because that was just unacceptable. Even if that meant sitting the bench when I was 4 for 4 in a baseball game, because the coaches son hadn�??t gotten a hit yet. It brings me to my point, youth coaches today manipulate the lives of kids, and it is not that kids don�??t matter anymore, but more that kids are played as puppets by individuals with ego issues. Up until high school, when I was finally able to showcase my ability on a level playing field, I was held back from even having fun in the games I loved to play since childhood. Looking back on all that I accomplished, I would have to say that I had a severely negative youth sporting experience, and actually can�??t believe why I didn�??t quit half the teams I was on and take of chess, or archery. Ok, that is a little farfetched, but it would have been nice to play a sport when I wasn�??t under total control by a completely asinine, bias group of individuals from grade school to college.
I find it unbelievable that children are being diagnosed with A.D.D and other disorders at such a young age. In regards to what Prof. White said in his blog, I can tell you that when I was that young I was napping and going to school for a half a day, drinking milk and eating food off the floor. It�??s unreal the things they are attempting to teach children these days. I mean, Algebra? In first grade!? You cannot expect to teach these young children so much at such an alarming rate just because we as a country feel we now need to �??keep�?� up with Intelligence laden countries such as India and Japan. We wonder why we�??ve been hit with the label of technology-dependent or intellectually in superior, yet we have come to grips with a life that allows technology to control almost every aspect of our daily routine.
I have seen how harsh coaches can be on youth players, and myself not being a quitter have also witnessed plenty of children take the long walk off the field not to return. I feel as though in same way kids need discipline in sports, but not to a point where it makes them hate playing the sport they once loved. One thing in the readings that caught my attention was �??sports can deter destructive behavior�?� (Andrews). One thing that we as a population should adapt to is that sports are a way of teaching children discipline, self-control, teamwork, responsibility, and determination among others. By taking that chance away from them, or making it so it�??s not fun to learn those aspects of life, we leave them with nothing more then roaming the streets looking for trouble. If I could do it all over again, I would change A LOT of decisions I made regarding my youth sporting experience, but I would never trade in the experiences I had on the field.

Hey ESPNCRFRK, I agree with alot that you said in your blog. Politics were the reason that I quit baseball as a child, and I was able to see politics being played first hand in high school. Of course the politics were being played by the baseball team as they only played certain kids and the others were left to be cut. I took the smart road to avoid all of this and played lacrosse in high school. Best decision that I have ever made.

In response to TOSteen, I agree that it is important as a child to experience a wide variety of sports when you are young, I also think that it is important that the child if old enough gets to decide on the sports that he/she wants to play. I also agree that as you get older you tend to concentrate on only a few sports that peak your interests.

Mwenke1 wrote how society is abandoning and deserting our youths. How they are growing up in a very different world today as opposed to years ago when sex and violence was not so socially acceptable in our everyday culture. Today both parents work, years ago only the father did and the mother stayed home to raise the children being able to spend quality time. Parents do not have the kind of time today, they are not able to monitor what they are watching and what they are involved in. Therefore, kids get away with more and parents also want a quick fix to keep them behaved by putting them on drugs instead of spending time with them which is what children really need. Our society today is afraid to discipline children due to lawsuits and being accused of "abusing" your child so they get away with more and are not being held accountable for their actions.

Growing up I only participated in one organize sport which was soccer. Even though I only played one sport it definitely consume most of time since I played year around and sometimes on multiple teams. I first started playing soccer at the age of 4. I played at a local youth organization in Severn. When I first started playing soccer it was just a game and I enjoyed playing of course at that age no kid really knew what they were doing just running around kicking a ball, still it was fun for me. As I began to get older my father definitely imposed a stricter emphasis on the sport and my playing. No longer was it acceptable to just have fun and enjoy being out there, I was forced to play at a higher level then the other kids and make significant impact in the game. My father always held me to a higher standard as oppose to the other kids mainly because for many years he was the head coach and he wanted it be known that just because I was the coaches�?? son I was not going to receive any special treatment. It was a very difficult period in my life because I caught in between a mix of playing the game I love and living up to this standard my father always had for me. By the age of 11 my father took me out of the local youth organization and had me try out for local select teams in the region. At this point of my career the love of the game truly started to diminish, soccer was no longer a sport or activity it felt like a chore. Even though my heart wasn�??t in it I still continue to play throughout my childhood and into high school. By the time I was in high school I was completely burn out from soccer and really had no interest in playing, but out of guilt of disappointing my father I chose to play. I must admit high school soccer did teach me a lot about myself and has given me special memories. I often think about what high school would have been for me if I hadn�??t decided to play. High school soccer was the last time I play official organize ball. When I entered college I just wanted to focus on my school work and not be overloaded being a student athlete. I would say that my childhood experience with soccer was a positive one. Even though I was constantly pushed to perform it did teach me a lot about myself and the sport. Soccer has given me discipline, confidence, health and even a sense of style.
I still play soccer till this day, at a local indoor league once a week. The experience I have now is totally different from my younger days. Now it just a bunch of friends getting together to play one game a week, with no coach, no practice and no pressure. I think the reason I still play soccer now is because I still love the sport and now I play purely for the joy of the game. I don�??t have to perform to some coaches standard, there are no mandatory practices or even rules that organize soccer has. It truly has brought me back to the essence of the soccer, playing because you love to

I have to agree with ewilson when she stated how a lot of the things that were disciplined on you were pretty much common sense stuff that you are taught throughout your whole life. The only reason I think that sports basically try to teach you all of that stuff again is because many people like myself sometimes get away from it. I also have to agree with the fact that my parents did not push me to play things or live their sporting lives through me.

I agree with imnotsure75 when he said that there is a social hierarchy amongst youth because like one of my classmates said, �??There�??s always that one lunch table.�?� There definitely is a social class in school, and for me, this social structure was recognizable in elementary school. As we get older, the different social groups become more distinct and independent of one another. At my school, the group at the top of the social hierarchy was the student athletes. My school did not follow the stereotype of �??dumb jocks.�?� The athletes were all in the academic classes and determined to succeed on the field and in the classroom. The presence of sport is so important for so many different reasons. I hate that in society we are required to justify athletics in schools and do so by oversimplifying the benefit sport offers a person by saying �??it builds character.�?� No one asks what the justification is of having an art club or a drama department. So why does society question athletics? I hate that everything a person gains from participating in sport is over-looked or considered less important because it takes place on a field and not in the classroom. Sport enriches a person as much as a performance does to the actors in the drama club, sometimes in the same way, and sometimes not. And sport not only bolsters a person�??s growth mentally, but also conditions the body. I may be biased because I am the ultimate sport fan, but sports offer an athlete so much, no matter what level they participate or for how long. Sport deserves a lot more credit.

Like Safchik787 the sports I played were not very disciplined but I was required to attend because I made the commitment to play that sport and I needed to hold up my end of the bargain. Also like Safchik787 my overall youth experience was positive.

I agree with what mesx116 says about middle school years and sport. �??By the time I hit middle school if you didn�??t play on a traveling team and a recreation league you weren�??t any good.�?� It was viewed the same way where I grew up. Once I entered the sixth grade I was usually playing on at least two teams for the same sport. Typically this was soccer for me because it was played year round in my county. I remember being in classes in middle school talking with my friends from the team about some of the guys who didn�??t make the team and how they only played for the Rec. league. It was a shame but those guys who didn�??t make the club team in middle school gave up playing soccer right then and as the rest of us went on to be the jocks in high school, some of those guys went on to be the trouble makers. They didn�??t have the discipline of playing competitive sports in middle school and high school so instead of playing sports they started hanging out with the wrong crowd and they got into trouble with drugs and the law.

