(Example #2) First Draft:

Competitive Sports for Kids Debate Essay

An issue that is hotly debated is whether or not kids should be participating in

competitive sports. Some think that competitive sports increase confidence and self esteem, as
well as helps making lifetime friendships. Others think that the high risk of injuries and the
thought that competition damages kids overrules any friendship benefits. While some people
believe that kids should be involved in competitive sports, research and reasoning show that kids
should avoid playing competitive sports for many reasons. I am opposed to children playing
competitive sports because it is too much for children to handle, and competitive sports don’t
allow children to be children. There are many reasons why kids should not play competitive
sports . Some are that it can possibly injure kids, it exhausts kids, and money and time can be a
real game changer.
One key reason that competitive sports should not be for kids is because it exhausts and
possibly injures many athletes. This supports my claim because some sports-related injuries can
lead to injuries “that plague them for a lifetime” (“Pushing Too Hard Too Young”, by Jacqueline
Stetson). Also, exhaustion in kids over a long period of time can lead to them disliking the sport,
or quitting exercise altogether because they’ve found it to be too hard. One person you can look
towards for evidence of injuries in kids because of sports is Dr. James R. Andrews, in the article,
“For Children in Sports, a Breaking Point”. Andrews is a sports surgeon. Andrews “has seen
four times as many overuse injuries in youth sports than he did five years ago. More children
today are having to undergo surgery for chronic sports injuries”(“For Children in Sports, a
Breaking Point”), by Jane E. Brody). This is important because an increase in sports injuries
means that more kids are playing competitive sports, and therefore getting themselves deeper
into that risk. Another person who had a quote in that article was Mark Hyman. He said, “Every
year more than 3.5 million children under 15 require medical treatment for sports injuries ,
nearly half of which are the result of simple overuse”. The same article also stated that “a major
factor in the rising injury rate is the current emphasis on playing on sport all year long, which
leave no time for the muscles and joints to recover”(Both quotes are from “For Children in
Sports, a Breaking Point”, by Jane Brody). This is saying that your body’s muscles and joints not
recovering is one of the main reasons for sports injuries.
When I was playing competitive basketball, about two summers ago, I was really excited to
start. But once our practices got more intense, I got floor burns and my muscles were always
sore. When it came the time for games, we had to travel far to get to my tournament games, out
at Power2Play. By then, it was hard to keep my muscles working at their full ability. I became
less excited about the practice because there was so much that we had to do, and so much my
muscles could be sore for. I was thankful when all of my soreness came to an halt after the
season ended. I loved playing because I love basketball, but for at my age, it was very physically
demanding, especially since I wasn’t in shape at all!
Talking about injuries and exhaustion coming from competitive sports, it becomes easy
to see that children should not be involved in them, just because of injuries and exhaustion alone.
I will also be giving you another reason that supports my claim. When kids get older, everything
about sports become harder, and opportunities in the majors and even high school, become
slimmer.
The second key reason on the topic of why kids should not play competitive sports is
because money is a big problem for some here in the United States. A shocking statistic
VisualNews.com shared in “High Cost of Youth Sports” was “In the United States, parents spend
$671 on average per year to cover the costs of uniforms and the hefty fees charged for
registration, lessons, and coaching, and at least 1 in 5 ends up spending over $1,000 per child,
every year” (VisualNews.com, paragraph 2, sentence 1). That is quite a bit of money for any
family to spend on just sports per year. Also, over 1,000 dollars per child every year on
competitive sports is a lot of money, for anyone. If a family is struggling, and their child really
wants to do a competitive sport, it can be hard to say no. If they don’t, their overall outcome can
come down because of the expenses a sport brings. This statistic shows how much people are
addicted to competitive sports, and how much they are willing to pay for everything. ESPN’s
main researcher citation is Don Sabo. He has done many surveys about youth sports. He also
works at D’Youville College as a professor. Sabo did research for the Women’s Sports
Foundation. He was trying to distinguish between the kids who started early, versus the kids who
start in third or fourth grade. “The biggest indicator of whether kids start young, Sabo found, is
whether their parents have a household income of $100,000 or more”(Hey Data Data--Swing!,
by Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia). The important thing to notice about this is that money is one
of the main reasons kids do or don’t play sports. Some other reasons Sabo found were that “Girls
start an average of half a year later than boys, and kids who don't exercise start later than those
who do”(Hey Data Data--Swing!, by Bruce Kelley and Carl Carchia). I know a thing or two
about spending money on sports. Here at my middle school, Blevins Middle School, basketball
and volleyball cost about $100 each, and that did not include picture fees, if we chose to get
them. That is quite a bit of money to put into two school sports. I also play fo leagues through the
Recreation. Each sport’s cost varies, but the price stays between 80 and 100 dollars And my
competitive team, Freeze, was way more than Recreation, having to pay for tournament games,
uniforms, and much more. There is a lot of money constantly poured into the sports I play,
