Negative Effects of Youth Sports

A Summary Review of Research:

Sport sociologist James Frey conducted and collected research that has exposed the truth about sport socialization, and what stands out most is how sport has influenced youth. Many parents get their children involved in sport, because they believe it will teach them good values and character traits such as, leadership, self-discipline, and integrity, but Frey asserts there is little evidence to support this common myth. Stanley Eitzen, another influential sport sociologist, writes an expose regarding what he calls ‘the darker side of competition’ in which he argues that the longer someone plays sport, the more likely they are to have poor morals, because coaches often encourage cheating and other unethical behaviors. When reviewing the following articles, Sport and Society (Frey), Ethical Dilemmas in American Sport (Eitzen), NFL: Dodging the Concussion Discussion (Deford), State of Play (The Aspen Institute Project Play), Parents’ Perceptions of Child-to-Parent Socialization in Organized Youth Sport (Dorsch, Smith, McDonough), The Sanctity of Sunday Football (Hartmann), and ESPN’s Sportcenter: Socialization of America’s Athletes, Coaches and Workers (Aicinena), there is an obvious common theme among all of these articles which is that there is great potential for harm of children within youth sport, not only physical harm from injuries, but psychological harm as well. However, now that we have become aware of these issues, sport sociologists say it’s time for us to take action and create positive changes; they stress the significance of improving youth sport so that we can ensure that children have positive experiences that will encourage them to be engaged in physical activity throughout their lifespan.

Project Play asserts that it is crucial that we get children more active and engaged in sport. Project Play, along with world leaders, have devised a plan that includes eight strategies to get children more involved in play and sport. These strategies include asking children what they want, reintroducing free play at schools, encouragement of sport sampling, revitalizing in-town leagues and thinking small, designing for development, training all coaches and placing greater emphasis on prevention of obesity and other health-related issues linked to sedentary lives. The main components of what the Aspen Institute refers to as ‘Physical Literacy,’ includes possessing ability, confidence, and desire. One of the biggest concerns for children dropping out of sport is that so many coaches are untrained in knowing how to deal with sport injuries, as well as being unknowledgeable on how to coach children effectively, such as how to motivate them, how to use punishment properly, or how to communicate effectively. Coaches are sometimes even against their players being involved in multiple sports, even though there is evidence that those involved in multiple sports are less likely to suffer injury. “A 2016 University of Wisconsin study of more than 1,000 athletes at 27 high schools found that 49 percent of specialized athletes sustained an injury, compared with only 23 percent of multisport athletes” (Aspen Institute 9). When examining soccer, basketball, baseball, volleyball, flag football, tackle football, softball, ice hockey, and lacrosse, less than 55% of coaches are trained in CPR and basic first aid, and less than 45% are trained in concussion management, general safety and injury prevention, sports skills and tactics, physical conditioning, effective motivational techniques (Aspen Institute 13). This is extremely dangerous, because we are entrusting our children with these coaches, yet they are being put at high risk for injury and possible other harm.

Frey says, “The involvement of youth—in sport is typically encouraged by parents, school administrators and community leaders, because this activity is viewed as a very effective setting for learning acceptable values and beliefs and for acquiring desirable character traits—[such as] self-discipline, sportsmanship, and an appreciation for hard work, competition, and goal attainment” (Frey 506). In addition many people believe that sport is a vehicle in which one can acquire better social skills. However, studies have shown that sport is unnecessary for adequate socialization. In addition Frey declares, “[There is little evidence to support] that involvement of sport results in character building, moral development, a competitive or team orientation, good citizenship, or values personality traits” (506). In addition, Eitzen declares, “[There is] a widely held assumption of [that] sport is a primary vehicle by which youth are socialized to adopt the values and morals of society. The ultimate irony is, however, that sport as it is presently conducted in youth leagues, schools, and professional level does not enhance positive character traits” (Eitzen 185).

