Playing the game: the mental and physical impact of organized sports on youth athletes

Abstract

One of the most popular extracurricular activities for children is organized sports. Organized youth sports take many forms, and require different things from the youth athletes that participate in them. Given that there are other extracurricular activities present for children to participate in, different parties may wonder what the positive and negative impacts of youth sports are on youth athletes. To investigate this topic, I considered both the physical and mental impacts, as both are important for youth athletes. Extensive research determined that while there are a number of impacts that may influence a youth athlete's experience playing youth sports, each impact will differ among each individual. For example, while one athlete's parents may be a positive influence throughout that athlete's career, another athlete may have a negative experience with youth sports because of their parents. Similarly, not all factors will play a role for each youth athlete. The financial aspect of youth sports serves as a barrier for some athlete's, while that same variable has no impact for other athletes. Although there are multiple factors that impact a youth athlete's time playing organized sports, each factor will have a different impact on each individual athlete. (p. 18)