Written by The teenaged years are so difficult, there is much to learn to become an independent adult and if there is no one there to help them to understand that mistakes do happen, and to help them learn to cope with the rollercoaster of emotions, that journey becomes overwhelming and fraught.
It is generally believed that sport can be used as a practical tool to engage young people, particularly those that have become disenfranchised by a corrupted world view. The formation of positive peer relationships among the young in a physically healthy environment adds to social cohesion and builds community capital.
The Australian Institute of Criminology assert that even if no great sporting talent emerges, the team building, structure, and leadership that sport offers engender a desire to be better citizens and removes the primary element feeding anti-social behavior; boredom. A sporting club that has a solid and positive culture can teach these youth tolerance and acceptance of gender, ethnicity, and ability, including how to assist people with disabilities or difficulties, and therefore encouraging empathy and social awareness. This sort of interaction also exposes the child to teachers, coaches, and community leaders that will all impart knowledge, values, and attitudes that contribute to good character building and reduce deviant behavior.
Most programs of this kind are designed to encompass leadership skills, focusing on team building and support for others and downplaying strident regulations and winning. Organizations such as Youth Sports Australia “… aim to develop children’s sporting abilities in a fun, safe and educational environment. [They] are different to regular sports providers as [they] develop children’s health in a holistic approach through sport and Physical Literacy. [Their] high-quality P.E programs ensure that kids are motivated to enjoy sport, all while learning about essential life skills such as teamwork, sportsmanship and leadership.”
Although there is a widely supported view that engagement in sports will boost the self-esteem and team ethic of adolescents there is also a school of thought that sports participation is related to more juvenile delinquency. The competitive element is cited as encouragement to favor unethical behavior such as cheating, intentionally injuring others, or doping, which may be rewarded by the exaltation and admiration of winning. Some studies have even suggested that contact sports in particular excited delinquency and impaired a child’s levels of moral judgment. These same studies also blamed these types of sport on excessive alcohol consumption.
These studies should not be taken as a dissuasion from the use of sport to engage youth but used as a precaution that it should be ensured that sporting programs initiated to help troubled youth provide a stable supportive culture that is all-inclusive and that promotes not only a healthy lifestyle but a healthy attitude towards society. These programs can provide these children with the caring environment that they possibly have long missed out on. A positive collaborative sporting experience will shape and define the adult these children are to become and will provide possible lifetime friendships and fond memories that they can then use to promote healthy attitudes in the next generation.
Social and emotional development | sportanddev.org
Sport, physical activity and antisocial behaviour in youth (aic.gov.au)
OVERVIEW | Youth-Sports (youthsportsaustralia.com.au)
Sports Participation and Juvenile Delinquency: A Meta-Analytic Review, Anouk Spruit, Eveline van Vugt, Claudia van der Put, Trudy van der Stouwe, Geert-Jan Stams, DOI 10.1007/s10964-015-0389-7