My childhood years were filled with many different sports, not by parent choice but by self choice. I was always trying to learn how to play a new sport even if it was just for having fun with the guys down the street. I made all the choices when it came to league sports. I decided which sports I wanted to play and when I would play them. Sometimes I would play soccer in the fall and sometimes I would play football. In the winter it was usually a combination of indoor soccer and basketball and in the spring I either played soccer, baseball, or lacrosse. As I got older some of the sports weren�??t as interesting to play as they were when I was younger so I would stop playing them. I only played baseball for one season because I was so used to the fast paced games of soccer, basketball, and lacrosse that it got boring for me standing at first base and having to play three hour long games in the heat of summer. My parents were really relaxed about my sporting situation. They would come to me before every season and ask what I would like to do and whatever I decided was what I did. All of the sports that I played before the age of 10 were strictly based on fun and teamwork. It wasn�??t until I tried out for a club soccer team during the summer before I turned 11 that I finally realized the �??dark side�?� of sports. My dad warned me before I went to the tryout that this type of soccer would be more about winning than it would fun. I ignored him and went to the tryout anyways and quickly found out that I wasn�??t ready for that level of play. I wasn�??t even 11 and they wanted us on a workout program going to the gym and running 5-6 days per week. I went back to playing the Rec. Sports during that next school year and got one last year of fun under my belt before succumbing to the world of competitive sports. I quickly received a culture shock that next summer when I made the club soccer team and the intense discipline and control took over my life. I learned to like the structure and the skill level of the team and the league and eventually I started having fun again but it wasn�??t for a few months after I started playing. What was once a negative experience turned to positive when I moved to the club level in all the sports I was playing. I enjoyed the competition and hanging out with my friends on the teams. I enjoyed the competition so much that I continued playing three sports all through high school and I even played lacrosse in college for a year. I stopped playing varsity sports in college because I didn�??t like the extreme level of competition that was on the table for a division-3 lacrosse team. It was above and beyond intense and the fun competition from my high school days disappeared, never to return.
If I had the chance to play any of the youth sports I played again I would immediately take that chance. I get so excited around Thanksgiving time nowadays because my friends and I always get together during our Thanksgiving breaks to play our annual game of football. Once we step onto the field we are immersed in the fun and enjoyment that we experienced in our youth. We will play for hours and hours just for the fun of playing. We also sometimes play pick-up basketball or lacrosse games again just to remember what it was like to hang out and have fun playing. I feel that I will always cherish my youth sporting experiences and I hope that when I�??m a parent I can treat my kids the same way my parents treated me. I want to be there to support them in whatever they decide they want to do and I don�??t want to ever force them to play a sport or play for a team that they don�??t want to. Hopefully by doing my part, they will be able to have the same great memories from their youth as I do.

As a kid, I was not involved in any sports until high school. The activities as a youth were girl scouts, tap and ballet, singing and dancing lessons, and recreation gymnastics. These were all my choice. My parents never enforced me to get involved or join any of these activities or stay in them if I did not want to for that matter. After a few years of girl scouts I did not enjoy it anymore and my parents allowed me quit and did not have any problems with it. As parents they always encourged us to do what makes us happy, because if we were happy then they were happy. When we moved later to a very suburban area, these activities were not offered in driving distance and I was unable to be involved in anything until high school when I was driving on my own. I was very sad but I never acted up or was put on any medications for parents now call "inappropriate behavior."
I had never heard of Ritalin until a few years ago. My friend has two children one being a boy about 11 years old. Recently I had noticied he had been lost a large amount of weight and was extremely thin and fraile. I had finally asked her about it, and she replied he was put on Ritalin due to his lack of attention and was hard to get to concentrate or pay attention. He had developed a poor appetite due to one of the side effects of the medication. Methylphenidate hydrochloride or Ritalin is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor. Dopamine, a neurotransmitter in the brain, functions in roles in behavior and cognition, motor activity, motivation and reward, inhibition of milk production, sleep, mood, attention, and learning. Cocaine, also a nervous system stimulant, is a dopamine reuptake inhibitor as well (Wikipedia, 2008). More research needs to be completed on medications like these. Several side effects are known as a result of Ritalin, one that was noted was a study done in Texas and 12 children had "suspected chromosome abnormalities" or cancer in other terms (Wikipedia, 2008).
Parents want a quick cure for their problems or issues that they think their children might have. Or they may be worried that if other children do not have these issues something must be wrong and I don't want my child to be the one everyone is looking at or is causing problems in school.
Continuing to partipate in sports later in life and after college can be a challenge. It is hard to balance work, a significant other, children, and a house as it is and playing sports can be one life's little extra luxories that might be able to be done on a scheduled basis. Doing it for pleasure and getting together with friends when you do can be more fun that when you remembered as a child.

Throughout my life, my parents never dictated my decisions. They were always there to give guidance and advice, but they never forced opinions on me. They involved my brothers and me in activities and surrounded us with people that would influence our lives in a positive way. While doing this, they taught us wholesome decision making and values. It is easy to see how this transitioned into my athletic life.

My mother and father are opposites when it comes to athletics. My mother never played an organized sport in her life. My father on the other hand, played in organized leagues as a child, in high school and college, and continued to play in his post-collegiate years. Not only does my father enjoy sports, he believes in the values and discipline that can be learned while playing on a team. It does not come as a surprise that when I was five years old, my father registered me to play soccer in the fall and tee-ball in the spring. He told me that it would be fun, especially since many of my friends were playing too. I enjoyed these recreational sports with low competition. To be honest, I remember the score was not kept to emphasize the learning and �??fun factor.�?� One of my favorite things about playing tee-ball, and eventually softball, was the bonding time I had with my father. For five years, my father was the team coach. I can remember how special it was that my dad was not watching me from the sidelines- he was on the field with me.

As I grew a little older, the sports I played were picked by me. My parents never told me what sports I had to play because they wanted me to enjoy them and stay involved. In Pitter and Andrews�?? article titled, �??Serving America�??s Underserved Youth: Reflections on Sport and Recreation in an Emerging Social Problems Industry,�?� they discuss organized sport in urban settings. These sports organizations are publicly and privately funded with the intention to keep kids off the street and reduce crime. For many children in urban areas, this is the only type of organized sport he or she will ever play. I consider myself blessed to have had more options in my athletic experience. Pitter and Andrews described suburban sport involvement as a means to stay healthy and keep the body active. I would describe my experience through sport in this manner. The recreational organizations I played in were paid for by the participant through registration fees and fundraising. In some ways, my experiences in these leagues were similar to urban sport organizations because I learned lessons in them. I learned discipline, teamwork, self-motivation, and how to take constructive criticism. These are not the same lessons that urban organizations teach, but they are lessons that I may not have experienced without sports.

Overall, the sports I participated in were for enjoyment. I had the opportunity to participate in a number of organized sports including soccer, basketball, softball, cheerleading, field hockey, and track. I played soccer and basketball for the social aspect. I was not particularly good at either one, which is why I stopped playing when it became less about having fun and more about winning. I gave up softball because I had a negative experience in middle school with a coach. I did not like her coaching philosophy or the way she ran practices. When I took a season off from it, I realized I did not miss it and I replaced it with track once I got to high school. This was the first independent sport I had ever participated it. I liked being competitive with myself and racing to a new personal best at every meet. It was a totally different sport experience from anything I had experienced. The only sport I still actively play through a club team is field hockey. My love for this sport intensified in high school when I played for an amazing coach, had two of my best friends on the team, and placed second in the state my senior year. I already loved playing, but these aspects made it even more positive and exciting.

Now, I participate in sports to stay active and have fun. I have had my years of competitive play and orders from a coach barked in my ear. I consider myself extremely fortunate to have had such a positive experience in athletics. I plan to involve my children in organized sport so they can have the same suburban sport experience I did. Like me, I hope they will have a positive athletic experience that will follow them throughout their lives.

Playing youth sports was a very positive experience in my life. Growing up I played a variety of sports. The main sports that I stuck with all the way up to college were football and wrestling. Both of these sports instilled values in me that I still follow to this day. I will start off talking about my wrestling experience as a child. To me, wrestling is a sport that needs a 100% commitment in order to even make it through a practice. I started to wrestle at the age of 10 and had no idea what I was getting my self into. The first practice I ever went to made me vomit from all the cardio activity involved. When I got home from the first practice I wanted to throw in the towel on my one day wrestling career. It was my father who convinced me to give wrestling another chance. So I continued to go to practice and the sport became more and more fun as I kept going. During the elementary school and middle school days I thought of wrestling as a fun activity I got to do with my friends. That all changed as I made the transition into high school wrestling. The practices for high school wrestling were focused around structure and discipline. If we were caught screwing around we were disciplined and made to do a variety of strenuous activities. It was because of this discipline that I began to exert more self control over my actions. Overall, wrestling was a great experience. I decided not to continue to wrestle in college because I wanted to experience the college life style as a non athlete.