especially competitive sports.
A final, but very important, reason that kids should not be playing competitive sports is
time. Kids are very restricted with time, especially in middle and high school. They have school,
and homework, and to pile sports practices and games on top of that is very hard to manage. I the
article, “Why 70 Percent of Kids Quit Sports by Age 13”, Julianna Miner talks about the problem
with their age conflicting with sports. She relates this problem to her own life because she has
kids, and her oldest was 13 at the time this article was written. She starts off by saying , “At 13,
kids generally find themselves with more (and more challenging) school work” (“Why 70
Percent of Kids Quit Sports by Age 13”, by Julianna W. Miner, 2016) Miner also stated that,
“There’s no longer time for them to do as much they did in elementary school”(“Why 70 Percent
of Kids Quit Sports by Age 13”, by Julianna W. Miner, 2016). These quotes are saying that is
elementary school, things were a lot easier to juggle, because most of your work was done in
school, and if you were given homework, it was usually a daily thing. In middle and high school,
you are given a massive amount of homework one day, and nothing the next. Sometimes it is
unknown how much homework you will be given in a day. And the first quote is saying that not
all the homework is just writing a sentence or two. Homework can be pretty challenging for
some kids. In “Hey, Data Data-- Swing!”, there are also some statistics about why kids quit
sports. This survey, conducted by Don Sabo (mentioned earlier) was to see why 45% of student
who started a sport quit it. The numbers are very interesting. Sabo found that for girls, 38% said
that they were not having fun, 36% said that they wanted to focus more on grades and studying,
27% said that they had a health problem or an injury, 22% said that they wanted to focus more
on other clubs and activities, 18% said that they did not like or get along with the coach, 16%
said that they did not like or get along with teammates, 15% said that they thought that they were
not a good enough player, and 14% said that their family worried about them getting hurt or
injured. For boys, 39% said that they were not having fun, 29% said that they had a health
problem or an injury, 26% said that they wanted to spend more time on grades and studying,
22% said that they did not like or get along with the coach, 18% said they did not like or get
along with teammates, 15% thought that they were not a good enough player, and 12% said that
their family worried about them getting hurt or injured. (“Hey, Data Data--Swing!, by Bruce
Kelley and Carl Carchia. Information pulled from a graph in the article) All of these percentages
are very interesting, but the two that stand out the most is the boys and girls that said that they
wanted to spend more time on grades and studying, and the ones who said that they wanted to
spend more time on clubs and other activities. You can learn a lot from these statements. One
thing you can learn is that they may not have had enough time for these things while they were
playing sports. Another thing you can conclude is that they preferred to do these things rather
than sports. Time could have made kids quit these sports to work on school, and other things
they enjoy. When I was playing sports through my school this year, time was a struggle. I would
get home from practice at about 5, and I would still have to eat dinner, and get all of my
homework done for the day, preferably before 10 that night, or else that would set my whole
morning back. Games were even harder to work around. When my team had away games, we
would usually not get back before 6 or 6:30 p.m., which would make nights harder. I had to eat
dinner, which usually got done at around 7, and then get all of my homework done. Those were
the days that I stayed up really late because of a lot of homework. Time was a real problem for
me, so I can imagine that it is a problem for other kids too.
Now that I have clearly explained why competitive sports are not suited for children, I
hope these three reasons have made you consider my side of this debate. Injuries and exhaustion,
money, and time are all things that are very important when you are thinking about commitment
to sports. Time for kids is something that can be hard to find extra of, injuries are something no
parent or child wants to go through; children because injuries do hurt, and parent because money
often comes with injuries. Others may think that competitive sports increase mental health, and
shows them a sense of belonging. That may be true, but injury and exhaustion is a price you
may have to pay. My side of opposition is easy because if you are a parent, you do not want to
put your kid in danger of injury. Kids may get sick of competitive sports. Parents never want to
put their kid in a place where they don’t like what they are doing (and they actually have a
choice about it). If you are looking to get your kid (or if you are a kid, get into) a competitive
sport, look at both sides.
I have only presented one of the two sides. Injuries are a possibility. Your kids (or if you
are a kid) you (or your kid) may be sore often. Also, do some research on the particular sport
your kid wants to start. What are the things they will be asked to do in practices? What skills do
they need to know going into the sport? Finally, ask yourself (or if you are a parent, your child),
if this is really what they want to do. Sports are a big commitment. Also (if you are a parent), ask
yourself if you are committed to getting your child to and from practice and games, and willing
to pay the fees that come with it. Competitive sports may or may not be fun (depending on the
kid), but they are a big commitment on the family, and the team. Be ready for anything.
 Works Cited
Brody, Jane E. “The Breaking Point for Children in Sports.” The New York Times, The New
York Times, 24 May 2010, www.nytimes.com/2010/05/25/health/25brod.html?_r=1&

