Violence in Childrens Sports
Uploaded by redflare123 on Jul 23, 2008
Has violence in children’s sports finally gone too far?
2) With children viewing lots of sports either live or on television and witnessing the violence, they develop what is social learning. Social Learning Theory asserts individuals will observe those they have a fascination with and those who they can identify with. Therefore, kids who observe much aggression are more likely to model their own athletic ideals after what they watch over a period of time, especially if they “want to be” like their sport’s hero. If it’s not sports they get it from, they can get it from simulated sports through video games.
3) The third reason violence has escalated is too many parents encourage it and even condone it. Let’s face it. No parent wants to watch their child be made a fool of by another child during the course of a competition. Some parents take their child aside and actually encourage them to “go and get even”. And some parents heckle other children from the stands during the course of a game and this threatens the egos of those parents who child is being made fun of and rather than ignore the problem, they take care of it physically.
4) The fourth reason violence and aggression has escalated in children’s sports is too many parents are vicariously living out their sporting dreams through their children. Some wanted to play professional sports so badly, but they lacked the skills. Guess what? They have a child who plays the same sports they did, or a child they coerced into the sport and now they are going to make that child a superstar! More pressure is placed on the child to succeed and too much pressure leads to stress and frustration which often times spills over into anger management problems.
Well sport’s fans, just some ideas to ponder. Just remember, the reason children were enrolled in sports was to have fun, stay healthy and learn team work and disciplinary skills. The scary thing is that some parents are actually undermining their own best intentions!
Sports violence” has been defined as behavior which causes harm, occurs outside of the rules of the sport and is unrelated to the competitive objectives of the sport. The issue has arisen in the context of the criminal justice system for several reasons. First, reports of sports violence are occurring more frequently, especially with the prolific use of...