Youth football probably had the biggest impact on my life. I started playing football at the tender age of 6. Started with flag football then moved on to playing full contact with pads. My mother and father both encouraged me to play football because I was obsessed with the sport. The fun of playing football even continued into high school. High school football was what instilled a good work ethic in me. It helped me to develop a good work ethic because we had to perform as well off the field as we did on it. My coach made it so that if we didn�??t do well in class then we couldn�??t participate in practice or play in that week�??s game. This kind of off the field discipline helped me to do well in school all through high school. Something else football helped me with was punctuality. We had to be at least 15 minutes early to every practice. Football really helped me to buckle down in school, and kept me out of trouble since off the field actions translated to disciplinary actions on the team. Football was the greatest experience of my childhood. The only reason I stopped playing the sport was because I was too small to play anywhere. If not for my size I would have loved to continue playing football.

My youth sports experience was great and I wish I could go back and do it all over again. My parents never pressured me to do anything I didn�??t want to. I think it was their support of me playing wrestling and football that helped me stay committed to the sports.

From the time I was 5 years old, my life has seemed to have been on a constant schedule. My dad and other family members were really into sports so for the first five years of my life, thats all I was exposed to (I have a picture from when I was three days old wearing a baby Mets jersey). I grew up in an area that had a lot of kids and once we were done with school, the afternoon would consist of street hockey or basketball or playing baseball in the court that the end of the block. Though my family was heavily into sports, I was never pushed to participate in them.

My first organized sport just as many other American children, was one of the least popular American sports, soccer. All I really remember about the soccer days was running around, not having any sort of organization and orange slices at halftime. It was basically recess but with a uniform. It was great, I loved it and most importantly I was having fun. It was basically the same story for my youth hockey experience. Never did I experience parent hostility and politics in youth sports until I was in 5th or 6th grade playing little league.

Baseball is the one sport I have consistently played my whole life, even to this day. Starting from when I was seven, my dad and his two friends were coaches in little league until I was in fifth grade, when politics truly came into play in youth baseball. It was the year before we were eligible for the Little League World Series, so my father stepped aside and enrolled me in a tryout for an elite travel team, which would eventually become eligible for the LLWS (sixth grade was the first year we were eligible). I made the elite team and if we were good enough, we would be on our way to Williamsport. I started for the team and we went undefeated. I was elected to the post season all-star team and gained a lot of respect from my coach and most importantly made my father proud. The next year, we were in the third or fourth game of the season and I was batting with 2 outs and a runner on in a tie game. I struck out, my coach had benched me for the rest of the game because I wasn't disiplined enough. Little did I know, I wouldn't see the field as a starter again for the next few games and was replaced by the coaches own son. This made my dad furious, and he went as far as getting into a scuffle with my coach. This made my experience go from amazing, to totally negative. I didn't play for the rest of that season or on that team again and would have to just play regular Little League on a non-travel team. Baseball just wasn't fun anymore and even through high school I saw that the sport was just so political. I learned to think all coaches were evil and just couldn't trust most, which is probably one of the worst things I ever did to myself.

I chose not to pursue college athletics for the pure reason of sports just weren't fun anymore. Sports felt like they had become an unruly job that if you messed up, there would be repricusions that I just didn't feel were necessary. I love playing sports for the thrill of competition and what they were intended to give you as young child, and organzied form of having fun. I didn't enjoy being a coach's puppet and being "fired" if I didn't perform to his standards.

I do not agree that kids �??don�??t matter anymore�?� in our society. In fact, I believe the opposite and that in society, our youth is a huge concern. After all, our children are the future leaders of our nation. If our youth didn�??t matter, why would there be any new laws governing the behavior and punishment of children, or, according to the article, �??Kids, the Enemy Within,�?� why would our nation spend $4.2 billion on building prisons for kids? Granted, both of these arguments are negative developments in society, but they show that we haven�??t given up on our youth. Instead, we are concerned with the well-being of our children, fear the future of our nation, and we are desperate to turn things around.
While reading the article, it was disturbing to learn some of the punishments children were sentenced for behaving like children. For example, two elementary school kids were tried as adults for putting hand soap in a teacher�??s coffee. There are many other examples throughout the article, some more unbelievable than others. �??Kids, the Enemy Within,�?� mentions that schools now enforce dress codes and require walking through a metal detector before entering the building, and that our youth cannot get a piercing without a guardian�??s permission, buy cigarettes, or go to the mall by themselves if they are under the age of 16. I appreciate Grossberg�??s point. Our youth is treated equal to an adult when they break the law, yet do not have the freedom to enjoy certain adult privileges. It would seem that a person who is required to follow such oppressive laws denying one of many privileges, should not be subject to the same treatment a person who is entitled to such privileges would receive. Or, grant our youth the same privileges as the adult population and if the law is broken, the same punishments. It should be consistent.
I agree with Grossberg half-heartedly. I believe that our laws should evolve along side of society to ensure their pertinence and effectiveness. Life today is far different from the lives our parents lived when they were young. During that time, women weren�??t allowed to wear pants to school; smoking was permitted in every public building resulting in millions of tobacco related deaths, and the popular show was I Love Lucy. Look at our lives now. Nudity, sex, swearing and violence are almost required for a TV show to be a success, and it somehow became socially accepted to say �??Bitch�?� on the radio. Our youth is growing up in a much more �??adult�?� and real world, and are exposed via TV, radio, video games, the internet and music. Today, young boys idolize professional athletes who are accused of rape and dog fighting. Young girls look up to celebrities like Paris Hilton, who gained her fame by releasing a sex tape on the internet, and Britney Spears who I am not even going to get started on her behavior, or the behavior of her sixteen year old sister. On top of this raw, un-censored behavior deemed acceptable by our own society, our kids are adapting to this adult lifestyle never knowing any other way of life. Additionally, parents and doctors are forcing children to take prescription drugs almost chemically equivalent to Cocaine. Instead of having patience with our children and embracing their curiosity and energy, we drown their spirit in Ritalin because as the article stated, these are behaviors �??that annoy adults.�?� It�??s not that kids �??don�??t matter�?� and society has deserted them, but that society is robbing our youth of any sense of childhood. Children are expected to be focused, quiet, still, and well-behaved and that behavior will be achieved either chemically, or by sentencing children with extreme punishments. I believe that everyone is born with a clean slate. The way a child behaves mirrors what he or she has seen in life. Given the circumstances, I would be surprised if our youth didn�??t show any signs of corruption.
During my childhood, my parents, for the most part, successfully protected myself and my brothers and sisters from the reality of adulthood. Yes, much of my youth was censored and I resented it then, but I thank my parents now. I was never allowed to watch MTV, Jerry Springer, all R-rated movies, and most of PG-13 movies. We were not allowed to say hate or shut-up and I had an eleven o�??clock curfew up until eleventh grade.
I was given the option to participate in as many or as few activities as I desired. My experiences playing youth sport were all positive experiences. I participated in ballet, tap, jazz, soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball. I also took swimming and tennis lessons, and even participated in a few golf lessons at a local driving range. I was never forced to participate in any activity, but was expected to finish out a season we had already begun in order to give it a fair chance and teach us to finish what we start.
In sport, the only discipline myself or any of my teammates experienced was running extra laps, Saturday morning punishment work-outs, minimized playing time, or a red card. In elementary and middle school, students were disciplined by having to write 100 sentences apologizing for what they did, taking away recess time, taking away privileges like snack time or a movie day, or sometimes a note was sent home to be signed. It is tragic that we have resorted to punishing children by arresting them, charging them like adults, inflicting physical violence and altering their behavior chemically. My best friend, who I met in college, as a child was disciplined by his parents by being whipped with a belt buckle on his back and was spanked by his teachers. Violence inflicted on a child is morally wrong and unacceptable. Unfortunately, our society has surpassed just physical violence and now arrests children, throws them in jail, and sometimes even sentences them to death. I am very sympathetic towards today�??s youth and wish there was a way to give them back their childhoods.

