UWC Basketball

I take the position that UWCSEA should pay equal amount of attention to all sports. If swimming get to train for a whole year, basketball should get to as well. Some will say that this can’t happen because basketball only works to go for a season, just like the NBA. But, I say that we could train for the whole year. This way kids get to play their sport for a long time, we would create a more “gelled” and better team, and could become better players as individuals as well.

Firstly, if we play basketball for a whole year, it will create a more bonded and gelled team, naturally. The players in the team will be more experienced, and trained well. An important example of this is from my own personal experience, I can tell you that playing a match right after having met my teammates is quite difficult. We don’t even know each other's strengths or weaknesses well enough yet and, forget that, we don’t know each other well enough yet. In addition to this, an article called “Basketball Health Benefits” by Better Health Channel says that one of the advantages of basketball is that “it helps you to make new friends and see them regularly teach you about being a good team player”.

This makes me think that, with going into matches and only have 1 season a year with your team, you can’t become as close to them and see them develop. It is not possible to see them teach you over a long period of time, . Thinking about swimmers or gymnasts, they have made such close bonds with each other because they get to train almost everyday, for the whole year. Having bonds with your teammates means you feel more comfortable around them and as the evidence says, you can see them regularly teach you about being a good team player. With basketball only coming for a season a year with training twice a week, the bonds and how well a team can potentially work together, can’t happen.

Secondly, basketball is majorly beneficial to one’s health in many different ways. It not only develops the team and how good you are at the sport, but it also develops your individual fitness and health, in ways that other sports could not.

An important example of is an article that says, “Basketball promotes cardiovascular fitness. It involves intense running and jumping, which gives the heart and lungs a through workout. It also tones your muscles with the running, jumping, dribbling and shooting.” Even though basketball might not be a sport that “builds muscle” it does tone your muscles and trains your cardiovascular fitness, which is helpful in many different situations.

Also I quote that, “A typical basketball game simultaneously develops speed, hand-eye coordination and cardiovascular endurance in a way that sports such as baseball & softball might not. Moving quickly back and forth across the court develops lower - body fitness, while shooting, defending and passing develops upper body fitness. (Stan Mack, June 24 2015.)

Basketball not only makes you better at the sport, but it improves your physical being and health by a lot as well. As the evidence says, “in a way that sports such as baseball and softball might not.” This shows that basketball does have its own unique benefits that other sports might not be capable of. The amount this sport can improve all different areas of our physical fitness, imagine letting us get to play it for a whole year. 

Last but not least, UWC young athletes would get to play the sport of their choice for the whole year. Swimmers or gymnasts who get to do the sport that they love for a whole academic year, and train about 5-6 times a week. Why shouldn’t we? I understand that it could be difficult for our school to supply us with basketball courts and basketballs for the whole year. People argue that the gymnastics gym is set and fixed, and so is the swimming pool. But, the question I ask is why does our school pay so much attention to gymnastics and swimming? How come they have fixed courts or venues for those 2 sports?

Something our school could do is perhaps take us to outdoor courts and organise something to give us as young basketball players, an opportunity to play basketball for longer than one season.

Something that is significant to notice is that when you go to our UWC school shop, swimming jumpers are available to everyone, even people who don’t do swimming. This is only for swimming, not any other. This proves that our school pays so much attention to swimming, much more than it does to any other sports. 

All this adds up to suggest that our school needs to pay more of an equal attention to all sports in our school, instead of just swimming and gymnastics. For us as basketball players we should get the opportunity to train just as much as swimming and gymnastics, because it is not like those sports are any more “special.” Basketball has multiple benefits to individuals, for example cardiovascular fitness, it creates bonds within a team and it gives us an opportunity to train just as much as other sports.

Bibliography

Better Health. N.p., n.d. Web. <https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/healthyliving/basketball-health-benefits>.

"Importance of Playing Basketball." LIVESTRONG.COM. LIVESTRONG.COM, 24 June 2015. Web. 15 Mar. 2016. <http://www.livestrong.com/article/464674-importance-of-playing-basketball/>.

