Youth Sport Participation free essay sample

Nowadays, there is a contentious issue on youth participation in leisure experiences in relation to sport. This essay will demonstrate disciplinary perspective of psychology to examine the issue in regards to youth sports participation. There are a number of psychological factors that show whether youth may gain benefits from involvement. Sports offer youth opportunities to experience competitiveness and increasing their self-esteem. However, attitudes such as anxiety and stress from strong training or pressure of coaches and parents are concerned to be negative factors of youth sports.Prior to discussing what this disciplinary perspective provides in relation to youth sports, it will first define the issue and provide some background facts With many youth participating in organised sport that is sports played or trained for outside of school, either in school or agency-sponsored programs, it is important to examine the possible benefits of this involvement. The benefits and detriments of youth sport participation have been a topic of debate within the research (Fraser-Thomas, Co? te? and Deakin 2005). We will write a custom essay sample on Youth Sport Participation or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page Sports participation has substantially increased in Australian children over the last years. According to Australian Bureau of Statistics (2006), the higher sport participation rate is a result of increased involvement by both girls and boys. In 2000, 66% of boys and 52% of girls from aged 5 to 14 years over years participated in at least one organised sport, whereas in 2006 this had increased to 69% of boys and 58% of girls participating in at least one organized sport (ABS 2006). Brady (2004) demonstrated that there are some of the social and physiological perspectives of childrens sports experience.It is believed by many that sport allows the development of skills and attitudes necessary in children, applying to their lives beyond the boundaries of sport to other aspects of life (Siegel 2006). However, Martens (as cited in Brady 2004) stated that the sports can be described as double-edged sword which has both tremendously positive effects and negative effects depending on whether the sword is swung in the right direction or swung in the wrong direction. Siegel (2006) claimed youth sports can be developed through well structured sports program with supervisors such as parents and coaches.In addition, the values, education and the skills of the parents decide the direction of the children’s psychological development, being constructive or destructive. (Martens as cited in Brady 2004) A number of psychological factors such as self-esteem, competitivene ss and attitudes will be discussed in the context of sport participation. Psychology is the study of human behaviour, experience, and development of the individual and the psychology of leisure is the study of leisure behaviours and experiences of the individual (Edginton, DeGraaf, Dieser ; Edginton 2005). Some psychologist claimed that the best way to understand people’s behaviour is to search their needs of satisfaction (Lynch ; Veal 2006). Maslow suggested five categories of needs which are physiological, safety, belonging (social), esteem, and self-actualisation (Lynch ; Veal 2006). Sport enhances children’s self-esteem by building confidence in their physical and social skills (Seefeldt ; Ewing 1996). The key to a positive sport experience is for adults to help children understand that the important thing is not about winning the competition but achieving their own realistic, personal goals (Hines ; Groves 1989).In addition, sports competition is an important achievement area for children. When they have obtained their personal goals through competition, they may have motivation to undertake new challenges, to pursue reasonable risks, and to not fear failure (Hines ; Groves 1989). There are other psychological individual attitudes such as anxiety and stress towards s ports activities as those attitudes and perceptions shape individual participation in sports (Strauss, Ekmekcioglu ; Marktl 2002; Warner ; Brown 2002). When a child’s self-esteem is enhanced through sport participation, it increases the likelihood that the child will continue to be involved in sport and will thus attain the other benefits of sport participation (Seefeldt ; Ewing 1996). Goldstein ; Iso-Ahola (2006) stated that enhanced self-esteem from participation provides a child with greater confidence to achieve in other spheres of life. In addition, sport provides an excellent opportunity for children to learn when cooperative and competitive behaviours are appropriate in different situations and to learn how cooperative and competitive they should be (Fraser-Thomas, Co? e? and Deakin 2005). Sport especially helps children when to cooperate within a competitive context, a behavioural skill essential for success in life. However, some children have suffered from the excessive stress in youth sports participation. The problems of overzealous coaches and parents are so prevalent in youth sports that dozens of books and coun tless articles have been written to counteract this undue influence.