While some people may benefit from sports, philosopher Banham states, for other people sport can encourage selfish and hostile behavior, as well as incite envy, conceit and bad tempers (Eitzen 185). Eitzen believes that the greatest problem is the ‘winning-at-all-costs’ attitude. This is what initiates unethical behavior such as cheating, which is the road leading to other bad behaviors. In a study of more than 10,000 athletes who played college and high school level sport, there was a correlation between athletes scoring lower than non-athletes when it came to moral development, and researchers have found that those who played sport longer showed declines in moral reasoning scores. Moral character and reasoning was defined within the study by possessing the traits of honesty, responsibility, and justice. It appears that there is potential for harm of youth within sport. Those who are involved in sport appear more likely to be dishonest, irresponsible and be unjust, but does it have to be this way? What is the cause of moral decay among athletes?

Eitzen has shown that over time if athletes are declining in moral character, there is clear evidence that the problem is these athletes must be learning poor morals from the environment, and more than likely it is specifically from their coach. Coaches lead players in sport and influence the way they play and also set the tone for the season of what is acceptable and expected of them. When coaches put the greatest emphasis on winning, and that is all that really matters, players can lose the love for the game and begin seeing the sport more as a job which can have negative repercussions for youth athletes. Sport sociologist, Steven Aicinena shares that many professional athletes are over-trained and abused by coaches if they are on a losing streak. Youth often sign up for sport, because they think it will be fun to play, but it seems many professional athletes, who are often admired as heroes by youth, have sent out the message that sport is not fun unless you are winning.

Aicinena shares, “One athlete stated [after losing a game], ‘they had all of the fun, they won.’—one athlete said bluntly, ‘We had no fun, we lost.’ Fun is equated with winning’—Athletes and coaches featured on SportsCenter rarely expressed a love for the game. It was also rare for them to state that sport was fun—when winning and championships are considered what sport is all about, second place may as well be last place” (12). When we teach children than winning is the only thing that is important, and that sport is all work and very little fun, it is no wonder that moral character can decline in athletes. The higher the stakes of the game, the greater the chances the athlete may engage in unethical tactics, because winning will be the most important objective. This is not a good perspective to take on sport, than winning is everything and that there is no other value to sport. Aicinena shares that sport has influenced society and the way we view the workplace as well, someone who grew up being told than second place is not good enough and that it makes him or her a loser, may never find satisfaction in the workplace either. Even if they reach high success in life, there may always be someone who is even more successful than they are, which they could interpret to mean that they are a loser. Eitzen agrees that this is the biggest problem going on within sport, the fact that a team of athletes could make it pro and all the way to the Super Bowl, but if they don’t win, they are called losers. Why as a society do we choose to ignore the fact that they accomplished reaching second place in a competition against multiple professional level teams? Shouldn’t we be celebrating the accomplishments, even if they didn’t win a championship? The ‘winning is everything’ attitude is not a healthy view that we should want our children to adopt.

Another danger to youth is the toxic masculine culture that envelops sport. “Donald Sabo—has written extensively about the pain and violence, both physical and psychological, experienced by many boys who compete in athletics. And Harry Edwards has long argues that over-investing in sports can divert poor and minority youth from more promising avenues of upward mobility. But, despite the harsh realities, sports remain one of the few socially approved settings in which boys and men—can express themselves and bond with eachother” (Hartmann 15). Hartmann asserts, “Boys’ athletics tend to be more physical and aggressive and put more emphasis on winning, being tough in the face of adversity, and dealing with injuries and pain—parents, coaches and peers routinely encourage such intensity among boys in youth sports—the behaviors and attitudes valued in men’s and boys’ athletics are not just about sports, but about masculinity” (16). “The stereotypical American man [as explained by Nick Trujillo]; powerful, hard-working, family patriarch, a cowboy and a symbol of heterosexual virility” (Hartmann 17). What happens when youth do not meet these stereotypes within sport? It appears there is low tolerance for boys and girls who do not fit the stereotypes society has prescribed to them. Hartmann asserts, “Female reporters, homosexual athletes, and men who challenge the dominant culture of men’s sports—especially in the sacred space of the locker room—quickly learn that sports are not just dominated by men but also dominated by thinking and habits understood to be masculine (in opposition to the more nurturing values of compromise, cooperation, sympathy, understanding, and sharing typically associated with femininity)” (16). So in short, sports are for boys and men who are aggressive, dominating, violent athletes, who represent the stereotype of what is an acceptable type of man in society. Youth who do not fit this stereotype may be teased, harassed, hazed or worst. Sport does not then teach one to be tolerant of others who are different at all. It teaches poor ethics that encourage conformity to such toxic male stereotypes. The result is exclusion of many boys in youth sport, as well as increased injuries from the encouragement of violence.

