When I was younger, I played softball for a year in a league at a park near my house. I was the youngest on the team, so I didn’t do much. Honestly, the team was pretty bad. We won once in the entire season. From this experience, I learned that I don’t like softball. But I also learned how to recover from losses and not be a sore winner. But most importantly, I learned how to work with a team. And I knew that everyone’s role is important even if it is small.
— Anna, Julia R. Masterman School
And sometimes, they said, stress is simply part of the game.
As someone who has played youth sports and now plays at one of the most competitive volleyball clubs in the state, I am experiencing everything that this debate covers. The immense amount of money, the long commutes and practices, the away tournaments, I have seen it all. My position on whether it is too stressful is no. If your child is able to compete at the highest level, why not let them? Sure there’s a lot of effort and time that goes into them and honestly a lot of stress, but participating in these events teaches you unforgettable life skills. Everyday at practice, I am thrown into difficult situations that I have to work out that are not only out of my control but also my teammates’ … I believe that the situations, relationships, and responsibilities that you gain from participating in youth sports is something so valuable that stress is just a small factor.
— Frances, Glenbard West High School
If you think that youth sports should be all about the fun of the sport and none of the work, you’re wrong. You can’t just hand a kid a basketball and let them shoot around and think that they are game ready. They need to know things like how plays work and how to work with each teammate because everybody is different. How to make a strong and effective pass. How to dribble effectively by using both hands and dribbling techniques. Regardless of whether they are good at shooting, if they can’t do anything else, they just won’t be a good player … So, no, youth sports are not too stressful. They are the amount of stressful needed to have fun in the game and not just get crushed.
Although some sports are stressful, especially physical contact sports, the stressfulness is simply a part of the fun. Sports are mostly competitive, meaning you are going against someone else and proving that you are better. If you take that away from the elements of sports, then the sport just simply becomes an exercise.
— Zicong, Glenbard West High School
But other times, they said, that pressure can become too much and shift playing from a positive experience to a negative one.
In my experience playing club volleyball, I began playing because it was a way of getting away from the stress and pressure from the outside world. On one hand, it allowed me to be in a more positive, peaceful environment while developing valuable life skills I continue using today. On the other hand, what was once a place to escape reality has become increasingly competitive and stressful. As I have gotten older and remain committed to the club volleyball organization, it has shifted into an entirely different environment. There is constant pressure to improve myself while outperforming those around me with the additional weight of the coach’s expectations.
