BIO

My name is Kate Eason, and I am a sophomore here at Florida State University. I came here from my hometown of Kansas City, Missouri to pursue my career goals of either becoming a sports journalist or a lawyer. Outside of my academics, I act as a member of my sorority's New Member team as the Big Relations Chair. I also held a position as a Captain on the Leadership & Legacy team for Dance Marathon this year. I love attending any and all FSU sporting events, taking walks around campus with friends, and learning new things in all of my classes. I look forward to furthering my academic and personal abilities throughout the rest of my time here!

Youth Development and Sport

Abstract

Children across the world participate in youth sports every day. As they play these sports throughout important developmental years, their experiences affect their character in the future. It has been found that competing in both club and school sponsored sports greatly affect the lives of these children, even in their adult years. This research uses several peer-reviewed sources to identify and define the differences in adults who played sports and those who didn’t. Although some sources found that playing sports as a child can have very little effect or even negative effects on the child’s future, the far majority highlight the benefits of competing in youth sports. Playing sports as a child leads to physical, academic, and character improvement in the future. Children participating in sports view their bodies in a more positive light, perform better on standardized testing and class materials, get in less behavioral trouble, participate more in civic responsibilities, and learn to commit and work for their goals both inside and outside of sports. This is important to understanding the effects of children playing sports and therefore the importance of youth participation in sports in the future.

Keywords: youth, sports, development