Girls involved in youth sport are in a way demeaned by comments such as ‘you throw like a girl’ which is supposed to imply someone is not a good athlete. Women have a long history of being excluded from sport, but because of title IX there has been a significant increase in female athletes. The problem is a lot of gender stereotypes and the discrimination against homosexuals, also has influenced the female sport world as well. Hartmann says, “Women’s sports have essentially been based upon the same single-minded, hyper-competitive masculine model. Not surprisingly, [women and girls] are [also] witnessing the emergence of the same kinds of [unethical] problems—cheating, physical and emotional stress, homophobia, eating disorders—that have long plagues men’s sports” (17). If we had better trained coaches as the Project Play suggests, would this reduce some of these issues plaguing sport?

Injury is a huge problem in impact sports, especially American football. Deford asserts, “We know that high school [football] players will experience more than 40,000 concussions [per] season, and that boys will experience greater acceleration to the head than do older players. We know that in a full season of games and practice, players endure more than 3,000 hits, and frequently these collisions are at 100g of force, the equivalent of a car crash” (1). Many former football players are now suffering more increased rates of dementia and depression so it is evident that playing football is not good for a player’s brain. Dr. McKee of Boston University’s School of Medicine stresses that ‘“Anyone who doesn’t recognize the severity of the problem is in tremendous denial’” (Deford 1). Besides parents not allowing their children to play youth football, what can they do to protect them from brain injuries? Eitzen asserts that the bottom line is always about the leagues making money, so coaches are often untrained and athletic directors may try to be cheap when it comes to equipment, even at the increased risk of player injury. It is evident that it is time for us to take these issues within youth sport seriously, because these athlete’s health and lives could be at risk for serious harm.

In a study, Dorsche, Smith and McDonough discovered that parents can influence their children in the sport context, and children can also influence parents’ behaviors, cognitions, affects and relationships. Parents reactions and level of engagement with their children’s involvement in youth sport, can greatly affect how children feel about sport and whether they continue to participate. The study showed that parents started to adopt the goals of their children and the same feelings towards sport that their children expressed by picking up on their cues; various emotions such as pride, anxiety, embarrassment, were some of the main emotions that parents felt at their children’s sporting events. While it is interesting that children can also influence parents, I felt that the greater influence with potential to harm youth in sport is the child’s parent and the coach. If the parent shares society’s narrow and stereotypical views that were expressed to be common in American sport by Hartmann, then those views are even more likely to be pressed onto their children who are involved in youth sport. From the study, it is evident that many parents did feel shame or embarrassment over the level of success their child had, but shouldn’t parents feel pride in their child even if they don’t succeed all the time in sport? Isn’t it inevitable that no athlete can control themselves and always have perfect plays and wins? Eitzen expressed that coaches and parents have the greatest influence on players in youth sport. Eitzen asserts, “We glorify winners and forget losers” (182). A list of quotes from some famous coaches include, “’Winning isn’t everything, it is the only thing’ (Vince Lombardi), ‘Defeat is worst than death because you have to live with defeat’ (Bill Musselman), ‘There are only two things in this league, winning and misery’ (Pat Riley)” (Eitzen 182). It is evident that coaches and parents have the strongest influence on youth sport and we should be concerned when this kind of pressure and distorted viewpoint is being pressed upon young impressionable minds.

