Children And
Sports
BY: JOSHUA HAWN, ELIJAH MORINVILLE, RYAN TRACZYK
Article Summaries Joshua Hawn
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Response to "What Happened to Recreational Sports?" Joshua Hawn
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What Happened to Recreational Sports? by KJ Dell'Antonia
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main thesis or central claim "My children have no wish to live in Sparta"
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She would rather have her children play sports because they love to play sports, not because they have to.
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this is difficult because of the busy practice and "Spartan training" schedules that are placed of her kids.
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She goes on to support her central claim by using quotes from prominent people (such as coaches) inside of
some different athletic programs as well as personal experiences with her own family.
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She uses these quotes to point out that even the coaches of these kids realize that sports are becoming too
competitive which is in turn making some of the athletes lose their true love and passion for the game.
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argumentative tone
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Inside of her article I did not find any logical fallacies.
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Response to "Bring it On" Joshua Hawn
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The Crazy, Intense Schedule of Competitive Youth Soccer? Bring it On by Lisa Catherine Harper
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"lives most of her life in Sparta," meaning "the world of highly competitive sports teams”
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She supports her argument by recognizing some of their friends' different points of view, and then backing
up the belief in her own.
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Life lessons discipline, hard work, teamwork, and lessons about winning and losing.
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She supports her argument mainly with personal family experiences of her own. She uses a tone of
argument
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However, there did seem to be a few logical fallacies inside of her argument, generalization.
Article Summaries Ryan Traczyk
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Response to “Bring it on” Ryan Traczyk
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I think it’s great to get your kids involved in sports just as the writer has done in this article. The fundamentals of
youth sports are about building character and maturing young minds to adapt to situations. And she is correct when
she says that her daughter has built friendships with other kids who have come from completely different
backgrounds. The relationships that you build in youth sports can last a lifetime. As she said “most every child will not
even set foot on a college field as a player… but you would never tell a child that, you tell them to follow their dreams
and aspire for that goal.” For every dedicated athlete that is what is almost always told to them. It is true that most
will not play at a collegiate level and some not even at the high-school level but if somebody loves what they are doing
then why tell them different? That is the main point I get from reading this article and I feel like it is a correct way to
view youth sports. Playing for fun is key but adapting to your surroundings in a more competitive field is also a great
way to build character and learn from tough experiences. You learn how to play as a team instead of playing for
yourself, you learn to be an expert on a subject some know nothing about, and most importantly you get a feeling you
can thrive off of to love a sport. Paying for your child to compete in a sport he or she loves is something more parents
should do if they can, the concept of the sport is like a science for many young children and that topic should be
brought to light more.
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Response to “What happened to recreational sports?” Ryan Traczyk
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I agree with KJ Dell’Antonios writing one-hundred percent. Sports should not be the focal point of a young childs life.
The idea that your child has to be as active as all other children is preposterous. However getting your child involved
in activities is important it should not be focused on getting your child into the NHL at five years old. Creating a social
life for your child should be important but it is not necessary to do it through spending 10+ hours a week at that
particular sport. If you want your child to “Make it big” one day then you don’t cram it in their face at a young age, no
kid wants to spend all their day on a field or in this case, ice. Children want to enjoy their time with other things that
won’t take their focus for multiple hours. I like how he wrote this by saying he would never want to live in Sparta,
going completely opposite of the other writer. His idea that children should be able to do whatever they want is
completely validated. Spending a childs day with other activities rather than cramming one thing in their life is very
important to build diversity, if anything cramming one sport into a childs life will let them learn to hate it. In the end I
agree with Antonios article and think more people should think like him in the end.
Article Summaries Elijah Morinville
What happened to recreational sports?
 When thinking of my pervious experiences with school sports, I feel like I
could hold some sort of bias when talking about children in sports. Not
to the effect that I don't agree with what the articles are saying, I totally
do I actually remember the point I stopped playing sports for that
reason alone, the fun was gone and everyone took it much to seriously.
