The Effect of Involvement in Team Sports on Adolescent Development Essay

Introduction

Avenues for development and competition at high levels are increasing ever so much. These avenues are also influenced by huge demands from parents, coaches, teammates, and opponents. All these happen at a time when an adolescent is looking into him/herself and discovers his/her sense of self and identity. Sports are an important and common avenue for adolescent development (Sanford, 2017). Youth sports are an important activity for adolescents and children to engage, have fun, learn physical ideals, develop sports competence, and develop necessary social relationships as they relate with their peers. Adolescent sports is associated with positive attributes such as activity and fitness levels, enhances body image and self-esteem, leadership, self-efficacy, academic change, and educational development. Further, into an adolescent's future as an adult, youth sports affects mental wellness and physical abilities (Mermert & Roth 2007).

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On the other hand, adolescent sports has also been known to have negative attributes that lead to stress, depression and negative psychological outcomes on the adolescent's life. These are grown from situations that demand time, long practice schedules, long travel distances, pressure from the coach and the team. Team activities and sports demand more from an athlete as he/she is working for the benefit of other people as well as him/herself. Team activities involve all the attributes that come with sports as discussed above. Despite these issues, research has identified that psychological and athlete performance in team development among adolescents can be intentionally structured and enhanced to promote the required outcomes in the future. This paper is aimed at identifying the effects team sports have on adolescent development. The effects of involvement in sports on adolescent development with an emphasis on team sports (Scottish Sports Council, 1989).

Body

Team sports are the activities that involve the collective abilities of more than one member of a particular group towards the achievement of victory and athletic success. It involves putting the agenda of the team before your own which ultimately leads to both personal and group success. Adolescent involvement in team sports is important in the psychological and social development. These factors can affect both a positive and negative effect. Because of the complex nature and changing times that affect the adolescent development, it is imperative to look at how the team activities have an impact on the development of adolescent life now and in the future (Driver, Rothamer-Wallenfeldt, Ryan, & Xing, 2014).

Adolescence is the stage between adulthood and childhood. It starts at twelve years and ends at nineteen to twenty years in the life of an individual. It is the point where adolescents deal with social, cognitive, and physical changes all at the same time. During this stage, individual self-esteem is affected as the adolescent discovers his/her role in life. Because of sports, Badayi and Ismail (2012) identified that sports (and especially engaging sports such as team sports) have an aspect in affecting the development of an adolescent. Mermert and Roth (2007) identified that adolescents use coping strategies as they develop through their adolescent years. Adolescent social and cognitive developmental changes affect the adolescent coping responses. Many factors may trigger the coping mechanism in adolescents, and these may be both an asset and a liability for the future development. Sports and especially team sports enhance the behaviors of adolescents and trigger the coping mechanism to a large extent. The interactions with teammates, the coaching unit and other stakeholders of the sports activity including the opponents affect the fragile nature of an adolescent. It is important to note that the behavioral, cognitive and psychological structure of an adolescent is fragile and malleable and it can conform to the environment that it is exposed (Sanford, 2017).

Further, some researches have looked at how the coping among the adolescents differs based on the different physical and psychological development. Chronological age, cognitive, social maturity, emotional maturity and pubertal status are major factors that are associated with these coping and cognitive growths. Adolescents who have a higher emotional maturity with an unquenched desire to meet goals tend to use task-oriented coping mechanisms to deal with stresses that come during competition. They tend to look at setbacks as manageable and controllable and bring positive elements to a team which is reflected further in their future lives as adults. On the other hand, adolescents who are less mature tend to follow the lead of these to ensure success in team sports. However, it is important to note that behavioral changes in adolescents are possible and the coping mechanisms can be altered with any change in the life of the adolescent (Driver, Rothamer-Wallenfeldt, Ryan, & Xing, 2014). Viewing this in another perspective, higher emotional growth in an adolescent has been seen to limit an adolescent from enjoying his/her adolescent years which has an effect in the future. Studies have identified particular behaviors in adults that manifest later in life which tend to be childish because these people were mature adolescents who did not participate in such activities (Mermert & Roth, 2007).

