Question

1. Describe specific categories of youth sports and account for the explosion in the number of children and youths participating in organized youth sport programs.

Answer 1

Youth sports are the sport events organised by primary or secondary levels in schools or outside the education system and the competitors are children or youth younger than adult age , usually that is 18 years. Youth sports are generally the sports activities not related to school.

Some of the categories of youth sports are as follows

1. Basketball

2. Baseball

3. Soccer

4. Volleyball

5. Lacrose

6. Rowing

7.gymnastics

8. Football

9. Swimming

10. Diving

11. Skating

12. Softball

13. Cricket

14. Hockey

15. Tennis and table tennis

There are mainly 2 types of youth sports programs

1. Sponsored by school- they will have more qualified coaches and dedicated facilities for them. It would be a little more safe for the children.

2. Sponsored by city recreational department or agencies - they usually use volunteers as coaches and there we cannot assure the quality.

Usually these youth sports programs are organized by any local programs or clubs that are funded by business sponsors or donations .

In the present scenario one of the major issue found was the explosion of children in youth sports. It means that an overflow of youths in participating youth sports events and they comes from various parts of the country.

It is estimated that at least 35 million kids between the age group of 5&18years plays in youth sports yearly only in US.

Even the parents are ready to spend their time and money to get their kids to training and tournament even though it's expensive.

Due to the explosion of youths in the youth sports programs there are a lot of calls worth $150million to $200million daily according to youth sports facility advisors.

The causes of this explosion could vary from the desire of parents to commercialisation of events. But whatever the cause the children are getting utilized and they land up with a lot of health issues . It is estimated that around 1.3million children got into sports related injuries in 2012 . And later the number is only increased and not declined. The health issues can be both physical or psychological.

The physical issues may be fractures , sprains and strains, contusions , abrasion, concussion and overuse injuries.

There are some psychological issues found among them due to the pressure what they experience. It can be low self esteem, involvement in negative relationship, poor sportsmanship and also sexual and commercial exploitation and abuse.

Even though all these issues are evident , the teen athletes and their families are ready to spend thousands to play for club teams, attend skill instructions camp, hire personal trainers and college recruiting advisors. The reasons may vary that make the parents to spend all these even if they don't afford to buy groceries.

To hammer the last nail, the youth sports has its own advantages and disadvantages, but utilizing it in positive way always fosters the children to have a good sportsmanship and it will help them to build a healthy future. And the explosion can be controlled by identifying the interest of the kid rather than commercialising them.