By the time I had reached I think sixth grade was when everyone
stopped "playing around" and started delving into their favorite sport
more thoroughly, I remember having baseball after school each day for
two hours playing for the school. Many of my friends did traveling sports,
or basically once sport all year round for a lot more money and time.
They practiced a good four hours each day with a small lift afterward,
in sixth grade!
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Responding To Free Write Joshua
Hawn
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The baggage: I was born and raised in an athletic family
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My whole family always loved competition and we loved to play
sports at an intense level
Responding To Free Write Ryan
Traczyk
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The Baggage I carried- I was playing sports as early as I could and
my parents supported me.
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I was always pushed to play sports and keep active.
Word Josh Hawn
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Synonyms for Spartan:
adj economical
brave, hardy, plain, simple, austere
Antonyms for Spartan:
complex, complicated, decorated, difficult, embellished, intricate,
ornate, unclear, luxurious, opulent
Etymology
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Ethmology Elijah Morinville
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Etymology: < Latin Spartānus, < Sparta (Greek Σπάρτα, Σπάρτη), the
capital of the ancient Doric state of Laconia in the Peloponnesus
Definition of Spartan:
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Definition
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Spartan- One who resembles the ancient Spartans in character.
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Connotative Words: Competitive, training, teamwork, winning,
losing, work, sustained, intense, focus, skilled, sacrifice, passion,
intensity, vicious, dedicating, commitment
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Etymology: < Latin Spartānus, < Sparta (Greek Σπάρτα, Σπάρτη), the
capital of the ancient Doric state of Laconia in the Peloponnesus
Ethos
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Examples of Ethos: Article One-What Happened to Recreational
Sports? Article Two- Bring It On
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Article one- Cites a source of an article on the same topic, uses
records from The USA youth hockey association to further prove his
point, as well as bits and pieces of an article from ESPN/ Sports
Illustrated. All while showing his ability to compile and organize the
information in a fashion so that the reader is able to understand the
topic at hand without straying from the main point. He uses the USA
youth hockey article as a credible source to show how often
children are practicing and by looking at these records, children are
being overworked at a young age.
Ethos
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Article two- Having a daughter that has played soccer since she
was seven and has been in it for four years, makes reference to two
other articles one supporting her evidence and one not. Quotes
one of friends saying that she'd rather be a sharp point than well
rounded. She references the sharp point to emphasize that she
would rather have her children be great at one thing rather than be
average at many.
Pathos
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Examples of Pathos
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Article One-Appealing to parents with children in sports, and the
ways it effects their family positively. Emotion of the article kind of
focuses on sympathy. For example, the writer almost seems to want
to make the reader sympathize with the children and families that
don't want to live in the "Spartan Training" lifestyle.
Pathos
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Article Two- Appealing to parents with children in sports and how it
effects them negatively. In this article the author tries to focus on
success and hard work. The author is trying to point out that the only
way to success is through hard work, which is taught in these highly
competitive sports.
Logos
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Examples of Logos
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Article One- Sports are becoming too competitive too early,
causing more stress at an early age. To support this main claim the
author uses outside quotes and examples of her own personal
experiences.
Logos
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Article Two- Competitive sports at an early age teach lessons about
life, and give the child specific advantages. The author of this article
uses mainly personal family experiences to support her main claim,
however she does also use an outside source when she quotes her
friends.
Kairos
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Example of Kairos
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Article One- The goal is to get out of the "Spartan" mentality of
training for sports. Here the author dates all of the way back to
ancient Sparta and the training they used to become an elite army
force. This is pointed out in the word "Spartan".
Kairos
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Article Two- Focusing of training like a "Spartan" for sports. The author
here also dates back to ancient Sparta, and probably more so than
the first. The author believes that her children should train in Sparta.
Telos
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Example of Telos
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Article One- In this article he seems to be cold towards the
spartanesque training mentality
Telos
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Article Two- In this article she seems to explain her personal
experiences with a Spartan mentality.