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Zachary Wise
Mrs. DeBock
English 4
18 October 2016
The Effects of Sports on Kids Future
Sports do not just help kids become better athletes, but better people as well. Plenty of
studies and examples have shown how kids are better people from playing sports. A kids
development is important and according to the quality of it will determine what kind of person a
kid will grow up to be in the future. Parents, family, teachers, and school can help and impact
only a certain amount in and of a kids development. However, when kids have the extra thing in
their life, like sports, that kids need to help their development more than just what parents,
family, teachers, and school can do for it. Sports positively impacts and influences kids future by
giving kids a healthy body, keeping kids out of trouble, and teaching kids life lessons.
First of all, kids need exercise to make sure they are healthy and kids can get the exercise
they need from sports. When kids physical bodies are healthy, then naturally their minds, or
mental bodies, can be healthy. According to Jaekwon, parents agreed that sports give their kids
exercise and physical health benefits (150). With kids getting the exercise they need from
sports, then their lives will benefit from it. Kids not only help get healthier for their presents, but
they can help their future selves. For example, playing sports allows people to lead a healthy life
as kids and later on as adults (Prichard and Deutsch 209). Which means when kids play sports
they can live healthy and good lives because they are fit from the exercising during sports. Also,
if kids get healthy as kids then when they get older it will be easier to stay fit and less likely of
having health problems. In addition, kids who have a healthy body, also have a healthy mind

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which having a healthy mind make kids better made and fit to learn in school. Even, a stat from a
newspaper/magazine article states that kids are twenty percent more likely to get an A in math
if they play sports (Ruddy 84). This furthers the point that playing sports helps kids do well in
school by making their minds healthier which makes their mind more capable of learning. If
kids who play sports are twenty percent more likely to get an A than kids who do not play
sports are eighty percent less likely to get and A in math. Overall, sports makes kids have a
better future by giving them a healthy body which produces a health mind giving them a great
advantage over kids who do not play sports.
Secondly, sports keeps kids from getting into trouble because of many reason. Some of
these reasons include the amount of time it takes out of the kids daily lives, punishing them when
they misbehave so the next time, and teaching them skills that can help keep them out of trouble
if certain situations come up in their lives. For example, if kids do not participate in sports than
forty nine percent of them are more likely to try drugs (Ruddy 84). So, if kids are not in sports
they have a higher chance of trying drugs which can ruin their future. This is because sports
takes up time out of kids days which yes can be difficult, but it helps them out. Because if they
were not at practice or playing their sport they would have more time to do things that would get
them into trouble. Brooks explains in his article, that if a player is goofing around in the dugout
then that player is in trouble. Even though, in this situation the player gets in trouble, however,
the coach straightens the player out and teaching not only the player getting punished but the
whole team that things have consequences. This helps the kids, even the ones who do not cause
the trouble, shape up and become better people by teaching them right from wrong. In "Parents'
Perceptions Of Their Children's Experiences In Physical Education And Youth Sport," Jaekwon
quotes a mother who said, He learns patience and self-control after finishing the hardest

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practice so he can stop playing video game by himself, and he wants to be prepared for all
other things like playing piano, reading, and doing homework (150). This shows a first hand
source that because of swimming the kid wants to do his homework and stay out of trouble so he
can play. In this case, swimming, which can relate to plenty of other sports can and will make the
kid, or kids, want to do his or her homework so he or she can make good grades. Also, it can and
will make the kid, or kids, want to stay out of trouble because if he or she stays out of trouble
and makes good grades, then he or she can practice and play on his or her sports team. It also
shows that from sports her son learns self-control and patience which both skills are necessary to
stay out of trouble in certain situations.
Lastly, sports teaches kids life lessons which helps build their character. Many life
lessons can be learned from sports and when kids learn these lessons they receive life skills and
knowledge that can and will help them in the future. In the article, "An Examination Of The
Effects Of Sport Involvement On Ethical Judgments In Sport And Business", the authors says
that major youth sports organizations continue to identify and promote the character building
effects of active involvement in sport ( Rechner and Smart 143). This shows that character
building is encouraged in sports, even though sometimes it does not work exactly as planned,
sport organizations make try their best to make it work. So even if the character building does
not work all the time or all the way, however, it is there and it can be improved and kids are more
likely to learn if they play sports. Furthermore, Jaekwon argues that even parents believe playing
sports helps their kids learn life lessons and skills (148). This means that parents, people who
know their kids better than anyone else and care about them, believe that kids learn life lessons
from playing sports. The parents are noticing that coaches are taking more initiative to make kids
into better people by teaching them life lessons and good morals. For example Brooks states, As

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I've reported other stories on college campuses, in high schools, and around neighborhoods, I've
begun to notice something: Coaches have become the leading moral instructors in America
today. This is more evidence to support that sports and coaches help build character in kids and
for kids to build character they have to learn lessons and be taught good morals. Brooks is a
parent himself, and he explains and shows how sports and coaches are caring more about the
kids then winning and sport itself.
Overall, sports gives kids a healthy body, keeps kids out of trouble, and teaches kids life
lessons which positively impacts and influences their futures. With a healthy body comes a
healthy mind, so by doing sports kids minds are better fit and can learn better than kid who do
not exercise or play sports. Playing sports requires a high percentage of time out of kids life
which prevents kids that play sports from doing bad activities more than kids who do not play
sports and have more time. Kids need to do an extra thing in their like, like playing sports, to
help develop themselves into a better person for the future. Because parents, family, teachers,
and school can only help a certain amount in and of a kids development, so they need sports to
further the development. Sports themselves teach kids life lessons, many coaches add to it by
making their players better people and kids who play sports learn more about life than kids who
just go to school. Finally, kids who play sports are more likely to be a good person than a kid
who does not play sports. Therefore, in conclusion kids who play sports are more likely to have a
better future because sports makes kids a better person.
Works Cited
Brooks, David. "Organized Sports Can Benefit Children." Sports and Athletes. Ed. James D.
Torr. San Diego: Greenhaven Press, 2005. Opposing Viewpoints. Rpt. from "Where Pride
Still Matters: Want to Raise a Kid Who's Polite, Respectful, Even Neat? Forget School or

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Church. Send Him to a Good Coach." Men's Health 17 (June 2002): 80. Opposing
Viewpoints in Context. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
Jaekwon, Na. "Parents' Perceptions Of Their Children's Experiences In Physical Education And
Youth Sport." Physical Educator 72.1 (2015): 139-167. Health Source - Consumer
Edition. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.
Prichard, Alison, and Joe Deutsch. "The Effects Of Motivational Climate On Youth Sport
Participants." Physical Educator 72.(2015): 200-214. Professional Development
Collection. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.
Rechner, Paula L., and Dennis L. Smart. "An Examination Of The Effects Of Sport
Involvement On Ethical Judgments In Sport And Business." Ethics & Behavior 22.2
(2012): 142-157. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Sept. 2016.
Rottensteiner, Christoph, Asko Tolvanen, Lauri Laakso and Niilo Konttinen. "Youth Athletes'
Motivation, Perceived Competence, and Persistence in Organized Team Sports.(Report)."
Journal of Sport Behavior 38.4 (Dec 2015): 432(18). Nursing Resource Center. Gale.
Discus. 20 Sep. 2016
Ruddy, Erin Zammett. "The Risks And Rewards Of Youth Sports." Parenting School Years 27.3
(2013): 82. MasterFILE Premier. Web. 20 Sept. 2016.