Adolescence:
Change and Continuity
Adolescence:
Change and Continuity
Sports and Leisure
Sports can be for both fun and leisure activity. Often adolescents plan a night of bowling, miniature golf, ice skating or roller skating with their friends. The purpose is just to have a good time. There is little competition involved and, if so, it is mainly to make it more fun and exciting. There are other sports which may be competitive but can be used for leisure and free time activities. Basketball is played in the inner city. Pick up basketball games are a huge escape and gives adolescents a chance to get away from the reality of their deprived lives. Many kids in the city get involved in such a sport for positive self worth and enjoyment. Leisure sports are a major source of recreation for Americans (Condon, 1995).
Gender Differences
Gender plays a huge role in what sports adolescents choose to be involved in. Girls choose sports involving less contact, boys enjoy sports with vigorous activity and lots of physical contact (Pease, 1986). Football, soccer, baseball and wrestling are the sports in the United States with the most participation from boys. Volleyball, field hockey and softball tend to be the popular sports for girls. Track and basketball receive interest from both males and females. In the United States even in early childhood boys like to be involved in aggressive activities. Girls find it more enjoyable playing with dolls and less competitive situations. In our society these gender specific roles are placed upon our children. These tendencies are carried into their early adult years. And when choosing a sport these sexual stereotypes present themselves. It must be noted that in recent years it has become more acceptable for females to take on a more aggressive demeanor and involve themselves in more aggressive situations.
Competition in Sports
Competition in sports is everywhere. Daily on television there is some kind of sport being played involving intense competition. Our children watch and admire these events. They admire the sport and the individuals involved. They become indoctrinated into this style of behavior (Bredemeier, 1986). It begins with children playing sports in the back yard or driveway. They take the roles of a professional athlete and a certain pro or college team and compete against their friends in the neighborhood. This continues until the beginning of organized sports. This could be community or school related. Here competition begins to be emphasized by a coach. Finally in high school this competition gets even more serious. The need to win becomes more pronounced and emphasized. Competition is a learned and important process of growing up. Competition and the desire to win are not limited to athletes. From the class room to the corporate board room competition and winning are desired outcomes.
Positive and Negative Aspects of Sports
There are both positive and negative aspects in sports. Positive aspects of sports for adolescents include, a sense of belonging, competition, a feeling of accomplishment and enjoyment. The negatives may also include an unhealthy view of competition, less time on academics and teaching aggression (Zwingmann, 1984).
Sports create a sense of belonging. Adolescents feel a type of kinship with the other people involved, an almost family type feeling. For teens in the inner city this may give them the necessary attention that will allow them to stay away from gangs. Competition can be a positive attribute of sports. This is a competitive world and sports may prepare teens to deal with competition. Sports also give the adolescents a feeling of accomplishment when they give their best and notice improvement over a period of time. This helps provide confidence for their future endeavors.
Competition may also be a negative. Some people feel competition is not healthy. It teaches youngsters that in order to survive they must do anything to succeed even if it means hurting another individual. Aggression is another negative aspect. Many sports are violent. Teens may take this into their everyday life and become overly aggressive at unnecessary times. Lastly, sports can take up a lot of a young students life. They may hinder studying time, and take time away from other school activities including band or volunteer activities in the community (Zwingmann, 1984).
For most young people athletics can and should be a positive experience. When supervised and coached by people who care, sports can be a great learning experience.
For additionall information on sports and adolescents refer to
http://www.als.uiuc.edu/leist/resources/sport/sport.html
About six million adolescent children play high school sports and about 20 million
plat recreational sports outside of school (http://cdc.gov/safeusa/sports/child/html).
Starting to play sports at a young age is good for children in that it helps
their bodies develop healthily, it can teach them about sportsmanship and playing
with others, as well as developing a good self esteem.
Healthy Kids
Children need do things to physically stimulate their bodies so they can grow to be healthy. At a young age, children have flexible and agile bodies that allow them to do things that we adults cannot do. Doing physical activity is the best way to develop the child's bones and muscles. (LeBlanc and Dickson, 1997 pgs. 3-5)
Sports allow children to become socially active with other peers. Children use these sports to measure themselves and their other peers on a competitive level. "Children who are competent at sports are more easily accepted by children of their own age, and are more likely to be team captains and group leaders. Such children usually have better social skills" (LeBlanc and Dickson, 1997 pg 3). This is saying that that the adolescent's rate themselves and others according to their capability levels in the sport and the most athletic individual seems to be the leader. (LeBlanc and Dickson, 1997 pgs. 3-5)
Real Sportsmanship?
Sportsmanship is an essential attribute to a young athlete. And the responsibility lies in the coach and the parents to teach sportsmanship. Sometimes parental desire and coach desire to win overcome them. And when this desire takes over, they seem to do anything to win. They forget about teaching and focus on other matters, winning. (Murphy, 1999, pg. 172)
Adults seem to take youth sports very serious and almost treat it like it is a professional level sport. Most want to win and win at any cost. Teaching kids good sportsmanship develops healthy skills that can be used off the field as well as on. If the child understands that it is not ok to try to hurt another in sports, then they will take that off the field as well. Getting to the children early and before they are thinking about competition is essential to molding good sportsmen. (Murphy, 1999 pg. 172)
The Effects of Self Esteem on Adolescents
Dr. Burnett's description of self esteem: "to have self acceptance and considers him/herself worthy of respect and love." His view on what he feels self esteem is actually right on. If you feel good about yourself and confident, then you carry your head higher and have a better sense of accomplishment.