I completely relate to Travis Hubbard's post. I think we all come to a point in time when you have to decide between dedicating that much time to something like sport if it looks like it is just going to be just for fun. College for so many of us leads us towards what we are going to do for the rest of our lives, and I know that that is the main reason why I haven't continued with the same sporting patterns as pre-college- it comes down to the fact that there are only so many hours in the day, and getting a degree sometimes is more important than playing your favorite sport.

I definitely can�??t say as I was ever disciplined in the sporting environment to such an extreme level as in the article about the grunting 9 year old tennis player. Maybe the people I was around just really did not care that much! As a little kid playing rec softball, the only rules were really only to refrain from hurting each other and to not break the small amount of equipment we had.
By the time I made it to playing sports in high school, a little bit more was expected of us; I did not go to a school especially known for its athletics however, so I don�??t feel like I had a typical high school athletic experience in that regard. No real �??sporting discipline�?� was in order, but with being at a private school, the dean of students was always close by if anyone got out of order. As a student, I didn�??t really have difficulty dealing with our sporting rules, as 15+ years with my parents had already taught me that swearing at my coach, kicking the bench, and spitting at refs or umpires was not acceptable behavior. Most of our sporting rules were in place to promote sportsmanship and safety, but it really seemed like most of them were no- brainers for me.
I think that the one experience I had that with extreme discipline only served to make my hockey team closer. Our coach was new, and was also the new Dean of Students, and she had many new ideas about how to assert her power over us. It got so ridiculous that she had us stripping off our uniforms right after the game (while still on the field!) so that she could have control of them since they were school-issued uniforms. Her ideas about discipline were so outlandish that we ended up losing any respect we ever had for her. Needless to say, she didn�??t return as our coach the next year.
It was required to play sports at my high school, but if it hadn�??t been, I would have played them anyway. My parents never forced me to play sports, or lived their sporting dreams vicariously through me. I was free to choose which sports I would like to play, and they supported me in that. Looking back on my high school sporting experience, perhaps it was that I had �??found expression�?� in the sports like Powers says children are looking for in the article, �??Kids, the Enemy Within�?� (20). I went to an all girls school, but I hadn�??t been raised in the private school setting; as a result, I didn�??t quite fit in with the preppy background that I found myself in. However, after I got settled into my sports teams, I found that that was the best place for me to feel a part of the group. By my senior year, I had been named regional all-star field hockey goalie and softball catcher; by contributing to the team, I felt like I had achieved legitimacy as a part of the school, and that I had a better connection with my teammates as peers.

I loved playing youth sports growing up. My parents never pushed me into sports growing up, however when I was younger they presented me with the opportunity to try many different sports. I played in a lot of intramural leagues where the teams are drafted and the players are evenly distributed. In these types of leagues the main goal wasn�??t to win but to have fun and learn new skills. Like in my youth baseball league, my coach always made sure that every member of the team got to bat at least once, and play defense for at least 2 innings. In most intramural leagues there was a rule that every player on a team had to play a certain amount of time in a game. As I got older though I did play for some teams where the main goal was winning, and there was games where some people never got to play. Most of these teams had a tryout and only certain players where selected to even play on the team. Starting at age 16 I played American Legion Baseball for 4 years, and this was a team where the goal was to �??win no matter what�?�. The coaches on this team were stricter, and made it clear to the players that they needed to perform at all costs in order to win. I know at one practice there was a player that showed up 5 minutes late and the coachers made the entire team run for 30 minutes because the coaches emphasized that the in order to win all the players had to play together as a team. After I graduated from high school I went on to play baseball at Frederick Community College for two years which was ranked in the top 15 teams in the nation for JUCO baseball. Here there was no doubt about it the we were �??here to win�?�, and the coach was getting paid to put together a team that was going to perform and win games and possibly go to the college world series.
I feel that I had mainly had a positive experience when playing youth sports, because the main reason for playing was to �??have fun�?� and not �??to win�?�. Andrews states in his article that �??sports can deter people from destructive behaviors.�?� I firmly believe this and so did my parents and I think that was the main reason that they introduced me to so many different sports. I believe that being so busy with sports while I was in high school kept me out of a lot of trouble that I probably would have gotten into if I wasn�??t busy playing football or baseball. I am glad that I continued to play sports through out my child hood, and the only reason that I quit playing college baseball was that it took up to much time. It is extremely hard to be a collegiate athlete or a club athlete and take 19 credits in a semester. I still take part in a lot of different leagues during the summer in many different sports, and I feel that this �??love for the game�?� was brought on to me by my parents who gave me the many different opportunities to play a wide variety of different sports.

Youth sports were so much fun for me. I was always an active kid, but honestly what kid isn�??t active? I think that there is something to be said for the kid who can be entertained with a television and/or a video game. I rarely wanted to sit still and hardly ever watched TV. Personally, if a kid has no motivation to be active they are wasting there youth years and it is only going to hurt them in the future, even as soon as applying for colleges. Colleges don�??t just look at the grades for a student they look at how involved students are. I think that a kid who has been active from a young age is going to be more likely to be active for the rest of there life and be better at multitasking.
I used to play back yard football with all the neighborhood kids a few times a week, my brothers and I used to rollerblade and in the summer swam for hours every day. I played softball my whole life, basketball throughout middle school, and field hockey in elementary and early middle school. Only one time did I have a super strict coach for any sport, and he would yell at the whole team the entire practice. It was awful, I hate being yelled at. I didn�??t quite that season even though I wanted to, my parents told me that you never quite something half way through, so I finished that summer season with him, but I never played summer ball again for fear that Mr. Dean would be my coach again. However, I did play softball until I graduated from high school. I stopped playing field hockey because I broke my leg and basketball because I really truly just did not enjoy playing because I hated shooting. With the exception of Mr. Dean my coaches had control over the team we were well behaved, listened to what they had to say and didn�??t talk back. They also would listen if we had opinions on something or a game or drill we wanted to try in practice; they guided me and taught me how to play the sport. With that one summer league as the exception, all my sporting experiences were positive and fun and I truly enjoyed playing and participating in them as a child.
In this weeks assigned reading Kids, the Enemy Within I was shocked at what the zero tolerance policy had done in schools. When I read the examples on pages 25 and 26 my mouth dropped. Especially the story of the 17 year old honor student who was arrested and could not graduate because she had a kitchen knife in her car, which she had no intension of causing harm with she just used it to open boxes. The elementary school teacher who accused a boy of hurting her and after he denied it pressed charges just to make him become aware. Are you kidding me? This article made kids seem like pure devils. Did anyone stop and think that maybe the information was miss leading or with holding some truth? I guess the common person really doesn�??t care as stated on page 23 �??In 2002 underage drinking accounted for 35 percent of the nation�??s alcohol consumption. When it was announced that a mistake had been made and the actual number was 11 percent, most of the outlets that had reported the original story failed to cover the correction�?�. The nation clearly just wants to hear the negative about today�??s youth, which is disheartening. Further more if a 9 year old wants to grunt while she plays tennis what�??s the harm? At least she�??s not bringing guns to school or threatening her classmates and teacher.

In response to cari04r-I have a lot of respect for your decisions you had to make throughout your life. I had to do the same when decided whether to persue running or swmming in college and I know the time and effort it takes to think out the best thing to do. It seems like you really took the time to decide what was best for you and even though you were worried about what your dad would think, which everyone does, it seemed like you took what was in your best interest into account first. A lot of kids don't do that anymore, they make decisions so drastically and then regret some down the road. I am glad you are happy with what sports you decided and didn't decide to persue, it sounded like you had a lot on your plate some times!

