Advantages and Disadvantages of Sports Essay Sample

Many parents now a day wonder if they should let their children play sports. Most trying to look out for the kids, fearing the downsides of sports, but it is clear to see the benefits clearly outweigh the negatives. Engaging in sports is good for people of all ages, but it especially benefits kids in their maturing days. Sports can be used to build a child's character and can also be used to keep kids healthy. The one downside to sports is the risk of injury. Overall, the benefits of sports can clearly be seen as overweighing the negatives. Sports can be seen as playing a key role in being successful in a countless amount of people's lives.  

To start off, sports play a huge role in building one's character. According to the author, “Sports teaches you to never give up. ‘Success is just round the bend’, being persistent, nothing is impossible. You never know how close you are to success when you give up.” Sports allow children to develop the ability to fail, but still come back and try again. Without sports, people wouldn’t be able to learn that just because they fail or loose, they can still try again and overcome their obstacles. According to the article, “Working together on a sports team encourages socialization, as players become part of a group.” (Kent McGroarty) Sports not only help you build up a good mindset, but also add to your socializing skills too. It allows teammates to set aside their differences and work with each other to achieve a common goal. The author states, “Discipline is the essential foundation for any sport because it builds an athlete's character to help them focus and attain the ability to work towards archiving their targets without any distractions.” (Gaborone International) This discipline that is developed when playing sports can help people excel in other areas of life. For example, a student with good self-discipline is able to focus on what is most important in life and put distractions, like their phone, to the side. This is an important quality to have in life to be able to excel at everything you do. 

Moving on, sports also have a positive physical effect on your body. The author notes, “When you are physically active you strengthen your muscles. Your bones adapt by building more cells and as a result both become stronger.” (The Bone and Joint) When you build up your bones through sports, you are at less of a risk of injury. It also leads to you having improved balance and coordination. Not only does it help your bones, but it also lowers your chances of heart attacks. The author says, “Physical activity is one of the best things you can do to help prevent a heart attack and stroke.” (Michigan Medicine) When playing sports, you are choosing to have a healthier life style. It is an excellent way to prevent yourself from un abundant amount of health diseases. It also very beneficial for your heart.  The goes on to note, “Being active helps keep your heart and blood vessels healthy in many ways.” (Michigan Medicine) One of these ways is it lowers your blood pressure. Without playing sports, one might have a high blood pressure. This can result in the hardening and thickening of arteries, which in the long run can produce a heart attack or stroke. This shows how lifesaving and beneficial sports truly are for the health of people all ages. 

Continuing on, sports are not always as great as they seem. Sports can commonly be linked to injuries. The author says, “In the U.S., about 30 million children and teens participate in some form of organized sports, and more than 3.5 million injuries each year, which cause some loss of time of participation, are experienced by the participants” (Stanford Children) This shows the more than 10 percent of kids get injured when playing sports. All though most of these injures may be minor, some can have a long-lasting effect on people. The author states, “Stress fractures that aren’t properly managed can lead to larger, harder-to heal stress fractures, or even chronic problems where the fracture never heals. That means constant discomfort and limited movement of the area where the stress fracture has occurred.” (Tan Jen) This is only one example where a sports injury can have a long-term effect on you. Sports injuries can change a whole person lifestyle and make them unable to do everyday activities. Another example is a spine injury. This can even lead to the loss of movement in certain areas of your body. This injury could leave a young child in a wheelchair for the rest of their life. Some sports injuries can even be fatal. According to the author, “Rhabdo may come about from overtraining or overtaxing muscles, but it requires a little more than pushing yourself past your limits. You have to push yourself so hard that you cause your muscle tissue to burst and leak a blood protein that clogs the kidneys.” (OSR) This proves sports can even be fatal to kids. All though this is very rare and uncommon, there still is a chance where your child could even die when playing sports. People are putting their lives on the line just for the enjoyment of sports.  

Lastly, it's clear to see sports benefits far over weigh the negatives of sports. Sports allow people to build their character and choose a healthier lifestyle. Sports allow young kids to develop important traits that can be used throughout life. It also allows people to live a healthier life style, where the at a lower risk of heart attacks and other heart complications. The one downside to sports is the injuries and how they can affect your entire life. All in all, sports can be seen as playing a beneficial role in making a person happier and healthier.