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Altering Sports for Mankind
By Hikerpro | June 23, 2009
Sports are a significant part of human life and always have been. Sports can teach us a lot about the cultures they exist in. Sports are a great learning experience for children, and sports medals and custom ribbons can boost a child’s self confidence immensely.
The ancient Greeks were not the first people to appreciate sport, but are perhaps among the most famous. Afterall, the Olympics are still around 2000 years later. The brutal blood sports the Romans indulged in reflect the values of a culture steeped in violence and born of conquest. Some Native American tribes valued competitions testing the speed and accuracy with which they could use their weapons, as many aspects of their hunter gatherer culture depended upon this.
In our culture today we see the commercialization of sports in all levels. What has been a pastime in other cultures has become profession in ours. Better pay and winning are people’s only concern. What will future generations think when they look back at our sports and the way we play them? Perhaps they will see the ferocious fans getting into fights with each other in the stands and even with players on the court or field. Perhaps they will see athletes being bought and sold for outrageous sums of money to giant sports franchises. What will they think of drug use and drug testing?
Since winning is the only thing that matters in today’s sports, the poor conduct of so many of the people involved in sports is not surprising. What children ought to learn from sports is the value of competition and how to endeavor towards excellence. They should try to improve themselves, competing against themselves instead of others. We should shift the focus from dominating others to improving oneself.
Research has found many benefits to sports. From inclusion and the elimination of racism to increasing graduation rates,sports can be a positive influence of children. One study showed that high school students involved in sports earned higher grades, got into trouble less often, were less likely to drop out, had higher GPA’s, and were more likely to graduate than students who did not participate in sports. Attitudes in high school sports must remain positive though. Focus on winning and domination of the competition can make kids feel unwanted, unworthy, and unacceptable, one expert argues. We should not be teaching kids that they are failures, but teach them to handle failure, not to accept it, and to continue always to better themselves. If we continue the way we are going in sport, we will be training a generation of sore losers and cocky winners. We need to teach children the value of competition against oneself, in order that we can have generations of encouraging children who are always seeking to better themselves.
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