Kelley, Bruce, and Carl Carchia. “‘Hey, Data Data -- Swing!".” ESPN, ESPN Internet Ventures,
11 July 2013, www.espn.com/espn/story/_/id/9469252/hidden-demographics-youth-sports-espn-
magazine.

Miner, Julianna W. “Why 70 Percent of Kids Quit Sports by Age 13.” The Washington Post, WP
Company, 1 June 2016, www.washingtonpost.com/news/parenting/wp/2016/06/01/why-70-
percent-of-kids-quit-sports-by-age-13/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.b5e785c5623

Stenson, Jacqueline. “Pushing Too Hard Too Young.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News
Group, 29 Apr. 2004, www.nbcnews.com/id/4556235/#.XLVBKkhKjIW.

VisualNews.com. “High Cost of Youth Sports.” HuffPost, HuffPost, 7 Dec. 2017,

www.huffpost.com/entry/high-cost-of-youth-sports_n_3469012.

(Example #2) Elevator Pitch:

Hello, my name is (change student name), and today I will be sharing my side of the debate
about whether kids should play competitive sports. I am opposed to kids playing competitive
sports because of many reasons, a few of which I will be telling you about now. The first reason
that kids should not play competitive sports is that the possibility of injuring kids is very high.
Some people may think that the risk is relatively low, but Dr. James R. Andrews could prove that
thought wrong. He stated that he “has seen four times as many overuse injuries in youth sports
than he did five years ago. More children today are having to undergo surgery for chronic sports
injuries” in the article “For Children in Sports, A Breaking Point”, by Jane E. Brody. This proves
that injury rates keep increasing over time, which Mark Hyman believes is mostly from overuse
of the body. Another reason I am opposed to children playing sports is because money can be a
big problem. This might not seem like an issue to people because kids could just not play sports.
The problem with that theory is that sports are one of the key ways kids can avoid becoming
overweight, or having diabetes. Sports are very expensive, but it is what most kids need to stay in
shape. “In the United States, parents spend $671 on average per year to cover the costs of
uniforms and the hefty fees charged for registration, lessons, and coaching, and at least 1 in 5
ends up spending over $1,000 per child, every year” (“High Cost of Youth Sports, by Visual
News.com). That amount of money can be a problem, and it doesn’t change if you go through
the city or recreator-parents can spend exactly as much when going through non-competitive
sports. My final reason that I will share is that time can be an issue. Trying to cram sports,
school, and homework into one day can be very hard to do, especially for middle and high
schoolers. Kids think that they can do it all, but usually not everything gets done. In “Hey Data
Data-- Swing, 36% of girls said that they wanted to focus more on grades, and 26% of boys said
the same thing in a survey that Don Sabo, a professor and a researcher of competitive sports
conducted. There can be made the assumption that there was not enough time to do sports and
homework in the same day, or the kids in the survey just prioritize homework over sports. These
are just three of my key reasons about why kids should not be able to play competitive sports.