Youth sports benefit young athletes

Denali sophomore, Yuri Peneff, tags a runner during a baseball game. PHOTO CREDIT: Ellen Hu

One day in the cold California months, Denali junior Sierra Scarlett found herself out on the soccer field. “You couldn’t look in one direction of the field without these raindrops piercing you,” she said. Her team played in the pouring rain, eventually winning the game.

“It felt so rewarding,” Scarlett said. “If we had lost I’m sure that it would have been a completely different story.”

Denali is home to many student athletes with very different crafts, and many of them have experiences similar to Scarlett’s. While the school only has teams for soccer, basketball, baseball and volleyball, many students participate in sports outside of school.

Denali sophomore Abby Bendixen started playing volleyball in her freshman year. “Not enough people tried out, so I got on without being cut,” Bendixen said.

Not all athletes start so late. According to ACTIVEkids, the majority of kids start playing sports before the age of six. Around 60 percent of boys and 46 percent of girls participate in sports at the young ages.

Student athletes say that parents have played a role in athletic continuance. “I played a lot of backyard baseball with my mom and dad,” Denali junior Alex Suppiah said. It was one of the first sports that he played, and the sport that he continues to play to this day.

Denali freshman Joseph Gutierrez recognized a similar push. While he originally played soccer, basketball soon grew on him. “I remember tryouts, I could not do anything,” he said. While he wanted to quit in the moment, his parents pushed him to finish. “I enjoy it much more now,” he said.

In recent years, youth sports have become a prominent industry in the United States. According to an article from Time, parents with children who play competitive sports spend an average of 10% of their income on equipment, training and other sport-related fees.

For players who participate on club teams, this means more time practicing and playing games. “For club volleyball I practiced two times a week, three hours total, and tournaments on the weekends go from 7am to 4:30pm,” Bendixen said.

Suppiah, who has participated on club baseball teams, finds that he spends much more time practicing for these teams when compared to the school team: around two hours a day for four times a week.

Oftentimes athletes will get training or coaching outside of their team practices. Bendixen participated in outside training for two hours a week to prepare her for the club team.

“It can get busy, especially when you get to more competitive levels,” Scarlett said. She has found that oftentimes young athletes are motivated by college scholarships. Some of her friends have already begun getting offers from colleges.

According to USA Today, there are about 138,000 athletic college scholarships in Division I and Division II sports. Oftentimes athletes are noticed at competitive tournaments or after reaching out to colleges of interest.

While some students stride for athletic scholarships, others participate in their sports to take a break from school. “It gives my mind a break,” Denali junior Josephine Martensson said about her ice skating. “It breaks me out of the monotony of wake up, go to school, do my homework, go to bed.”

Others found that sports helped them in their academic success. “Immediately when I started playing volleyball I noticed that I was really tired,” Denali freshman Ella Chen said. “But right after I played I would always feel really energized.”

In a study by Women’s Sports Foundation, it was found that sports participation impacted girls’ schoolwork, along with psychological well-being. It was found that standardized tests were specifically affected.

Sports have also proven to be a stress-reliever. “When I have something going on with my family, basketball helps me through the things and the emotions I’m going through,” Gutierrez said.

Martensson believes that sports let kids “have a community if they can’t have it elsewhere”. A sense of team-pride is often present in the youth sports community, and impacts the experiences that children have League Network said.

Denali athletes believe Many athletes agree that teamwork is one of the most important skills that sports teach youth. “It never hurts to over communicate,” Bendixen said. Students who participate in other team-centered sports acknowledge the same idea.

Overall, the skills that youth athletes have developed reflect some Denali values. “It’s really easy to give up in sports,” Suppiah said. Nonetheless, he finds that the most important part of playing the sport is being able to overcome challenges, embodying persistence.