Free Essay About The Benefit Of Sport

Of all of the lessons young people can learn from playing sports, the most important lesson is honesty. Honesty is most important because every other lesson a young person learns from participating in sports is in some way an off shoot of honesty. Honesty is a display of character, integrity and is a display of a high moral code. Honesty is important in adulthood because of the consequences of being dishonest when you are an adult. How do sports teach honesty? Think about Barry Bonds. Here was a man that was a hall of famer just from his accomplishments in the first ten years of his career. However, that wasn’t enough. He decided he would be dishonest and enhance his performance. As a result, he is now disgraced and not recognized as an all-time great. Barry Bonds isn’t the only one. Marion Jones, Ben Johnson, and a host of other athletes were dishonest and thereby disgraced. In an individual sport like high school tennis, players have to make their own line calls. It is of course, dishonest to make poor line calls against an opponent. In team sports it would be dishonest to cheat in order to get an edge. Being honest reveals character and respect for the game. Respect for what you do is so important. Contrary to what people think, honest people do get ahead. To be honest, one must adhere to rules.
The first off shoot of honesty would have to be adherence to rules. Just as honesty is a marker of character, so it is with adherence to rules. Cheating is not something we should want our young people learning. When you have to lie, cheat, and steal to get something, you have to lie, cheat, and steal to keep it. Learning how to follow rules is an essential part of being successful in life; even if you feel as if the rules are unfair. Breaking the rules does not ensure change. Playing within the rules of a game or sport teaches young people the importance of putting forth your best effort. If we’ve seen anything in the media these days, we’ve seen an issue with professional athletes not adhering to rules. In the NFL, Cleveland Browns’ wide receiver Josh Gordon has been suspended for one full season for violating the NFL’s probation policy. According to Gordon, he failed the test after having a ‘few’ drinks in Las Vegas. Whether or not his Gordon’s account is true or not is insignificant. First, he was put on probation for failing a drug test. If the rules say that consuming an amount of alcohol would put him in violation of his probation, shouldn’t he have stayed away? Obeying the rules for young people is actually simpler than this, however. Sports teach young people how to observe the rules of the fame, or fair play. Most state high school athletic associations endorse the idea of fair play (ishaa.org). If we don’t adhere to rules, how do we know if the best team or player won? It is important to follow rules to ensure equity among all players.
Ensuring equity amongst competitors is the basic philosophy behind the idea of fair play. Fair play ensures; first the rules are followed, no player or team is allowed an advantage over another team, and that effort is rewarded. In a lot of sports there are written and unwritten rules. Fair play teaches young people respect for the game in which they play. Fair play in sports teaches both morals and ethics in life. There are times when you can get an edge and it might not be against the ‘rules’ per se, but it is not exactly ethical.
Along with honesty, adhering to rules, and fair play another import lesson sports teach young people is teamwork. Teamwork can be an important part of an effective workplace (smallbusiness.chron.com). There are three aspects of teamwork that you learn from sports that are important for life. First is collaboration. Think of playing football. No sport demonstrates the spirit of collaboration more than football. The quarterback needs the offensive line to give him time to throw the football. The wide receivers need the quarterback to throw the ball accurately so they may catch it. And all of this happens at one time. In baseball the first basemen needs a good throw from an infielder to get a batter out. Collaboration is rooted in the idea that a goal can only be accomplished when everyone understands what they cannot do. A collaborative effort is a great humbling experience. In order to score a touchdown, everyone must play their part. A wider receiver cannot throw to himself; a quarterback cannot catch his own passes; a running back cannot block for himself; and linemen cannot run behind their own blocks. Along with collaboration, is everyone knowing their role. Team sports allow people to understand where they fit and maximize their potential. When we can accept our role on a team in a sport, we can do the same in a career. Finally—and as important as the first two— is conflict resolution. Learning how to deal with and resolve conflict. Conflict reveals character, not build it. When adversity hits a team, learning how to come together instead of coming apart shows conflict resolution.
In conclusion, young people playing sports can have a plethora of positive effects on their lives. There are five effects that playing sports can have on young people: honesty, adherence to the rules, fair play, teamwork, and respect for themselves and others

Works Cited:

http://www.sportanddev.org/en/learnmore/sport_education_and_child_youth_development2/healthy_development_of_children_and_young_people_through_sport/
http://www.ihsaa.org/Portals/0/girls%20sports/girls%20tennis/2012-13/2012-13%20GTennis%20TOURNAMENT%20Manual.pdf
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/elements-teamwork-workplace-692.html