Argument Essay Example on Children Need to Play, Not Compete by Jessica Statsky

In her article, Children Need to Play, Not Compete, Jessica Statsky gave her position on the issue that children should not be involved in competitive sporting activities by giving three reasons to defend her argument. First, competitive sporting activities can affect them physically or psychologically as they try to learn the basics of the sport. Second, she perceived competitive sports to be counterproductive to the future careers of the children, killing their sporting hopes at an early age. Third, such games will make parents, guardians and coaches to focus on winning instead of the future interests and careers of the respective children. As a result, she concluded that sporting activities should be focused on entertaining children and making them happy regardless of their ability, talent, and passion. However, this should not be the case since there are a lot of advantages associated with early engagement in both organized and competitive sporting activities.

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Response to Jessica Statskys argument of Children Need to Play, Not Compete

Competitive and organized sports are always entertaining. As a child, I remember participating in sporting activities that were enjoyable and memorable. However, the most entertaining games were the competitive ones since winning was the primary motivating factor. When comparing the real situations, sports involve losing or winning. As a sportsperson, one needs to be nurtured from the early life of talent development and mental concentration in what he/she is doing. For instance, football is entertaining sporting activity but we do have young players at the age of ten showcasing their talents in competitive sports.

Organized sporting activities eventually lead to boredom because of lack of motivation. Even if Jessica supports this idea, there is a likelihood that the children will eventually be bored and drop out. However, if there is encouragement like being awarded for winning, children will be committed and even turn to be fans later in life. They wont forget. The awards such as trophies make them remember of their early life. Nevertheless, I agree with her argument that Too much competition too early in life can affect a child's development (Page 502), but that should not mean that they should not compete, they should be controlled.

Competitive sporting activities unfold one's talent. By ten years, parents and guardians are capable of understanding their children and determining what interests them. Participating in competitive sporting activities makes children serious, enabling their parents to recognize easily what they can become in the future. The concept helps in nurturing their talent, helping them to realize their dreams.

From the above arguments, it can clearly be seen that competitive sports are if importance to the development and growth of a child. Additionally and most importantly, they give parents a chance of determining the talent of their children, enabling them to nurture it at the young age. Therefore, Jessica Statskys arguments do not have any grounds that can make parents and guardians follow them.

Works Cited

Statsky, Jessica. "Children Need to Play, Not Compete." 500-504. Web. 1 Dec. 2015.