Essay on Sports and Teens
Teen’s psychic is not stable enough to resist negative influences and bad models of behaviour. They keep shaping their personality and self-esteem looking for support and being welcomed by some group of people. At this stage of development teens are not aware of all the negative consequences of their behaviour and actions. Thus, they may choose the wrong way to find their comfort or may easily be involved into criminal surrounding. Teens are exposed to a number of negative messages from TV, Internet and other people they meet every day. Things like drugs, alcohol, tobacco, sex are often associated with adult life for them and are perceived as something ‘cool’ and they may want to try them. Most of the research data concerning sports positive influence on teens’ life show that teens’ being involved in sport activities dramatically reduces the risk of their getting into trouble. Though, sports not guarantee this.
Does participation in sports keep teens out of trouble?
First of all, sports requires much of teen’s time to participate, stay in good shape, competitive and show good results. Thus, they have less time on getting into trouble. Playing sports with family or at school team keeps them under the control of parents or coach and shapes their trusting relations with people who can provide support and help in difficulties they may face every day. Another very important benefit of sport is being a part of a team, thus, having a group of people with the same interest, being accepted by this group and experiencing mutual support. All these factors give teens opportunity to gain self-esteem and feeling of being accepted by their peers. It can keep them from risky and extreme steps which they often take to attract attention of their peers and to gain self-esteem. Sports also suggest a number of positive models to follow and to achieve success. Teens are mostly inclined to following others at their age, so it is very important for them to find the right and positive model of behaviour. Teens who are engaged into sport professionally or at school usually have fewer troubles with their studies and grades because of good self-discipline and constant wish to be good at everything not to let their team and coach down. Prestige becomes very important for them. Those who participate in sport usually choose healthy nutrition; take care of their body and follow healthy lifestyle in general. Thus, they tend to have fewer problems with health, particularly with drugs, alcohol and tobacco. In case teens face some personal problems or problems at school they have a wider circle of people to apply for help. These are the members of their team, their coach, sport administration members and their parents, while others can search for help in dubious companies.
As it has already been mentioned, sport does not guarantee teens keeping out of trouble. It should only be taken into consideration as one of the best ways to solve this problem. Very often teens who achieve success in sports and studies still want to show their superiority to their peers and choose extreme ways of demonstrating it. They often feel that they are better than their peers and can allow more to themselves. Achieving success in sport or other spheres of teens’ life often make them leaders. Though, leadership and superiority to others may provoke conflicts with their peers. Participating in sports requires much time and efforts, besides, energy given to studies. As most teens are maximalist in their thinking, they may become exhausted and it may even cause overstrain and some health problems.
Conclusion
To sum up, sport activities help to keep teens out of trouble by occupying much of their free time, developing self-esteem, self-discipline, support of their peers, stimulating their studies and aspirations for healthy lifestyles. However, sport does not guarantee keeping teens on the right track. Communication and contact with their family, school administration, coaches and other adult people who may be authoritative for them, are the most important factors for teens’ keeping out of trouble or timely help in case some problems arise.
