Luke Berotti
12.6.16
Research paper outline
Introduction
1. Sports have always been a way for kids to have fun and enjoy their childhood, but what
if they serve a bigger purpose?
2. Playing sports from a young age can benefit children by teaching them many life skills
and values.
3. Hyper specializing in one sport can be detrimental to development. Children need a wide
variety of sports to develop all essential skills.
4. Sports are necessary to properly build a child's character and help them learn life values
they would otherwise have had a tough time learning without having participated in
multiple sports programs.
Topic 1
1. There are some skills that are only developed from being in a competitive physical
environment, and some values that are only learned through playing sports.
2. Social skills are learned by promoting good sportsmanship.
3. Playing sports brings an understanding of competition, fair play, problem solving, and
social interaction.
4. “The skills and concepts produced by participation in football will benefit children
throughout their lives.”
5. Kids need to experience as many sports as they can growing up, otherwise they won’t
perform at the highest level they can, learn as many values as they can, not to mention
have as much fun as they can.
Topic 2
1. Children need to be exposed to a variety of sports from the time they first start until they
reach about 12 years old.
2. Playing multiple sports increases the chances of the child finding the sport that they are
most passionate about allowing them to begin specialization when they get older.
3. A study was conducted and the players who performed best, not only in sports but also
music, were the kids who also played other sports and kids who practiced the least.
4. “... there is evidence that playing multiple sports during childhood and adolescence is
more effective than single-sport specialization in developing successful athletes.”
5. Along with not playing as well, early specialization in sports may make kids more prone
to injuries.
Topic 3
1. Not only is playing exclusively one sport less fun for most kids, it also means having a
higher risk of injury. Repeating the same few actions used in a single sport, compared to
playing other sports too, your movement and usage of muscles is much less diverse.
2. Kids run the risk of overusing muscles when they single out one sport growing up.
3. Some movements are specific to a certain sport and overusing the muscle or joint can
cause damage in need of surgery much earlier in life compared to if the kid had played
multiple sports growing up.
4. “... kids in the study who were highly specialized had a 36 percent increased risk of
suffering a serious overuse injury.”
5. Specialization in any sport from a young age can be detrimental to the child's
performance, values learned, and not to mention health.
Conclusion
1. Sports are a key role in the development of children while growing up, helping them
learn skills and become well rounded people in the future.
2. Some skills can only be taught in an environment like a baseball field that are essential
for children to learn.
3. Kids play sports because they are fun, playing a wide variety of sports opens up
possibilities for more enjoyment as well as a better understanding of a team setting and
better performance in their sports.
4. Specializing in one sport increases risk of overusing muscles and sustaining serious
injuries.
5. There is no surprise Stephen Curry, an example of a world class athlete, grew up playing
soccer, baseball, football, and basketball while growing up.