I wasn�??t the type of child who played every sport under the sun; my brother on the other hand played soccer, lacrosse, baseball, and swimming. Since I was a baby, I had been participating in swim lessons and I loved it. At age seven I passed level 7, the last Red Cross level before you train to become a lifeguard. The pre-requisite for that level: you had to be at least 15 years old. So my mom looked for another place that I could continue my swimming. My mom asked if I wanted join a summer league team near my house and I started up with that the summer I turned eight. After one summer I fell in love with the sport. I had improved a lot from meet to meet and it was an added bonus to see all the ribbons, medals, and trophies I begun to collect. My coaches could see the enjoyment I got out of the sport, and they asked if I would be interested in joining their year-round team. My parents were never ones to push me into activities I had no interest in doing, so they sat down and talked to me about the big adjustment it would be for me: practicing 5 days a week for a few hours each day and traveling to weekend long swim meets and not having as much free time. I understood what belonging to a year-round swim team would mean, and I was pretty excited about getting started with it. I continued swimming year-round all throughout high school and was recruited to swim in college and am still doing that now. I can honestly say my feelings towards swimming haven�??t changed much since I started competitively swimming at seven years old. Yes, the atmosphere is completely different in some ways because I am expected to compete at a higher level, but the reasons why I swim are still the same. To make a sport a large part of your life, you have to be doing it for yourself, and not because your coach or parents or friends want you to. I realized that at a young age and I can attribute that realization to the fact that I am still competing in swimming now.
I wasn�??t disciplined or controlled in such a way that made me not want to continue the sport. Swimming is more of an independent sport and although we have tough coaches who put a lot of pressure on us sometimes, they are only doing it for our benefit so they can see us perform to our highest potential. My parents never pushed me into any sports either which is also why swimming is still so exciting for me. But now �??parents are directed to monitor their kids�?� everywhere they go and every activity they take part in. The article by Grossberg brings this point up and I certainly agree with it. Although my parents take an active and healthy role in my life, sticking their nose into every activity I do would become extremely annoying to me. As I would watch some of my friends go through swimming with parents who add stress onto an already stressful sport, it made sense as to why they are no longer swimming today. To have parents who constantly need to control every aspect of my life would make me feel like I am not doing anything for my enjoyment and I would probably drop out of the sport or whatever activity it was that was being controlled by them. Overall, my experience through youth sports has been a positive one, and the lack of unnecessary discipline and control over me has aided my decision to still continue swimming competitively even in college.

My sporting experience was a great experience growing up. I played baseball and basketball growing up, but primarily stuck with playing baseball. The experience I had taught me a lot about being competitive and at the same time life in general. I began playing baseball at an important time in my life because my father was constantly in and out of my life and took less and less interest in me as time went on. After reading Pitters article and how he discussed about the creating of the Midnight Basketball League (MBL) and how it was created to keep kids out of trouble that really made me think of myself. As my father began to take less and less interest in me I began getting into a lot of trouble and luckily my strong interest in baseball helped take me away from the opportunities of getting into trouble. From my first practice until the last time that I played I always felt that I had something to prove. The reason I felt this way was because for my age I was so small and I wanted to prove everyone wrong with certain things. The first couple of coaches that I had played for did not necessarily agree with my attitude. They loved how hard I played, but I was too stubborn to listen to certain things. However, after a couple of years of playing I ended up playing for a coach that had only one arm and he taught me some of the greatest lessons in life. I ended up playing on his teams for ten years. This was the first person I felt I could relate to in life. I was always told I was too small for things and he was always told he could not do certain things in life with only one arm, but he always proved them wrong. My coach always taught me how to play hard, but at the same time respect your opponent and your teammates during the game. He always had to whole team sitting together on the bench when we were up to bat. Parents were not allowed at the bench unless there kid was hurt or sick. If a player was hanging out by the stands with their parents he would quietly and calmly walk over and explain to them that they needed to be on the bench with their teammates. When we all sat on the bench together he encouraged us to cheer each other on and if you got an out you had to stand up and still pat them on the back just for trying. One of the things that I will never forget is the pre-game speech in which he would look at all of us and would tell all of us to �??play your best and give a good effort take care of yourself and each other and have a blast out there�?� and to me that described what sports are all about. He would spend the whole game cheering us on and being positive the whole time, which was actually different from what some other coaches would do. I will never forget seeing a kid from another team striking out and going back to the bench and getting screamed at by his dad for striking out. We never once were yelled at for striking out or anything like that. There was never any negativity at all by my coach because he felt negativity just weighed you down and caused you to do worse. He always said after all we were just kids and at that time in our lives were supposed to be having fun while playing baseball. His lessons did not just stop on the field they actually carried over into your life and that left a lasting mark on me. After games whether it was a win or lose he would always encourage the parents to cheer for the kids and always compliment us for our efforts and always said to take care of your parents and to look out for your brothers and sisters. He taught me to not just respect your teammates and opponents, but more importantly your parents and he stressed that at times when he would talk to us. He always wanted the players to make your parents proud and make the right decisions in life. He always encouraged having fun and obeying the rules. Playing baseball for that coach was truly a great experience that I will never forget. The reason that I stopped playing baseball was because like every other person in the world it was no longer fun. I began playing for a new coach that demanded winning at all costs and really had no respect for anyone and to me that was not fun. I lost interest in it and never played again. Overall my experience playing baseball was great, but my reason for stopping was very disappointing

In response to Safchik787 , I think that we had very similar experiences. Your father's attitude towards your sports career sounded very similar to mine in that they wanted us to participate and they believed that in doing so it would teach us all sorts of things that will be valuable in the future. You also seemed to stop competing at a higher level for similar reasons that I did. There was so much harmful potential. You broke both of your ankles and while i was younger in dance it was all about a " healthy lifestyle" but once you got older and nature took its course with your body there was so much pressure to look a certain way and I was not about to fall into that trap.

The experiences I�??ve had playing sports throughout my life have all been positive for the most part. I was never forced to play anything, but rather wanted to. I grew up in a neighborhood full of boys and always wanted to keep up in baseball. As I got older, I decided soccer was my favorite and would stick with that. I did play lacrosse for a few years as well, but didn�??t enjoy it as much.
Sports were a way for me to spend my energy and satisfy my competitive edge in a safe, as well as healthy manner. I played in recreational leagues up until high school, but was always told that my academics came first. Therefore, I never pushed myself too far to get into ridiculously competitive leagues at that point. I played all four years for my high school team, and started playing for a traveling team when I had time on the weekends. Although I was never forced to do anything in my recreational times, my parents always encouraged me to stick with it, do the best I could, and be there for my team. Even so, I knew that if for whatever reason I decided I truly did not want to participate anymore, I would not get in any trouble. My high school also enforced a strict substance use policy. Anyone caught with alcohol or drugs was no longer on the team. The boys�?? soccer team actually kicked someone off for selling marijuana. No one on our team had any desire to get in such trouble with our coaches, nor parents. In Andrews�?? article, he explained how �??�?�sports can deter people from destructive behaviors.�?� In many cases, this comes naturally with the enjoyment and passion one has for the sport.
I did have a few friends whose parents were far more adamant about the sport than they were. I find it a bit disturbing the parents that push their kids so hard to do something they are not at all passionate about. Living vicariously through one�??s children has become an issue in our society. It is not healthy for the child nor the parents involved. I understand parents trying to get their children involved to interest them in a healthy lifestyle, meeting new people, and learning about time management. As long as it remains beneficial and does not wear the kids out, it is a positive choice. Even if it is meant specifically for a troublesome child to stay out of trouble, if he or she does not find any enjoyment in the sport, they may rebel anyways.
Sports are a good way to stay healthy and instill responsibility in young people. If there is a passion for the sport, it is more likely to last longer and be taken more seriously. As a result, it is healthier and more progressive in every way.

In response to imnotsure75 I also was not pushed by my parents and I am ecstatic that I wasn�??t I can�??t even imagine my parents putting me through that. I really believe that the parents should not push there children into participation. The kid should be the one who decides weather or not they want to take up sports. But also if you don�??t play sports as a kid you were kind of demonized, don�??t we all remember that one lunch table growing up. The fact that happens is horrible that kids are being judged even like that at such a young age by both their parents and peers. I agree with you that parents must allow their children to have fun and just be themselves.

