The bell rings and school lets out, and next up for your child is… what? Kids may go right home, head to a job, or do a sport or other activity. I am one of the few people who played a sport beginning at an early age, if you would like to call it that, and had to go home and get ready to go straight to dance. People who do not have places to be right away may choose other options, such as taking a nap, doing some homework here and there, or involving themselves in “after-school” activities that did not relate to school whatsoever.

Research has shown that children’s after-school routines may or may not dictate the chances they may be involved in criminal activity, have low grades, do drugs, or have low self-esteem. I was greatly surprised by the number of kids who lack self-esteem as well, and easily fall into peer pressure when finding no other alternatives to keep occupied. For some, financial issues may limit options, if their family does not have the extra money to put aside for their child’s sport or activity, but there are also those who would rather sit at home and watch TV, making their own decisions, than follow orders of other people.

For my own exploration, I decided to seek the answer to the question, “Does participation in sports keep young teens out of trouble through the process of involvement?” I felt the need to find a common ground with this assessment for parents often struggle when choosing to place their child in a sport too early or too late- if at all. I can infer that most parents may agree with having kids do sports, but there are always two sides to a story.

Before fully focusing on the parents’ side of whether a teen should be partaking in activities after school, I first looked at the teen’s side to learn about how sports may aid them in life decisions and their overall reasons for joining them. I started by reading an article, “Keep My Teen out of Trouble,” an excerpt from a website dealing with education topics (author unknown), that gave me the rundown of life for a certain 19-year-old girl after joining a sports team. From this, I learned that performing a sport can add time management skills and often help avoid other problems. Prior to connecting with teammates, this young teen used to get frequent calls home to her mother about her daughter’s actions in school and her enjoyment in starting issues with other people, therefore she had been placed under restriction giving no other options aside from attending school and enrolling into a sport.

Though she was not in favor at first, she later on told how she never got a phone call home again and how she actually found a new love for the game of volleyball and her peers. This led her down a path of registering into other sports as well including track, waterpolo, basketball, cross country, soccer, and even cheering. This strategy seemed to work for this girl even despite it being her initial choosing to perform a sport or not. For others, however, it is based upon the school and their curriculum. In this same source another girl talks about how her school did not have sports for a while (budget cut I presume), and how this gave leeway for students to have more time after school and during the weekends which unfortunately led to the formation of disruption either from peer pressure due to choice in friends or interruptions viewed as corrupt among society.

This young teen then promotes how her school currently added five sports teams and how the interest level boosted, leaving less time for other distractions. This left me stunned because I never thought about how different life could be if I was not involved in an activity that required a plethora of my day. Other benefits were mentioned such as: pushing a person to get good grades in order to stay on a team, connections grown within a team or a coach that could aid in self-esteem or belongingness, being in shape, building confidence, meeting new friends and creating a positive outlook on life. But even after reading this one passage, I was not yet convinced that sports were the dominant answer in order for teens to pursue healthy forms of interaction or happiness.

Wanting to discover this mystery, I decided to become the player myself and search for only one side of the field. I next turned to the “Roots of Action” blog to examine the impact of what else sports can do to a teen. On the website, I found a blog called “Playing the Game: The Truth About Youth Sports.” It was put together by four resources, authors each composing their research, which made me as the reader more trusting to believe it. The blog describes many key points as to why placing a child into sports CAN cause further trouble:

1. Young athletes develop aggressive traits like bullying and the need to dominate their opponents on and off the field.

2. Child may not achieve happiness or develop positive strengths needed to succeed in life.

3. Adults may take over the kids’ sports-leading to a negative defect in physical and mental well-being.

4. A need for three parallel paths to achieve positive outcomes: intensity, continuity, and balance.

Being an athlete, these four components made me stop and think for a moment. The three aspects of sports participation, the parallel paths to achievement, can occur in any case according to these informants. Though this may or may not be a credible piece of information it takes time in the article to break down and discuss how they can be, persuading the audience, and I noticed myself getting hooked.

In summary, there is an intensity involved in whether a kid is willing to commit his or her time to complete an activity, and as the blog states, “the amount of time children spend doing sports each week is particularly important to whether they receive positive developmental outcomes from their participation” (Zaff). If a child is not receiving any praise for his or her work there is no desire to continue keeping up with it, and may turn to other peer pressured obstacles. This guided me to the second portion of this path, which is the stabilization and duration of how long a child will contribute. On the positive side, if the kid reaches this point he or she can develop internal strength, something he or she may not have thought about when first showing up to practice. There is one last aspect a child needs to feel the greatest benefit in life, and that is a sense of balance. Studies have been performed on children, and it has been affirmed that those who are active in sports are more cut out for dealing with real-world challenges for their skills are further advanced than those who are not exposed at any age.

This blog also revealed the problematic occurrence of having a sport take over a young teen’s life. Activities should be developing character and getting children involved, not creating egos or competition in any case. Research shows that kids who focused primarily on one thing were more likely to become depressed unless they decided to include themselves in additional clubs or community service. These sightings left me puzzled with which inquiries stood more accurate. I was not taken back to learn that joining sports led to greater communication skills, but I did forget about the last most important factor that comes with signing into a sport, which is family. How I was raised, family comes first above all else. The decision to play sports places high demand on time and energy, and often when a kid finally gets home, he or she is too tired to initiate any deep conversations, and (if they are a good student) have their own education to worry about. These studies defined the cons to my posed question. It helped me better understand why parents are not always so eager to put their kid’s name on a roster right away. Often this comes after much thought and discussion, regarding the possible impact on family life.

