Anya Yang (10) | STAFF REPORTER
Many parents nowadays worry about their children being severely hurt in sports, and wonder why sports are necessary as they often cause many injuries yet remain so popular.
Though injuries like concussions, broken limbs, and more are commonplace in the world of serious sports, sports should still be played, watched, and supported. Firstly, it is impossible to erase sports all together. They provide too much benefit to citizens, and it is not the only industry that has high injury/risk statistics.
The act of “sporting” started 70 000 years ago. It was invented to allow ancient hunters to exercise their abilities, and even today it serves a similar purpose. Sports exist because they manage to bring diverse people together, to further physically train our bodies, and because they’re fun.
People love sports with unprecedented passion. It is impossible to erase sports from being watched, played, or supported because humans love them so much. The threat of injury has not deterred generations of sports lovers, both players and watchers, from taking part of their beloved game.
Sports support many sections of society: especially the economy. Sport players often (depending on their sports) make large sums of money, which they often donate to charity, or make big dents in the economy because of how much they earn. Athletes also support many businesses involved in the sports sector: this includes vendors who sell food, people who produce sports equipment, builders who build sports venues, clothing vendors who sell sports clothing, and more.
Sports also band people together. Many children play sports because it is not only beneficial to their physical health, but to their mental and emotional health as well. Sports help them learn the value of teamwork, participation, and fun. Injuries may happen, and they can be hugely detrimental. But they can also cause the child to develop more resilience and appreciation, which helps them more in the long run. Attacking sports due to the threat of injury to athletes will cause far more damage than good.
Other industries, like the construction and manual labour industries have a huge risk of injuries on a day-to-day basis. Some may make the comparison that they are not as “necessary to the economy” as sports are. But another example would be the entertainment industry: drug problems and injury statistics/risks are also very high; one may also argue that they are not “necessary to the economy”, yet they still exist. Why attack sports on the topic of injury in particular?
Athletes often make their decisions from an early age to commit to their chosen sport: choosing to not watch, play, or support these sports affect the athlete more than the threat of injury all together. For many of them, this is their lifelong passion that they hold dear to their heart. To not support sports because of the threat of injury is rather more damaging than beneficial.
