Team Sports vs Individual Sports

Is it more beneficial for today’s youth to be involved in individual sports, team sports, or both?

“Psychological and Social Benefits of Playing True Sport.” TrueSport. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. The article elaborates on how youth sport participation allows for the development of lifelong skills at a young age. True Sport continues in their article by explaining the different types of benefits that come with playing sports in adolescent years describing benefits beyond physical ones—academic, social, and psychological skills are developed and enhanced as well. To conclude, the article reveals that sports alone do not build character in youth but that “context and environment” also play an important role in adolescent development. Not surprisingly, the target audience of the article are parents contemplating whether to allow their children to play sports or not. Instead of describing individual sports versus team sports, this article focused more on the overall benefits of playing a sport at a young age. Knowing this, we can observe that whether team or individual sport, there are benefits of participating in both.

“5 Benefits of Individual Sports.” 5 Benefits of Individual Sports. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. Unlike the previous article, this one describes the benefits of strictly playing individual sports as opposed to team sports. The website describes the skills gained through individual sports are more beneficial to a growing youth than are team sports. The article gives readers, most likely parents with kids that want to play sports, five reasons to choose individual sports over team sports: they teach self-reliance, being comfortable in the spotlight, some individual sports have teams (like gymnastics), teaches self-motivation, and you can keep your own pace of development. Through this article, it is easy to see the positives results of children playing individual sports, but the audience is left to wonder how a team sport might impact an adolescent. This source illuminates the positive impact of individual sports, but it is important to draw information from other sources that fully explains the benefits of team sports as well.

Merkel, Donna. “Youth Sport: Positive and Negative Impact on Young Athletes.” Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine. Dove Medical Press, 31 May 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2015 In Merkel’s article, she lists the perceived benefits of youths and adolescents participating in team and individual sports. She proceeds to make the audience aware of some of the dangers that children who participate in sports face such as injuries and an over-emphasis on winning. Like the previous sources, the intended audience for this article are adults with children who are interested in team and individual sports.

This source is different from the others because instead of listing the benefits of adolescents playing sports, the source challenges the idea of playing sports at all. Instead, Merkel suggest different ways parents should go about teaching their children some of the skills learned through playing sports. A source that challenges my initial question like this one are important in developing a research paper; this source allows the audience to look at the advantages and disadvantages of having a child take up a team or individual sport.

Keely, Kacey, and Nicholas Holt. “Parents’ Perspectives on the Benefits of Sport Participation for Young Children.” Ebscohost.com. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. Holt and Keely write about parents and their thoughts of children playing sports; however, this source is not an article, rather a study of parents’ thoughts about their children playing sports. Through Keely and Holt’s study, parents reported that their children gained a range of “personal, social, and physical benefits” from participating in sports because it allowed them to explore their abilities and build positive self-perceptions. Surprisingly, parents appeared to play the most important role in their children’s development by seizing “teachable moments” from their activities and reinforcing certain principles in the home environment.

The source also distinguishes itself from the other sources because it shares the thoughts of parents specifically for the disposal of other parents; in other words, the study is like parents writing to parents, a firsthand account of what some parents thought about their kids playing team or individual sports. Although the article never shows a clear bias towards team sports as opposed to individual sports, it gives good insight into the thought process that a parent might take when contemplating letting their child go out for a sport.

Sampsell, Steve. “Team Sports vs. Individual Sports | Kid Sports Magazine.” Pittsburgh Sports Report. 11 July 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. In the last source, Steve Sampsell writes an article that is true to the research question: individual sports versus team sports for adolescents. Like the other sources, this article is designed for parents of children who are interested in participating in either team or individual sports. Sampsell himself never shows a clear bias towards a child participating in team sports or individual sports, but many of the parents he interviews are biased towards their child’s sport of choice. For example, Sampsell interviews a youth league hockey coach that views his sport and team sports in general as a “community… allows kids… to feel like a part of something.”

Clearly, the hockey coach would favor his team sport of hockey to an individual sport like golf. Sampsell continues by sharing the thoughts of an assistant swimming coach at Penn State and his thoughts on individual sports. The coach describes individual sports as “valuing yourself based on your performance against someone else.” You can measure your past performances against current ones and are always at battle with others and yourself in individual sports. Of all my sources, Sampsell’s article most directly relates to the topic and research question of what the best form of sport is for a child: team, individual, or both?

Works Cited

“Psychological and Social Benefits of Playing True Sport.” TrueSport. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. “5 Benefits of Individual Sports.” 5 Benefits of Individual Sports. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. Merkel, Donna. “Youth Sport: Positive and Negative Impact on Young Athletes.” Open Access Journal of Sports Medicine. Dove Medical Press, 31 May 2013. Web. 27 Feb. 2015 Keely, Kacey, and Nicholas Holt. “Parents’ Perspectives on the Benefits of Sport Participation for Young Children.” Ebscohost.com. Web. 27 Feb. 2015. Sampsell, Steve. “Team Sports vs. Individual Sports | Kid Sports Magazine.” Pittsburgh Sports Report. 11 July 2012. Web. 27 Feb. 2015.