The Youth Sports Myth: Fact Or Fiction

The Youth Sports Myth: Fact or Fiction

Common mythology in America holds that participating in youth sports builds better people. Participation in youth sports is seen as a character-building exercise; that sports build moral fiber. However, there are many reasons to believe this is not the case. There are numerous studies that show the opposite, that youth athletes are more prone to antisocial behavior than their non-athletic peers.

This paper will explore the myths surrounding youth sports along with the reality of youth sports in 21st century America and what can be done to bring reality closer to the mythology.

What Is The Myth?

The mythology of youth sports in America traces back to elite schools in England. The belief that youth sports build moral fiber then was adopted by the upper-crust New Englanders in the middle of the 19th century. The act of competing in team sports became equated with possessing and building character. (Miracle & Rees, 2003).

Near the end of the 19th century, organized sports were beginning to be introduced into American public schools as a way to integrate immigrants. Social reformers on the East Coast promoted groups like the YMCA and public school athletic leagues as a way of "Americanizing" the children of the immigrants. By the turn of the century, the British ideal that emphasized participation as the ultimate goal had become the American obsession with winning being the only real objective. (Miracle & Rees, 2003). Yet the myth - youth sports builds character - persisted, despite a lack of any evidence to support the claim.

Fast forward to the early 21st century and there is a landscape wherein news reports are littered with tales of misbehaving professional athletes engaged in everything from brawls to gun violence to barbaric activities such as dog fighting. Since young athletes emulate the behavior they observe, is it fair to conclude that these reports encourage such behavior by athletes in lower levels of competition?

Data Does Not Support the Myth

According to Kreager (2007), the traditional ideal of how youth sports build stronger members of society does not paint a complete picture of the issue. "Buoyed by first-hand accounts from athletes and coaches ... scholars reveal the contradictions and inequities underlying much of modern sport. Rather than building socially competent young men and women, it is suggested, the conditions of contemporary athletics embed youth in value systems marred by homophobia, sexism, racism, and ruthless competition," Kreager states.

A report released in February 2007 by the Josephson Institute of Ethics found a definite connection between values and sports experiences in high school athletes. The report "What Are Your Children Learning? The Impact of High School Sports on the Values and Ethics of High School Athletes" shows there are significant differences between athletes based on gender. Female athletes surveyed indicated they valued honesty and fair play much more than their male counterparts and were much less likely to advocate cheating in order to win.

The survey results also show differences depending on the sport. Boys who played baseball, football or basketball were found to be more likely to engage in cheating, both on the field and in school. Further, the Josephson survey showed athletes in the same sports were more likely to be involved with deliberate attempts to injure or intimidate as well as being more likely to break rules consciously.

The report also found that girls' basketball and softball players had a higher tendency to break the law or the rules of sportsmanship than girls in other sports.

Perhaps the most disturbing revelation contained in the report was the dichotomy between the reverence in which athletes hold their coaches and the behavior these coaches are advocating.

Josephson (2007) found, "The vast majority of high school athletes say their coaches 'consistently set a good example of ethics and character' (90 percent) and that their current coach 'wants them to do the ethically right thing, no matter what the cost' (91 percent). Despite the athletes' positive views of the character and intentions of their coaches, athletes revealed attitudes and conduct suggesting that many coaches are teaching negative lessons about cheating and bad sportsmanship."

Here is just one example of how sportsmanship in youth sports is on the decline. A teen hockey player in Illinois pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge in 2000 for his part in giving a rival player a paralyzing injury (James & Ziemer, 2000). Youth sports officials point out that good sportsmanship is becoming less and less in vogue, with coaches patrolling the sidelines and parents in the bleachers, all screaming at officials, coaches and players.

In the Illinois case, the 16-year-old pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery, which carries a maximum penalty of one year in jail. As part of his plea agreement, prosecutors dropped two counts of felony aggravated battery. If convicted of those charges, the boy could have been confined in a juvenile facility until he was 21. The teen acknowledged he used his hockey stick to push an opposing player into the boards after the final buzzer sounded during a game. The opposing player was left paralyzed below the waist and has only limited use of his arms.

The Illinois case is not the only example. Reports of head-butting, elbowing and fighting have been reported at youth sporting events across the country for many years. The Josephson study found that 68 percent of male athletes surveyed admitted to bullying, teasing or taunting someone at least once and that 43 percent had done it more than once. Nearly half of the girls (49 percent) said they had engaged in this activity at least once, with 23 percent admitting to doing it on multiple occasions.

Some believe the win-at-all-cost attitudes of coaches and parents coupled with poor role models in professional sports are making child athletes more violent and aggressive. "There has been a tremendous upsurge in violence in the last five years," according to Fred Engh, president of the National Alliance for Youth Sports. "We're beginning to see the trickle-down effect (from adults' misbehavior) ... where children that are involved are becoming part of the bad behavior."

The research by Kreager (2007) points to something even more unsettling. In football and wrestling, in particular, boys set up "a pattern in which higher status is associated with intimidation of others and lower status is associated with submissive behavior." Responses to insults and physical confrontations become the