In conclusion
Sports at an adolescent level can be a positive attribute to a growing child. Even the great philosopher John Dewey said that a child couldn't learn without experience. And experience is what sports are all about. Along with experience, the exercise is another positive asset to youth sports. Young children need exercise and sports are a perfect and fun way to involve a child in exercise. Sportsmanship development in a child leads to positive things off the field as well as on. And finally, there needs to be positive support for those children that are not the best athletes out of the group or fail to live up to their standards that they and other set. Positive support from the family and coaches are essential for a child to grow and like to play sports in their future.
Works Cited
Sports are considered to be some of the more constructive and enjoyable activities available to young adolescents. However, definitions of masculinity and femininity have been imposed upon in sporting activities.
What sports do males and females participate in?
Girls tend to involve themselves in sports with little or no contact, while boys enjoy sports with vigorous activity and physical contact(Lenskji,1986).
What are the differences in the nature of sports chosen?
The subjective experience of sports differ markedly depending on the context in which sports are played. Gender plays an influential part as well in participation rates and the quality of experience in different sport contexts.
Until recently, sports have been viewed as a masculine domain(Varca, Shaffer and Saunders, 1984). The assumption is that being female as well as athletic are somehow mutually exclusive, such that opting to capitalize on one role necessitates sacrificing the other(Varca et al., 1984). Moreover, females participation in organized sports is looked upon as socially appropriate rather than their involvement in informal or recreational sports context, while boys are far more likely to receive social approval and encouragement for participation in organized and competitive sports(Shaw, Kleiber and Caldwell, 1995).
The effects of sport participation
Athletics builds character, promotes healthy competition, encourages teamwork and provides youngsters with an area of instrumental achievement unavailable to the non-athletically inclined. By developing new sports in which both boys and girls engage in equally, such sports will emphasize a similarity rather than a gender difference.
For additional information:
Dear High School Student-Athlete,
If you are a competitive high school athlete who is seriously considering playing a varsity sport in College you are about to make a huge commitment. Before you make any decisions you really need to get as much information about what exactly is involved in being a student-athlete in college. Intercollegiate athletics have three different divisions that schools compete in. Each division will demand different things from the student-athlete. It is very important to think about what level of competition you are able to physically and mentally compete in. I have had experience being a high school- student athlete as well as a NCAA division 3 and division 1 student-athlete. Each level of competition has varied in its demands that it placed on me. I'd like to share with you some information about what you can expect if you compete at the division one level. The other two divisions have similarities but because most of my experience has been at the division 1 level I'll talk about how it differs from being a high school athlete.
A division one student-athlete is required by the NCAA bylaw 14.1.6.2.2 to carry at least 12 credits in order to be eligible for competition. This is just one of many rules that the NCAA mandates its student athletes to follow. When I say many rules I'm not kidding, they seem to have a rule for every situation a athlete may get into. This is why I advise you to read and learn as much about the bylaws that the NCAA follows. Learning and exposing yourself to as much information about the laws your school must function under will enable you to enter into your potential scholarship situation with your eyes open. It is fine if your parents and coaches are educated, but think about it, who is the person actually committing themselves to the college program. YOU ARE! Take the time before you sign up for anything to learn what exactly you are going to be doing. I wish I was able to go into detail about every rule, but I probably would lose you because of the length. The NCAA has a web site that I encourage all future college athletes to visit (http://www.ncaa.org).
Back to the educational commitment you have in college. With at least 12 credits while in season you are going to probably have about four or more classes, requiring class attendance as well as study and homework time. Top this off with an in season commitment of a minimum of 12 hours of athletic practice time and additional game and travel time, and you as a student-athlete have yourself a full-time job!
Now for some competitive high school athletes this commitment doesn't seem like anything new. You go to classes during the day and then attend practice or a game after school. Their is no denying that being a student athlete in high school is challenging. What I really want to stress is that the commitment in high school is only about half as intense as it is in college. Every sport will vary on the length of the in season competition. High School athletes usually only play one sport at a time and that one sport will only be played for the time competition is taking place. In college the student-athlete will practice year round. Competing and traveling isn't limited to only 3 months, being a college division 1 athlete is a 12 month commitment. Talk about potential for burn out!
College students typically spend a lot of time socializing and developing their self-identity. College student-athletes have to learn to balance the athletics with being a student as well as finding time to "find themselves." It is a difficult challenge to master. Student athletes are sometimes asked to take special classes that teach them how to meet the demands of their life. They will typically learn time management techniques, or scheduling strategies that forces them to be organized. Student athletes really need to master these skills in order to be successful in college!
If a student doesn't succeed in the classroom they have the added stress of not only letting themselves down, but letting their team down. If your GPA is not in "good academic standing", a phrase interpreted by each individuals institution and league of participation, then you will not be eligible to compete (NCAA bylaw 14.01.3). Pressure is not a novel idea for the student athlete. You are under constant pressure and stress to keep your studies and self in good competitive order. Playing a sport while going to school is a harder thing than anyone really likes to admit. Think long and hard before you decide that becoming a college student-athlete is the right choice for you.Sincerely,
Robyn Van Praag
Penn State Women's Varsity soccer team 1994-96
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This site was produced by students taking HDFS 433: The Transition to Adulthood and HDFS 239: Adolescent Development at the Pennsylvania State University. Feedback can be sent to the individual authors or to Nancy Darling (darling@bard.edu).
Last updated 5/07/02.