The youth sporting experience depends on a number of different aspects. The competitive nature of the sport; for instance, the travel teams for both ice hockey and swimming were quite different then community teams. I was never forced onto these �??elite�?� teams by my parents but the atmosphere was quite different than anything I had previously experienced. It seemed like the �??playing for the fun of it�?� was thrown out and now �??win at all costs�?� was what really mattered. Especially, for ice hockey where the coach was being paid and if we did not perform like any other sport he would be fired. My parents never pushed me in sports. However, they wanted me to do well but I never got lectured on �??you need to do this better�?? that numerous teammates received on a daily basis. Their parents were fixated with having there child be the best. Already, with these teams we were eating, and sleeping the sport and nothing else mattered in some of the parent�??s minds. I guess I was lucky that my parents never put that kind of pressure on me when I was playing or I probably would have quit playing a long time ago. Teammates that I still keep in contact with who don�??t participate any longer all have the same answer as to why, that playing just wasn�??t fun anymore. The screaming coaches, parents, and just the amount of pressure that was on us to perform at a high level took the joy out of the game. However, I well have to say that being someone who has an ultra-competitive personality I loved the environment it made me push myself to become a better player with the better competition. I understand though why most all of them say it just wasn�??t fun to play anymore because they were being judged and told what they had to do better 24-7. This environment of �??winning is everything�?� definitely got worse with age, for example when high school came around several players had already quit playing because they were sick and tired of never being good enough for their parents.

My sporting experience as a whole was quite positive. I experienced the coaching outbursts and really didn�??t see that there was anything wrong with them. In my case I was given a choice of playing and that is kind of what I signed up for, I wanted my coach to make me better. I believe the biggest reason for kids to have a negative sporting experience is that there parents make the decisions for them. What are some of the reasons as to why parents put there children in sport? It�??s good for the kids, it is what the kids want, everyone else is doing it so we have to, and it doesn�??t do them any harm. Parents think that putting there children in sport is what is best, but here is a crazy idea talk to your kids ask them what they want. Parents must realize that there children are not going to have the same interests as them, so wouldn�??t it be better to find something that there kids like to do rather than making them feel useless.

I believe that sport is excellent in that it engraves discipline in you; control is not the correct way to describe it. Pitter states �??sports were used by physical education and recreation professionals to build character, create model citizens, and deter people from using their free time to engage in destructive pursuits.�?�(Pitter, page 88) Sport made me realize that my actions would have consequences on the team that would have a direct effect my teammates, for example just following the rules in school and at home. Sport made me make priorities as far as properly managing my time so that it did not effect my education, and in the process keep me out of trouble

I still participate in sports just not to the extent that I once did. This is not because I don�??t want to but rather because I don�??t really have time. Once I am done with school I hope to get a lot more involved in sport. Sport is a very important aspect of life of which you learn things that a book can�??t teach. It is where I made most of my closest friends however, it is important that parents realize simple participation is a not a guarantee of success, on the field or in life, and we must be conscientious in monitoring the experiences that youth have.

It is very true that in society parents are always looking for ways to control their children. There are a couple different reasons why parents control their children which could be fear of their children turning out as rebels, not becoming successful, what is best for their child, or to live their life through their child. Most parents want to control their children to get them going on the right path and hope and pray their child does not go off track of being successful. No parent wants their child to become young adults and actual adults that do nothing with their life and seem like failures. Television can add to this factor also that can trigger parents to be in complete control of their children. Sometimes parents have to be because if their child is just not on the right path in the first place. The success of a parents�?? child can help a parent in the long run as long as there is a relationship between them. There are those children that can become successful but will have nothing to do with their parents because they do not like them. Majority of any parents doesn�??t want their child not being successful either from television or from knowing a person that the parent had grown up with or knew that turned out not successful and barely making it each day. A parent always has that instinct to teach and help their children on becoming successful and to be able to manage on their own. A big concern that has been happening is parents trying to live their life through their child. Parents will make their child do things that a child might not want to do or has no interest in. A parent does this because when that parent was growing up they were not fortunate enough to be able to do the activities they wanted to do, so they then want to live it through their child. An example of that would be having a parent that never got to play a musical instrument would choose an instrument and make their child practice and play it because they said so. It is hard on parents to know how to act and how to treat their children. Prescription medicine is also being used to control children from being hyperactive to almost being a robot for multiple reasons. There are two major reasons why children are being prescribed medicine like Ritalin for kids with or without A.D.D. One reason is because some parents cannot just take the fact of their small children being so hyperactive and want some peace and quiet. Another reason is for schooling sake, if a child is very hyperactive and can�??t sit still or pay attention then a parent would get the medicine needed so their child can focus on school work and not fail. However over time there have been new findings in prescribing these drugs. �??The harm caused by these medications is well-documented. Although the FDA staff reports shows 51 deaths between 1999-2003 in persons using ADHD drugs, according to Dr Baughman, the MedWatch database contains 186 deaths between 1990 and 2000. Because only 1% to 10% of all adverse events are reported to the FDA, the actual number of deaths is known to be much higher. Studies have determined that ADHD drugs endanger the cardiovascular system.�?� (Pringle, paragraphs 6 and 7) So now more medical findings show that after using those types of drugs to either focus kids or to just calm them down, break down the human system and can be potentially dangerous. I had so been controlled to an extent, however my problem in school was I could not pay attention in middle school very well and my mind could not stay fixed on what I was doing. So I was prescribed a drug, not Ritalin, but another drug to help me focus in school, but not completely calm me down and control me. At a younger age I was controlled and focused on doing extracurricular activities such sports like soccer, baseball, basketball, etc. and also playing instruments, being in boy scouts and such. My interest however for those things changed over time or I just never liked something like boy scouts, soccer, and playing an instrument didn�??t suit me and I didn�??t like them. It took me a few years but I had finally quit and left those activities after being questioned for a while by my parents. So I do agree though that being controlled is hard for any kid.

Wed 7-940

My father was the only male in a household of all women. He raised me and my two sisters and always had big dreams for us. He always wanted all of us to pursue sports pretty much before we could even walk. There are pictures of all of us from infants to toddler aged wearing Redskins jerseys and Red Sox t-shirts. Obviously, the first sport that we were all put into was soccer because there were numerous amounts of leagues for pretty much any age child in my community. By the time I was eight I had decided that I had enough soccer and told my father I wanted to quit because it seemed like everyone else was getting really good and I was absolutely getting worse at the sport. It just wasn�??t cute anymore to look lost. My father was disappointed but then realized he had one daughter already on a travel soccer team that took up the majority of her time so he could expose me to other sports now. I was then put into both softball and field hockey and I continued to take dance classes for fun. I really enjoyed all of these sports and it was my choice to do them. My father never forced me to do the, but I could see how happy he was when he was at one of my games. However, by the time I reached the end of middle school I had decided that I did not want to pursue any of these sports in high school and I wanted to focus more on dance because it was something that I excelled at. I was put on a competition dance team at the end of my eight grade year and there went all of my free time for the spring and the summer. I had solo training 3 times a week and team practice 5 nights a week and competitions on the weekends. This was a hectic but great experience. It was my choice to do it and it really taught me a lot about hard work, teamwork and a healthy lifestyle. I decided that when I reached 9th grade I wanted to also dance on my high school team. While it wasn�??t as �??elite�?� as my competition team it was great being involved in something with my friends and doing something for my school. Then my competition coach told me he did not want me on that team because it was hurting my training I was receiving. He basically told me it was not good enough and it was showing in my competition routines. I thought a lot about it and decided to quit my competition team and just stick with high school. While being on a competitive dance team could really bring me places it wasn�??t worth it to do it a way that had the potential to harm me and run me down in the future. I knew that I did not want to dance in college and I wanted to enjoy every aspect of high school as much as I could. I still had practice everyday but only for 2 hours. And we still got to compete once a year which is plenty.
I was scared that my father would be furious with me for quitting something I begged to do in the first place because he always talks about commitment , but he was not. In fact he was truly happy for me. He saw how burnt out my sisters were from doing both travel soccer and dance and high school sports. He was glad that I would have the opportunity to focus more on school and to enjoy my high school years. He always said �??the more you put into something the more you will get out of it.�?� And I realized he was right, it didn�??t matter my high school dance team wasn�??t an elite team always winning a competition, I worked hard all four years and we still won our competitions and I got to have a lot of fun while I did it and there was none of the pressures of being a certain type of person, looking a certain way or being the best there ever was.
I know that my father only wanted to give us all the opportunities he could never have as a child which is why he never told us we couldn�??t do a sport that we wanted too. He was happy that we are involved and staying out of trouble. Which Andrews talks about in his article. He says �??sports can deter people from destructive behaviors.�?� And he is so true. Both my sisters and I realized that we had too much riding on to ruin it with getting in trouble. If you got in any trouble with drinking or drugs you were off your high school team and that scared me so much so I stayed away from it because being involved in my high school was something that meant a lot to me. Now I am in my last year of college and I still take a dance class when I have the time. But being a part of a team so many times taught me the hard work, and how to work with a team and that I think has helped me get through my 4 years here at Towson and will continue to help me in my future.

