I am sure you all have heard the same spiel over and over about how sports make kids more active and help them do better in school and blah blah blah. But if we know that sports are so beneficial then why is it that only a select few play? Could it be the expensive fees driving people away? Or is it the lack of teams in general? Or could it quite possibly be that a child feels he or she is not good enough. Yes, yes and yes. All three of these things contribute to the small population of adolescent athletes. The United States of America should start developing a more comprehensive and broader sports program. That way someday every kid will be involved, every kid will be healthy and every kid will be successful. I know what you are thinking. Every kid successful… because of sports?? Yeah I bet it sounds crazy to you, but the truth is sports along with all the lessons they come with can make for one successful child. Now I bet you are still wondering how that is. Well I want you to read this paper with an open mind and by the end I’ll bet you too will be on board with getting every child involved in a sport and developing a broader sports program in America to make that happen.

As you may already know, obesity in America is a real problem. It makes no sense for our country to focus on trying to slim down the already obese. It is sad to say but those people have already formed habits and are living lifestyles that make change difficult and losing weight is not an easy thing to do. Children are tomorrow’s future. So instead of trying to fix what has already been broken we should try to keep anything new from breaking. In other words, stopping the obesity epidemic starts with the children. The Department of Health and Human Services stated that the percentage of children aged 6–11 years in the United States who were obese increased from 7% in 1980 to nearly 18% in 2012. Similarly, the percentage of adolescents aged 12–19 years who were obese increased from 5% to nearly 21% over the same period. We could try and fix this problem by enforcing physical education from elementary school up. It would guarantee every child attending school get some type of physical activity daily. But is the activity in PE enough to make a change? Let’s be real. Those of you that play sports: do you get a better work out in PE or in your sport? Even if you’re not in a sport I would hope you know that sports are a lot more physically taxing. Physical education would help significantly with child obesity but from personal experience I know PE is not the place to solve this problem. PE is not the ideal place for kids to work out. Often kids do not work hard in PE because they don’t want to get sweaty at school or are embarrassed to push themselves in front of their peers. Sports on the other hand, encourage you to push yourself and even get sweaty. If we get almost every child in America in some type of sport within the next 10 years, then within the next 60 there should be no obesity whatsoever. It is important to get kids active and in today’s society it is harder than ever. Kids do not go outside and play anymore like they used to. Today’s norm for children is sitting inside on some type of device. Those few kids you know that are active and in shape are only those that play sports. Not only will sports get those little tikes moving around, they will get them eating healthy as well. The two main causes of obesity are lack of exercise and bad eating habits. Athletes know how important nutrition is and usually eat very healthy in order to keep their bodies fit and feeling good.

Another benefit of sports is social skills. Sports teams can have from 2 to 200 people on them. Sports team members also usually treat one another like family. Can you imagine having 50 new friends! Now I’m not talking about 50 “friends” that will like your posts or comment nice things on your wall. I am talking about real friends, that you can talk to and bond with, which understand you and can help you through rough times. Oh I bet you’re wondering where you can get some of these friends aren’t you? It’s simple! Just sign up for a sport you will have tons of these REAL friends in no time. You do not have to play sports to make real friends. You can make real friends in tons of places. School, drama, leadership, your neighborhood, practically anywhere! The difference with making friends through sports is that it almost effortless. At school you have to search around for the people you share common interests with. Sports make it easy; you and your teammates are already engaging in your common interest. Teammates have to trust and rely on each other. They go through ups and downs together; they share pain and even success. So instead of accepting those random friend requests or hopelessly searching around for friends get out there and make some memories with your teammates!
Making a broader sports program will also help kids gain self-confidence. Sports are a great place to gain self-esteem. The praise from coaches, parents and even fellow teammates will build children up into confident individuals. Children will also learn to trust their own abilities and push themselves. They learn to work hard and see the benefits from their hard work in terms of improved performance. On the other hand sports can also crush self-esteem for some. For example, that one kid that never gets playing time. He isn’t getting any praise, if anything he is getting tough constructive criticism that most kids often can‘t handle. In a case like this a child’s self confidence will only going down. I have experienced this first hand. I have always played multiple sports but soccer has also always been my main sport. In seventh grade my self confidence hit rock bottom. Soccer went from being my absolute favorite thing to do to my worst nightmare. It got to the point where I was satisfied with just sitting on the bench. I no longer wished for playing time because I felt that playing time was just time I could fail in. I didn’t want to make a mistake in fear of getting in trouble with the coach and therefore I didn’t want to play. These scenarios are common because of the competitiveness on each and every team. America focuses on the elite athletes which make it difficult for more than just a few athletes to excel. But if sports were altered to make it so everyone could excel in a certain grouped skill level… Sports would only build self-confidence. If I had been in a different league with people closer to my level I would have never been put under the pressure and brought to the point I was. I would have been praised for the ability I had not frowned upon for the ability that I didn’t have.
The three points I have discussed are good for America and individuals in several different ways. So how do we get all these benefits? We start by getting every kid involved and that starts with broadening the sports program. There needs to be various divisions within each sport. These divisions shall be based on competitiveness, skills/abilities, gender, age, etc. So that EVERY single kid can find their place in the sport he or she desires to play. The Australian Sports Foundation (ASF) operates the Sport Incentive Program. Specifically the program aims to increase opportunities for Australians to participate in sport, and/or excel in one. Hey if Australia can do it, we can too!
The prices of sports need to drop tremendously as well if a goal like this wants to be achieved. Prices are not realistic for everyone. The University of Michigan C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital National Poll on Children’s Health showed that 61% of children playing middle or high school sports were charged a pay-to-play fee. The average fee was $93, according to the poll respondents, but 21% of children faced a pay-to-play fee of $150 or more. These fees could greatly impact the participation in sports. Researchers found that among lower-income families, those earning less than $60,000 per year, 19 percent said their children’s participation decreased because of costs. But among families earning more than $60,000 per year, only 5 percent reported costs had caused their children to participate less. Studies show that banning pay-to-play fees could greatly increase participation.
The last step in creating a broader more comprehensive sports program is simply just encouragement and support. Everyone has to be on board. A project like this is massive and would take time to achieve but in the end it would all be worth it? Just think, how much better America would be doing if every person had been in sport several centuries ago. Would there be no obesity problems? Would there be no suicide? Would nobody die alone? A lot of people overlook the major benefits of sports. They are so many benefits we cannot miss out on. So America, let’s make a broader sports program for a brighter tomorrow.