Tonight, Insight explores why more kids are getting sports injuries. 8:30 on SBS and SBS On Demand.
Children’s sport has become far too competitive. It’s no longer an activity just to promote fitness and fun, children are encouraged to play sport and excel at it.
My oldest daughter played water polo and Rugby 7s, which required up to four training sessions each week.
- Monday: Two and a half hours.
- Tuesday: One hour.
- Wednesday: She was encouraged to play an extra game for water polo with a women’s team for half an hour.
- Thursday: Rugby training for one hour followed by two hours of water polo training.
- Saturday: Rugby competition.
- Sunday: One or two water polo games.
There were also State and Australian Championships which required a whole other level of commitment. Training is often hard, injuries are sustained and time is not given to recover properly.
This means time and money are spent going to a physiotherapist, chiropractors and sport psychologist so the athlete can break through to the next level.
You’re well aware if you don’t keep up with your training, there are always plenty of others to take up your position on the team.
Coaches also want the best team possible so they too can move up the ladder to more lucrative positions.
So children keep on training because they want to continue to be the best for their parents and coaches. Winning is the ultimate goal!
Often it was hard to watch my daughter play because some parents would get extremely aggressive and not only berate their own children but others in the team.
Admittedly, it is great to see your child succeed but not everyone can be a champion.
Parents spend a lot of time and money for their child to excel and become an elite sportsperson, but there’s only a small percentage of children that will succeed.
Perhaps, because their parents did not succeed in their chosen sport, they are living their life through their child.
The yelling and screaming from the sidelines can be intimidating to both players and supporters. Children learn by example and if this is how their parents treat them, then kids think it’s okay to treat their teammates the same way - it becomes a vicious cycle.
When it comes to team sports, children need to learn how to support each other and become a successful team.
But for many, representative sport is the aim of the game.
At times it is the clubs, associations or governing bodies of the sport that can encourage this behavior.
In my observation, when the child reaches 11 or 12 years of age, the opportunities for representative sport come into play.
So, if your child is quite content playing their chosen sport and aren’t interested in going further, they may be overlooked because they are good players but don’t have the “killer” instinct to be in the top grade or representative team.
As children become teenagers, they are more aware of the shifts in the dynamics and often decide to leave the sport and not bother at all.
This brings us to the issue of encouraging children (especially teenage girls) to continue playing sport.
Competition is good, but it’s actually okay for kids to play sport simply to get fit, have fun and be with their friends. And these children need to be supported as well.