One of the final issues within sport is racism. Frey suggests that African Americans do not have the same equal opportunities and do not receive similar rewards for equal levels of performance when compared to Caucasian athletes and he believes this is due to racism (Frey 513). While African Americans are over represented in some sports, they are under-represented in many others, and when examining their roles on the team, it appears in the majority of sport that blacks are not given higher positions that require greater intelligence nor leader types of roles. This is referred to by sport sociologists as stacking. Frey reports, “Blacks tend to be ‘stacked’ in those team positions that match racial and ethnic stereotypes, that is, they are places in positions that require physical skills while whites are disproportionately found in positions that require intelligence, leadership, and have greater outcome control” (Frey 513). Some sociologists argue there is not yet enough research to determine if there may be other underlying variables as to why stacking is happening, perhaps many of the players choose those roles specifically because of their own personal beliefs and culture that drives them into certain sports and not others, and possibly certain positions become preferential too. When it comes to youth sport however, we should be encouraging all children to be able to try out for any position on a team. Racial discrimination should not be tolerated, and just because someone is a specific race, we should not encourage them to only try out for sports in which their race has higher populations. For example, we shouldn’t tell an African American child who has an interest in tennis, that perhaps he should try out for basketball or football instead. Youth should have opportunities to play multiple sports and sports that are uncommon for their race as well. Inclusion should be a priority in order to improve the morality and values within sport.

In conclusion, sport sociologists have quite a bit to say about youth sport and convey that there are many possible dangers in youth sport that we should be worried about. These dangers include racial discrimination, teaching toxic masculine culture to youth through sport, the encouragement of violence and making winning the only purpose of playing, influencing children to view sport as work and taking the fun out of it, not requiring coaches to have proper training and athletic departments not providing enough safety equipment for injury prevention. It appears that the main message being delivered by these sociologists is that parents need to become better informed about these issues and the harm it can cause their children. Coaches need to have mandatory training in order to prevent the majority of these issues as well and society needs to stop encouraging boys and men to be overly aggressive and violent in order to be accepted as men. While some of the studies these sociologists performed to collect data may have some possible bias, such as the study conducted by Dorsch, Smith and McDonough, which included only 1 set of black parents, and the average household of the youth sport parents was much higher than the average American yearly income, I believe despite some of these bias there is still enough evidence to support the claims being represented. When multiple sociologists conduct studies across the country and get consistent results, it is clear that there is a correlation between sport and these possible negative outcomes. We need to make changes to redeem youth sport in America so we can provide safety, fun, and ensure that we are promoting good values and morals into our children.

Works Cited

Aicinena, Steven. ESPN’s SportsCenter: Socialization of America’s Athletes, Coaches and Workers. University of Texas of Permian Basin. 1999. Print.

Aspen Institute., Project Play. State of Play 2016: Trends and Developments. Youthreport.projectplay.us. Accessed 2018. Web.

Deford, Frank. NFL: Dodging the Concussion Discussion. Morning Edition. 26 August 2009. Print.

Dorsch, Travis., Smith, Alan., McDonough, Meghan. Parents’ Perceptions of Child-to-Parent Socialization in Organized Youth Sport. Journal of Sport and Exercise Psychology. Human Kinetics. 2009. Print.

Eitzen, Stanley. Ethical Dillemmas In American Sport. Department of Sociology, Colorado State University. 31 October 1995. Print.

Frey, James., Eitzen, Stanley. Sport and Society. Annual Reviews Inc. 1991. Print.

Hartmann, Douglas. The Sanctity of Sunday Football: Why Men Love Sports. American Sociological Association. University of California Press, Journals Division, Berkley, CA. 2003. Print.