Continuing on this route as to why sports were not always the right outcome for a child, I looked deeper into this concept and decided to look up how sports- biologically- can affect teens. I went on to another website, Science Daily, and came across an article based upon surveys and information-based research called “Sports, Unhealthy Weight Control And Steroid Use in Teens.” What I found in looking at this data was that parents debate for more reasons than money and time when determining whether to sign up their child for a sport. Though those elements are important, there are other topics to further contrast. The Science Daily is a website used for sourcing the latest research news.

On March 11, 2007, there was a posting on how participation in sports can cause real or perceived weight requirements, and this can lead to unhealthy weight control behaviors and steroid usage in teens. I was astounded to see how high the percentages were for drugs in team players because I thought that this was done mostly by non-sports team players. It seems as though this can happen in any situation, and time is no longer the enemy, allowing minutes of one’s day to be dedicated to this adverse circumstance. Sports team players will make time if it means they are looking bigger with muscle mass, improving performances, or even enhancing appearances. Unfortunately, steroids are not the answer for they have negative effects on the body’s muscles, bones, heart, reproductive system, liver, and psychological state. The sad thing is that a player believes he or she is helping him or herself when in reality this makes them no different than any other individual who sits at home with nothing to do and falls into the category of danger.

Another study shown on this website had to do with the media, advertisements and commercials, for well-known companies are sponsoring the sports teams that are currently using products such as steroids and drugs. One research project was done where participants completed two surveys, one in the year 1999 and one in 2004, to determine if there were changes in steroid usage from then to now or if there was consistency in the individuals. As a result, 1.7 percent of boys and 1.4 percent of girls between the ages of fifteen and twenty-three reported steroid use in 2004. The teenagers who were reported for using these early in life were suspected four to ten times more likely to use later in life. Are sports then the cause of this? Weight loss, use of laxatives and vomiting can also come with such pressure. Sports such as ballet, gymnastics, and wrestling are the most commonly known for recording weight problems. This then made me propose a further question wondering, “Are there more positive than negative effects of playing a sport?” If these issues can happen to anyone in any given situation, what makes some believe that sports are to blame? This means it is time for (Miss) Sherlock Holmes to do more investigation.

I knew by searching the Internet I would find more information, but I chose to look elsewhere first. I went under the DeSales University library databases and found two databases worthy of my questioning. One of the articles found was called “My Gym: Enrollment Now Includes ‘Building Blocks Program.’” This was in the November/December 2012 issue of American Fitness and in brief, it discussed a well-thought out program that helped children work towards goals and the need for inducing sports as well as fitness. This program presents a noncompetitive environment in which any child could have the ability to feel accomplished. After reading this, I ended up seeing another article from a database called “Motivation Boosters for Exercise” by Michelle Segar, PhD, who is an exercise researcher and stated how any form of exercise can keep teens out of trouble. Teens have a lot of stress placed upon their shoulders being as young as they are and need time to get things off their chest. Segar believes that “high levels of cortisol from unmanaged stress impairs the immune system functioning” and seeks exercise as a positive assistance to one’s happiness and health. Being the nerd I am, I was intrigued by this information and felt the desire to look up whether or not teens who play sports felt happier or healthier with their lives.

As such, I found myself on the Science Daily website once again, and studies are proven to show that sports team participation may enhance school connection, social support and bonding among friends and teammates. This was judged based on a questionnaire to middle school students in grades 7 and 8 to assess their physical activity levels, overall satisfaction with life and asking them to describe their own health. Joining sports can encourage one to also stand up to peer pressure and boost their self-esteem according to online article titled “Do Sports Keep Teens Out of Trouble?” If one involved him or herself in a more intense physical activity, this can teach many lessons in return. This article was found on a Google database as well, but it gave me a more detailed taste of what sports can do for a human being in general. It not only gives a child an education on healthy competition, but it helps girls de-emphasize beauty, and offers girls role models.

A person is able to deal with adversity, and become their own person rather than find the “need” to be like others both mentally and physically. Though this article offered great advice on why sports were an asset to one’s life it also factored in some warning signs for parents. Sports are a great thing- agreed- but the child has to be interested in it-not just parents. They cannot be pushed as said by Catalina Logan, the author of this article. Logan emphasizes how sports should be fun and not added stress for this causes burn outs, and could lean the teenagers away from their parents for eliminating their downtime. Though no parent wants this, sometimes they are faced with this dilemma. But there is always the option of being the supportive parent and going to every performance or game to show their child they do care about what they do and it does make a difference.

I delved deeply into my research and I found countless amounts of information, pro and con, relative to my statement, but I will conclude with my final verdicts. Teenagers are still in their growing stage so they are destined to make mistakes, often unintentionally. Some see sports as an “escape” and a means to discovering who they are and what they are best at. It keeps teens active and can even break stereotypes given to certain genders. Conversely, parents have a rough decision when it comes to picking what is best for their child, because ultimately the challenges of extreme competitiveness and undue stress may also accompany a sports-enhanced life for their child.