In the current society, adolescents get themselves behaving in various inappropriate behaviors that lead them into trouble. It has emerged to be a growing concern for the prevalence of United States adolescents falling into trouble. Adolescents tend to develop some delinquent behaviors entailing crimes such as the use of drugs and alcohol (Barnert et al., 2015). Also, other behaviors such as depression, truancy, and violence can arise from delinquent behavior. Determining what can be done to prevent adolescents from getting involved in such compromising activities is crucial. However, it is believed that sports play a major role in keeping adults out of trouble. Children are nowadays advised to get involved in sports activities not only to for exercise that for the sake of their health fullness but also to help them avoid getting into trouble. Therefore, emphasis on fun as well as creating a balance between psychological fit, physical wellbeing and long-term active lifestyle are essential for attaining success and can also minimize the time that youth committing criminal activities (Barnert et al., 2015). This paper will, therefore, discuss whether sports keep adolescents out of trouble.
A number of people claim that sports are helpful in making adolescents focus on their academics instead of falling into trouble. Some believe that sports get them into trouble. However, maintaining a healthy accountability keeps adolescents out of trouble yet sports are involved in those accountabilities (McEvoy, MacPhail, & Enright, 2016). This is because sports teach adolescents valuable lessons. Sometimes adolescents experience trouble at school or in their home and want to relieve their tension or stress. During such times, some adolescents opt to participate in events which are wrong. Essentially, adolescents want to like being comfortable and want to feel accepted in the society, therefore they will get themselves involved in some activities that are not good for their bodies in order to fit into the group. Nonetheless, there is evidence that proves that sports are capable of reducing the probability of adolescents to commit crimes or get themselves into trouble. Specifically, participation in sports keeps adolescents out of trouble by getting them occupied during their free time instead of falling into peer pressure during such free time (McEvoy et al., 2016). Adolescents’ free time could be utilized in committing mischievous activities but participating in sports provides them the opportunity of meeting new friends to offer positive role modeling, offering adolescents a chance for developing a greater self-esteem, as well as enable adolescents to set their targets on and away from the field.
Organized sports activities are helpful in keeping adolescents out of trouble as they enable them to remain on the right track due to the higher self-esteem and self-control that they develop (Bowen & Hitt, 2016). Actually, adolescents have to be interested in sport there are involved in as well as enjoy to participate and should focus on having fun. A number of such adolescents obtain scholarships and a number of them normally are the first in their families to get into college. This sets a new trend rather than having many high school dropouts, there are a lot of college graduates. Actually, sports are rewarding and such kinds of rewards such as scholarship help in boosting the adolescents’ self-esteem and motivation to rightful things and engage themselves in good behaviors. Participating in sports get them in occupied which acts as self-regulating activities which helps them in controlling their behaviors.
Adolescents need to participate in sports activities after school. Whenever adolescents are involved in activities after school they tend to fall into mischief. When adolescents are occupied with sports activities, they hardly have time to run around causing trouble (Arthur-Banning, 2018). Nonetheless, as they focus in performing better in their sports, their feeling of accomplishing their goals can drive them to proceed to practice for them to get even better. As they prosper they have more tendency of staying away from trouble. In essence, sports does not keep adolescents out of trouble entirely but it helps to minimize their chances of getting into trouble. Whenever adolescents participate in sports they will not get into trouble unless they fail to play. Majority of adolescents whenever they learn this, they always strive to keep out of trouble. Sports enables them to learn about trust and leadership and as well help to modify their character too (Arthur-Banning, 2018). Actually, sports activities make adolescents be proactive and be hardworking. Out of their active participation in sports, they get to learn how to make new friends, and as well get to learn how to survive in difficult life situations.
On the other hand, some parents think letting adolescents participate in sports is a recipe for causing trouble. They assert that adolescents will put their emphasis on tournaments rather than their academics (Arnett, 2007). Some of them will still find means of getting into trouble when playing in sports since suppose they are privy to causing trouble they will do it despite what. An adolescent tends to be over-reactive, they might require to resort to another hobby when the sports activity is over. Games cannot last forever, and adolescents do not contend with sports activities only.