Sports stressors in team activities are some of the factors that influence these changes. For instance, it is possible for a team player to have a slow and a small impact on the activities of the team. However, when spoken to by the coach or other team members, the adolescent's psychological attributes may be affected, and he/she may put in more effort towards bringing more to the team. In the end, these sports stressors may change the adolescent who in turn may affect the life of the adolescent for the better (Badayi & Ismail, 2012). On the other hand, a team player who is largely depended on to bring success to the team may feel like he/she is too important and slack off in his contribution to the team. To that end, he/she may change his/her behavior for the worst because they may feel like the team cannot do without them. In the end, it is possible that these behaviors will be reflected in the future especially if they are not checked soon enough (Driver, Rothamer-Wallenfeldt, Ryan, & Xing, 2014).

Self-esteem is one of the major elements that are born from the involvement in team sports. Self-esteem is an individual's sense of respect and self-worth. It identifies how one matters to him/herself and others. Self-esteem is brought out in team activities especially in a sports-related field. Adolescents who engage in team activities have different levels of self-esteem. Teams are capable of enhancing the self-esteem of an individual in a positive as well as in a negative way. High self-esteem has been identified to have a correlation with positive outcomes in life whereas low self-esteem breeds negative life outcomes. Sports team activities enhance self-esteem because the relationships that are created among the members of a team can have a profound effect on how one views him/herself (Scottish Sports Council, 1989).

How other people view and look at an individual has an effect on how he/she looks at him/herself in the future. If a sports team looks down on certain players who fortunately or unfortunately caused the team to lose and blames them for the loss causes the team members to disregard themselves. In the case of an adolescent, such blame can cause psychological issues and how they esteem themselves for the team and themselves. On the other hand, if a team looks at a loss as a learning experience focusing on the positive elements and working on them for the future. One who rather than blames a team player for a loss views it as a loss for the team and uses positive reinforcement, the team will have esteem in the team and more importantly in themselves which will be reflected in future results. Contradicting researchers state that the self-esteem of an individual is more enhanced during individual sports rather than in team sports. This is because; the focus of an individual is easier to look at when dealing with an individual whereas it is difficult and at times impossible to measure a person's contribution to a team because, in the end, it is viewed to be a team effort (Sanford, 2017).

Body image is another adolescent related issue that has an effect on ruining or building the life of an adolescent. During the last two decades, there has been an increase in the research that relates to adolescent body image. Researchers have identified a correlation between body image and how it affects sports participation now and in the future. Body image is the body related self-perceptions and self-attributes including beliefs, thoughts, behaviors, and feelings. Self-esteem, eating and exercising behaviors, interpersonal confidence, sexual activities and emotional stability affect the body image. In today's world, body image has been associated with success. Attractiveness both for the male and female in terms of their body images have been used to identify with successes in life (Mermert & Roth, 2007). These have a huge impact especially in the life of an adolescent and their contribution in team sports activities.

The team sports activities for adolescents have a link towards the enhancement of physical competence and having satisfaction with an appearance which builds the body image and self-esteem. Team sports have clearer information feedback on the sporting abilities of an individual based on their effects on body image. Team sports have a positive effect on the body image of an adolescent as they reduce body dissatisfaction. The enhancement of positive body image is seen through the skill development, positive team experiences, coaching, and peer support, which is all gained from engaging with other people during team sports. Individual sports, on the other hand, can also enhance body image but the interaction with others in team activities is helpful at enhancing a better emotional mindset and growth that influences change that goes on into adulthood (Scottish Sports Council, 1989). Another perspective is that having people around you (in this case team) can also have a negative influence on how you view your body. Constant comparison with other team members can cause one to see him/herself in a bad light and hate aspects of his/her body image. These can go on through adolescence and come to light in their formative adult years (Driver, Rothamer-Wallenfeldt, Ryan, & Xing, 2014).

Conclusion

In the end, team activities have both a positive and a negative effect on an adolescent. These effects affect their psychological and social attributes which are later manifested in the later years of their lives as adults. Coping mechanisms in adolescents are easily triggered and can change with the environments they find themselves. These mechanisms can be altered to enhance the performance and the relations of adolescents in team sports which have a huge impact on life. The self-esteem also is largely created during the adolescent stage in life. Team activities ensure that the adolescents can easily trace their esteem as they relate with others. On the other hand, self-esteem can also be killed in team sports especially where there are issues of blame and choosing a certain player over another without considering their contribution (Mermert & Roth, 2007). Team activities also enhance the body image in adolescents. Engaging in team sports can have both a positive and negative effect on the body image of an adolescent. It is, therefore, im...