Looking back at my youth sporting experience, I have both positive and negative experiences. My parents did not force me into playing any sports while I was younger. But I did choose to play soccer for my middle school league because I liked the sport and also my friends convinced me into playing. I only played for four years. My parents never disciplined enough to stick with the sport. I guess it is because they are not from America, where they grew up their mentality was to work; they worked from a young age. Because of the lack of interest in me playing and their lack of knowledge for soccer, they never pushed me to stick with it. For example when I did not feel like going to practice, they never said you have to go, you are a part of the team instead they said ok don�??t go just "take it easy" even if I did not feel like going to a game they said just tell the coach your sick once again never giving me that extra off the field disciplined that I needed. Since I did not go to every practice and every game when I would show up I would not know some of the plays that we made in practice during the games and most of the time I did not even understand the positions I was playing. Finally during my eighth grade year I left the school soccer league because I felt like it was not fun and I had no encouragement back home.

It was not until I started hanging around my grand mothers' neighborhood and making friends with the neighborhood kids when I learned the meaning of team work. Because my parents were working so much they had leave me at my grandmothers to watch me I was there every day. We organized a neighborhood team we would play a bunch of different sports such as football, soccer, roller hockey, baseball and basket ball. We would play against other neighborhood teams, it was fun, everything was organized by us, and I learned how to play different sports other than soccer. We would play for hours after school and on the weekends. To me playing with the neighborhood kids I felt good because they were the ones that were encouraging me keep playing, they were the ones that kept pushing me to play harder, it was through them I completely understood what it meant to be on a team. They taught the stuff the parents did not know. It also helped they most of the kids were three to four years older, I looked up to them in way that I did not look up to my parents because instead of giving me what I wanted they were hard on me and made me work for what I wanted. My parents emphasized a great deal about how important it is for me to do good in school rather than doing good in playing a sport. The only negative sport experience I had as a youth was the lack of encouragement from my family when I was playing for my middle school soccer team. But it turned out not to be that bad because what I did have positive sports experiences playing with the neighborhood kids, they taught me what my parents did not know. When I reached high school I did not continue to play because my parents got the best of me and wanted me to work and earn extra money rather that playing a sport. I'm not mad at them for that, even though I think my parents tried to shelter me and the lack of encouragement when it came to sports they raised me to do well in school, respect others because of them I was never a bully nor have I been bullied and according to the article Kids, the enemy within kids are becoming more rude and become bully's or the victim of bullying I'm glad I fall in the neither category.

As a child I began playing soccer when I was in kindergarten, everyone I knew did. It was the first time sports, other than playing in the backyard, was introduced as an organized activity. I played in a co-ed league in my town, and as I look back it was more of a social event for everyone�??s parents on Saturday mornings than anything else. We didn�??t really get coached, it was more of everyone chases the ball and tries to keep it on the field. As I grew up I continued to play soccer and it wasn�??t always a pleasant experience.
By the time I hit middle school if you didn�??t play on a traveling team and a recreation league you weren�??t any good. I played year round because even at this young we were told if we didn�??t we would never play in high school. As stated in America�??s Underserved Youth, �??The sporting experience of the person who participates in Midnight Basketball is quite different than that of the individual who can participate in urban soccer or even basketball offered by a privately run community club.�?� I definitely believe my club soccer team was ruled this way. My parents paid a lot of money for this team. From the traveling expenses to the field fees and practice fees to the uniforms, it was very obvious from the beginning that my team and our competition played in this league because our parents could afford it.
High school soccer was militarized. We had two a days starting in the beginning of August. If we lost miserably (which we often did), we ran until we couldn�??t stand anymore. My coaches literally sucked all of the fun there ever was in the sport. My high school team and I all played on the same traveling team and the winter and spring seasons were much more relaxed and fun even though we hardly ever won. We weren�??t pressured to make our coaches �??look good in the papers�?� and it was no longer about the stats that were so important in the fall season.
The spring of my junior year of high school I ran track and played club soccer and tore my quad really deep. I had to attend active release therapy every other day for three months and by the time summer soccer came around I was done. There was nothing to look forward to in the fall, and I quit soccer to run cross country, winter and spring track of my senior year. I became one of the fastest runners in Northern New Jersey after my only season of cross country, and I still hold two school records.
Running in my high school was more for the uncoordinated people, many of whom dropped out of other sports. To be honest, I had more fun those three seasons than I ever had one season of soccer. It was the most positive and rewarding experience I have had in any sport and to this day I still run everyday. My coaches throughout those seasons didn�??t care how well we did, if we won, or if we made them look good. We ran because we liked it and they often ran our workouts with us. I was captain of all three seasons and learned more respect and discipline in my first season of track than I had ever learned in my twelve years of soccer.

In reference to jflesh1: I found it interesting that sport was a way out of trouble for you. That one of the reasons why your parents wanted you to get into sports was to stay out of trouble. For me, sports were for enjoyment and fun. My parents didn�??t force me at all to start and get involved in sports. Once I started though, they did want me to continue. I also made great friends through sport. It�??s an instant connection with them because they like the same things as you do. Sports open up a lot in your life. You learn so much from the games you play and the people you play with.

When looking back at my youth sporting experience, I remember both positive and negative experiences. I was never forced into doing or playing any sports that I didn�??t want to, but was told I had to go to attend each and every game or practice even if I didn�??t feel like going. My parents always told me that I made a commitment to the team and I have a responsibility to always show up. My schedule when I was younger was never filled with so many things that I barely had time to sit on the couch and watch a television show. I feel that children these days are forced into activities by their parents so they are kept busy. My younger cousin is now 13, and her parents still regulate the time she watches television and goes on the computer, and she is kept so busy she barely has time to hang out with her friends. In the article named Kids, the Enemy Within, they said, �??..we should not be surprised to realize how badly the United States has been treating our children, especially since the beginning of the 1980s. Increasingly, every moment of kids�?? lives is being monitored and disciplined. Continual surveillance has become normal.�?�
During my youth sporting experience I played a number of sports. I played soccer, basketball, softball, and dance. I played soccer and basketball on the recreation level and played softball and dance competitively. My sporting experience was not very controlled. It was my choice to what sport I decided to participate in. The one thing I was always disciplined in was attendance. I was always told that I made a commitment to play and had to always show up to everything. I do believe my father had a huge influence on me when it came to sports. He played a big role in how long I played. He always pushed me to get to the highest level of competition. Whenever he had a chance, he wanted to coach my teams. I feel he liked having control over how I played each game and he was able to tell me what or what not to do.
My overall youth sporting experience was definitely positive. Playing sports taught me a lot of skills I will be able to use throughout my future and career. Sport has taught me responsibility, drive, competitiveness, commitment, team work, cooperation, and much more.
I slowly stopped participating in sport. I stopped playing soccer first. I never truly loved soccer and I decided that soccer wasn�??t for me as I got older. Second I stopped dancing. Dancing competitively was very time consuming and as I didn�??t have time for it. With school, working, and playing other sports, dance took up to much of my time. I continued to play basketball and softball all throughout high school. I was on both varsity teams, but by my senior year, I wanted to experience all the things senior year was about. Prom, senior trips, spring break, and getting ready for college, basketball and softball cut into my time with all those things. Right before coming to college I broke my both my ankles at separate times. After those experiences, I was afraid to compete at such a high level because I didn�??t want to get hurt again. The fear of hurting my ankles again has stopped me from playing sports competitively. I do like to play for fun, but I am still very hesitant.