Sports can be hard times, and consequentially adolescents can end up in more fights. Adolescents can be more aggressive. A number of adolescents are very good in sports and when they become famous, they have a tendency of feeling like they are superior to others and above the rules (Omar & Merrick, 2018). Such adolescents face the jeopardy of self-destruction and harming those near them. So they are more probable to end up being destructive since they know their crew needs them, therefore, they can do whatever they feel like doing. They have a feeling of being superstars, therefore, they believe they can get away with it unpunished (Arthur-Banning, 2018). With regards to these reasons, a number of people emphasize that getting involved in sports activities is not the best way of avoiding trouble. Literally, gender stereotypes are learned via socialization as well as some sports seem to be learned through grade school.
Sports should not be forced but instead should be encouraged on adolescents according to the talents that they exhibit and that is a way of making them stay out of trouble. Prospering in sports will make adolescents to stay away from trouble as well as assist them in striking to outdo the other team (Patel, 2010). Actually, they will divert their energy into competition in order to win over the other team. Understanding the psychology of adolescents’ sports as well as physical activity participation is critical for the coach.
The benefits of sports to adolescents is that they assist them in maintain them to be healthy as well as fit. It is natural for people to first target at healthiness and fitness as to be the advantages of sports since it retains our bodies healthy (United States & Department of Health and Human Services, 2008). For instance, suppose there is a vehicle that has not been operating for a long time. If you attempt to start the engine, it will fail to run because it has rusted as well as it may have broken down. Consequentially, people are the same as car engines. Suppose we fail to exercise by getting involved in sports, our body parts will be weak and worn out. Our bodies’ immune system will also be weak thus making us prone to diseases.
Additionally, sports play a significant role in balancing the blood pressure as well as circulation in our bodies. As per a number of researches that have been undertaken by scientists, it is vivid that sports activities are very beneficial to the body (Omar & Merrick, 2018). It is determined that three-quarters of middle-aged people who failed to get involved in sports activities during adolescence at the moment are suffering from health problems like problems with blood circulation, tiredness, and high tension.
Adolescents taking active participation in sports have increased, nonetheless, this does not guarantee that it will keep them out of trouble. Such activities need a lot of training and involve several games in the course of the season. Between the age of 13 and 17, several adolescents develop alterations in the way they behave and their aspiration for their own freedom (Patel, 2010). Adolescents having behavior issues tend to be the ones affected the most thus rendering them to do pathetic things at this age. In essence, adolescents are very unpredictable meaning that they might commit unexpected acts under influences, stress, and emotions they encounter (Arnett, 2007). For a long time, schools have had sports activities for adolescents to be physically active thought problems could be existing that make these adolescents get involved in inappropriate acts like getting into bad companies, fighting other people or even utilizing performance-enhancing drugs.
Being with a couple of good friends is the most incredible thing about high school, though choosing wrong friends can result in trouble at some point. The age at which adolescents are in is where they need freedom, have fun with friends and get into relationships (Arthur-Banning, 2018). During adolescence, a person tends to develop body growth and development and hormones like estrogen and testosterone are affecting their feelings. This age group depends on popularity as they desire some status which makes their peers praise them. Participating in sports is an incredible way of making friends and several adolescents who participate in sports are so popular among their friends. Currently, approximately 50% of adolescents are consuming alcohol and other drugs (Omar & Merrick, 2018).
Active participation in sports establishes strength and also endurance. Sports relieves stress as well as improving mental health. Taking exercises is capable of boosting self-esteem by enabling adolescents to feel confident with their bodies and general physical appearance (Patel, 2010). Physical activities, as well as extracurricular activities, are proven to be effective in improving academic performance. Crime statistics reveal that the adolescents’ most prevalent hours for being a victim of violent crimes as to be the hours after school (Arnett, 2007). Research reveals that adolescents are most probable in engaging in risky behaviors such as smoking, drinking or generally doing illegal drugs in the course of the after school hours.
To sum up, sports activities are very beneficial to many American adolescents. Sports help in making adolescents to stay out of trouble as well as avoid risky circumstances too. Sports make adolescents remain focused on attaining their objectives as well as participate in productive things. The rates of crime have declined significantly in cities whereby crimes used to be prevalent. Youth sports have proved to be beneficial to adolescents in the United States as studies have proven that sports participation is essential for adolescents since it keeps them away from trouble. Therefore, I perceive that sports assists adolescents and also children in building their character, learning to be respectful, learning sportsmanship as well as becoming a better person. Participating in sports activities enables an adolescent to become a better person and also keeps them occupied and engager thus keeping them away from trouble thus ensuring their safety.