Ava Mascuch 711

Argument Essay 1/30/15

Statistics state that when teenagers play contact sports they have more academic success. When teens play sports it helps them with not just being better in school but with their stamina, strength, teamwork, good sportsmanship and so much more. Why would you want to keep your child from developing or improving these skills? Therefore, kids and teenagers should play contact sports because it’s good for their health but they should take precaution while playing them.

Teenagers should participate in contact sports as long as they train to prevent injuries. According to the Wall Street Journal website, “To prevent sports injuries people want the coaches and parents to meet at the beginning of the season and talk about what type of training is going on for their child.” This shows that this strategy will prevent injuries during the game and in practice. It also shows that if parents meet with their child's coach then they will be able to see and discuss the training, that will be happening during the season, and if it needs to be improved. Another example is the American Academy of Pediatrics website which states, “The A.A.P (American Academy of Pediatrics) recommends plyometric and strengthening exercises to reduce athletes risk of being injured and encourages coaches and school sports programs to learn about the benefits of this kind of training.” This quote shows that parents and coaches should really make an effort to improve training in sports because the result will include less injuries and more precautions being taken.

Teen should play more that one contact sport because playing two sports can prevent injury because your body is repeating one motion over and over while just playing one sport. For instance, Teens Stress 101 states, “sports that have a lot of repetitive motion can damage your body. Practicing all different sports can help you later in life.” This demonstrates that the more you play contact sports the healthier you will be.  It also shows that playing more sports helps you and doesn’t damage your body.  A second good example is from the USA Football webpage, it states that “According to medical experts taking part in a variety of activities - whether structured or not - leads to greater skill and muscle development.” This is evidence that there are many benefits in playing more than one contact sport.

Although contact sports are good for teens to play some parents say it is not worth the risk. The home page for Huffington Post states that “Some parents aren’t letting their kids play contact sports because they don’t want their kids to get hurt during a game.” This is a logical reason to take your kids out of sports but when you take your kid out of sports they miss a lot of opportunities. The article Kids Health states that “Sports are a great way for kids to have fun, stay fit, improve skills and make friends.”  This shows that teens who don’t participate in sports are missing those vital things that can round out a child’s life.

Overall teens should participate in sports because it will help them maintain good health and they will develop personal skills that will help them over their entire life. It is possible to take precautions to make contact sports more safe and parents should speak with coaches and their sports community about how that can be done.  The benefit of playing team sports outways the risk of injury.

Bibliography

"How Children and Teens Avoid Sports Injuries." Wall Street Journal. Ed. Paul Beckett. Dow Jones and Company, n.d. Web.

American Academy Of Pediatrics. "American Academy of Pediatrics Recommends Training Programs to Reduce Risk of ACL Tears in Young Athletes." American Academy of Pediatrics. N.p., n.d. Web

Teen Stress 101 Teens Training to Hard for Sports. Perf. Connor Welch. Www.abc.com. N.p., n.d. Web.

Frollo, Joe. "Playing Multiple Sports Builds Better Athletes." Youth Football. N.p., n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.

"KidsHealth : Kids Home Page." KidsHealth - the Web's Most Visited Site about Children's Health. The Nemours Foundation, n.d. Web. 01 Feb. 2015.

"Highschool Football Player Dies from Field Injury." Huffington Post. Ed. Arianna Huffington. N.p., n.d. Web.