Ah, going back to the fun world of youth sports. This past weeks class was able to help me remember a time where I was able to help shape my life and learn certain life lessons at such a young age. I thought that it was interesting this week to look at youth and sports because I feel that personally it is an area I tend to neglect. Whether it is youth meaning the Little League World Series or youth meaning an 18 year old LeBron James playing with men double his age, there is a lot to look at when it comes to youth and sports. Another area to look at was how the youth movement has been commoditized to provide money for our capitalist society. As we went through the class I was able to see these different areas and take a new appreciation for another way to look at sports.
Looking at my youth sports career, it was an illustrious one that began when I was about 5 years old. My youth sports career included playing sports such as soccer, baseball, and basketball. I was a fairly active child and I think that my parents wanted me to be involved for two main reasons. The first reason was that my father played all sorts of sports growing up, so I believe that he wanted to present that same opportunity to me as well. The second reason that I believe I was so involved in sports is for a reason that is discussed in our scholarly reading. In Grossberg�??s article he discusses that �??there are constant stories about epidemics of underage drinking and sex�?�. Also in his article he makes reference to the increasing amount of children violence and the fact children are becoming more and more unpredictable. This is the second reason I feel that my parents got my involved in sports. I feel that they wanted to use sports as an additional way to provide structure in my life and hoped that it would keep me into sports and not get into other, more harmful, areas of life.
Personally, I feel that sports played a very positive role in my life. One reason for this is that many of the friends I had growing up, in high school, and still have today I made through sports. Whether by playing on certain sports teams or playing against the same kids growing up, sports allowed a means to create these friendships with other kids of my age. Sports were also positive for me due to a reason that I think my parents aimed for. Sports kept me out of trouble the whole time growing up. I feel that I did not fall through the cracks due to sports, like I watched others who quit sports do. Growing up, I was playing sports during the spring, winter, and fall so there was little time to find trouble. This carried over into high school as I played on sports teams and I feel that the thought of getting in trouble and being kicked off of a sports team was enough to deter me from getting into trouble.
To me sports were a source of discipline. Examples that I have of us would be how strict high school sports were with getting in trouble and how my parents used sports as a discipline mean. Playing sports in high school, coaches were quick to point out that any trouble in school meant either a game suspension or permanent removal from the team. I feel that by participating in sports that had such strict rules as these, I was able to deter myself from trouble and act as a more disciplined high school student. Also, my parents were able to use participation in sports as a means of discipline to me. What I mean by this is that if my grades were not good enough, then I did not play sports for that season. Also, if I did not follow the rules at home or participate in chores, then sports were the first things to be taken away, since my parents knew that I would miss them the most.
Today I am still involved in basically the same sports. I have given up baseball due to my overall dislike of it now and how I think it is an extremely slow and boring sport, and replaced it with sports such as flag football and lacrosse. Sports today are not as much of a trouble deterrent as much as just for relaxation and enjoyment now. I think that is the most important thing that has changed since I enjoyed sports as a youth.

Ah, going back to the fun world of youth sports. This past weeks class was able to help me remember a time where I was able to help shape my life and learn certain life lessons at such a young age. I thought that it was interesting this week to look at youth and sports because I feel that personally it is an area I tend to neglect. Whether it is youth meaning the Little League World Series or youth meaning an 18 year old LeBron James playing with men double his age, there is a lot to look at when it comes to youth and sports. Another area to look at was how the youth movement has been commoditized to provide money for our capitalist society. As we went through the class I was able to see these different areas and take a new appreciation for another way to look at sports.
Looking at my youth sports career, it was an illustrious one that began when I was about 5 years old. My youth sports career included playing sports such as soccer, baseball, and basketball. I was a fairly active child and I think that my parents wanted me to be involved for two main reasons. The first reason was that my father played all sorts of sports growing up, so I believe that he wanted to present that same opportunity to me as well. The second reason that I believe I was so involved in sports is for a reason that is discussed in our scholarly reading. In Grossberg�??s article he discusses that �??there are constant stories about epidemics of underage drinking and sex�?�. Also in his article he makes reference to the increasing amount of children violence and the fact children are becoming more and more unpredictable. This is the second reason I feel that my parents got my involved in sports. I feel that they wanted to use sports as an additional way to provide structure in my life and hoped that it would keep me into sports and not get into other, more harmful, areas of life.
Personally, I feel that sports played a very positive role in my life. One reason for this is that many of the friends I had growing up, in high school, and still have today I made through sports. Whether by playing on certain sports teams or playing against the same kids growing up, sports allowed a means to create these friendships with other kids of my age. Sports were also positive for me due to a reason that I think my parents aimed for. Sports kept me out of trouble the whole time growing up. I feel that I did not fall through the cracks due to sports, like I watched others who quit sports do. Growing up, I was playing sports during the spring, winter, and fall so there was little time to find trouble. This carried over into high school as I played on sports teams and I feel that the thought of getting in trouble and being kicked off of a sports team was enough to deter me from getting into trouble.
To me sports were a source of discipline. Examples that I have of us would be how strict high school sports were with getting in trouble and how my parents used sports as a discipline mean. Playing sports in high school, coaches were quick to point out that any trouble in school meant either a game suspension or permanent removal from the team. I feel that by participating in sports that had such strict rules as these, I was able to deter myself from trouble and act as a more disciplined high school student. Also, my parents were able to use participation in sports as a means of discipline to me. What I mean by this is that if my grades were not good enough, then I did not play sports for that season. Also, if I did not follow the rules at home or participate in chores, then sports were the first things to be taken away, since my parents knew that I would miss them the most.
Today I am still involved in basically the same sports. I have given up baseball due to my overall dislike of it now and how I think it is an extremely slow and boring sport, and replaced it with sports such as flag football and lacrosse. Sports today are not as much of a trouble deterrent as much as just for relaxation and enjoyment now. I think that is the most important thing that has changed since I enjoyed sports as a youth.

I suppose I was blessed as a child. My parents did not put me in any strict youth sports. I played the usual sports with the children in my neighborhood and that was the extent for the beginning of my sporting experiences. Seeing as how youth sports can be such a breeding ground for destructive environments for children, I suppose it was a blessing in disguise. My siblings and I were sent to a private catholic elementary school for a large developmental stage in life. One of the top five reasons children partake in youth sports is very socially driven. In my school it was a situation where �??all the cool kids were doing it�?� and the others were shunned and as we saw in class �??demonized�?�.
After a few years of being a demon, I decided to try my luck at CYO basketball, a league where each school groups two classes together and forms a team. I had played pick-up and loved it. I soon discovered the differences between playing with my neighbor and playing on an organized team. While my parents did not push me to play, I was externally motivated. Fitting in with others and making social connections seems to be important to children. There is almost a social hierarchy amongst youth. It is apparent looking back at the relationships I had with classmates. There were classmates that were outcasts and on the lower end, as well as children that everyone followed. They were often the players on the team and they filled the higher positions. Within the team itself, there was a social hierarchy of its own. There was always a kid whose father was the coach. Always the father, this was a �??no girls allowed club�?�. Just below the golden child were the players that held seniority on the team. Then there were guys like me, filling out the bottom of the top. At the time, that was acceptable to me. I was willing to be the bottom of the top rather than the middle or top of the bottom, despite having many of my best friends of time and still one currently less accepted than I was.
The CYO league itself was run very strictly. Seeing as how it was a religion based league, everyone was forced to treat everyone as a friend. While this is a noble idea, I feel that it removes a certain aspect of the competition that many children can thrive on. I recall one of our classmates commenting on how competition is part of the fun in youth sports. In young boys especially competition and winning is a substantial aspect in sports. Everyone wants to have fun, but I believe that most of the young athletes recognize that you can have more fun winning than losing. I do not believe that children at the elementary school level can recognize how useful it is to develop skills in practice or how important it can be to recognize that despite losing you can still have a good game. Cheating was cut a bit in the league, mostly due to emphasis of the idea of �??love thy neighbor�?� instilled by the religious institutions. Many players did not return after a few years of playing in the league. Those who did it year after year usually went on to play in travel teams and recreational leagues later on. I preferred playing for fun with friends at the local playground. I think the in the end of it all, youth sports can be a great way for children to develop great social skills and, most importantly, have fun. However, I think it is very important that parents allow their children to have fun and be themselves, acting as children will. After reading the article on espn.com about the young girl who was banned from her tennis league, I realized that far too much importance is being placed on control and I am infinitely grateful that my parents allowed me the chance to indulge my curiosity and discover what I enjoyed rather than force me to sports.