"Top 10 Health Benefits of Basketball." Health Fitness Revolution. N.p., 08 Apr. 2015. Web. 22 Mar. 2016. <http://www.healthfitnessrevolution.com/top-10-health-benefits-basketball/>.

Cost of Competitive Sports

          From kids not being able to play competitive sports to kids being disadvantaged because of cost. Cost of competitive sports is hotly contested because many think that the costs of multiple sports are too big and schools must pay for them, however, others argue that it is good that we have to pay since the school’s need to earn money and nothing is free nowadays. There has been a long disagreement about this topic, (and this paper is) and I am going to tell you that it is both good and bad, but it matters about what exactly you are talking about.

           Let's take as look at school sports or sports where you play for the school team for UWCSEA east. Out of many school in Singapore, UWC is one of the most expensive and high standard schools, looking at how much the cost per kid is huge, the school gets a lot of money, that means, the school has more than enough money to pay for all the clubs, sports, and activities. The point that I am trying to make is sometimes the school should pay for most of the sports that we are playing, but not mentioning for example swimming or gymnastics, since those sports you truly need a professional coach and if you travel you need to train hard. And to show that you fully committed to this, you pay money, or you can think of it another way, tax. But of course there will be that one person that will argue against me, and they will say that since the people in our school are in UWC which, again, is an expensive school, people are rich enough to pay for all the sports.

         How about camps, when it comes to camps, you truly first think about how much it costs. Usually camps cost an awful amount and if you think from the camps side or the people that organise it. Holidays vacations are the only times when they get money, and of course they need to cost more than a usual sport. Coaches train other kids during normal days, and they get payed less since it is a working week. You might believe that coaches charge too much, but in our school, Fast Break(which is a basketball camp) charges as less as they can, counting the uniform, you get 2, the cost per term, tax, and many more. Our school, also tries to charge at the minimum since we already pay more than usual, as I said in before. For example badminton, it is free since there is a lot of people in it and it would be tough on all the kids to pay.

        I asked a 54 year old woman, which is a mother to three children, about what she thinks about the cost of competitive sports in our school and here is what she said:

      “Activities that have truly professional coaches and train the kids hard, activities like that have good and fair prices. But sports like junior school basketball should be free since it is a short time sport and most of the time in our school the clubs are lead by sometimes random teachers. “

      I think what she said was only one aspect out of thousands, but that is an aspect of many moms that are interested in their children and spend a lot of money and time on them.

       Some people will still disagree with the idea of people in our school paying for particular competitive sports, and there still will always be people that disagree, but I say that schools, especially ours, should pay for competitive sports.

More Sporting Opportunities for the Youth

I feel the same as you that during sporting events teens can loose self esteem and possibly injure themselves but one might argue that more sporting events and opportunities should be available to kids around the world because it gives Teens across the world a chance to achieve sporting greatness, sports events can help bond friendships and a player can gain confidence from participating in sporting events.

While Sports competitions can damage teenagers self esteem and possibly injure them more sporting opportunities and events should be available to teens because A player can gain confidence from participating in competitive sporting events, Teenagers across the globe look to achieve athletic or sporting greatness and competitions can also help bond teams and friendships within the team.

Sporting events are only available for the top athletes in certain sporting clubs. Sporting committees and owners of Youth sport teams should create competitions to help less skillful players develop Teamwork, Dealing with defeat and skills that are needed to make a good teammate not the best player.

Firstly, Teenagers across the globe look to achieve athletic or sporting greatness. Giving Teens more sporting events to participate in will increase the chance of coaches scouting them. They will also train more often which will help them increase their skill level. A article By an unknown source on the website www.topuniversities.com says “By participating in a competition organised by a company, university or other organization, you have a new opportunity to show your talent and apply your skills. In turn, the rewards of student competitions, whether tangible or otherwise, can help you achieve your educational and professional goals. You might win an internship that leads to the job of your dreams, some money that would help you buy course books, or even help to start your own business.” This is really important because it shows how people with experience and practice can achieve greatness in an area of interest. Although this is in a school perspective this shows that participating in competitions can help develop someone's skills as well as show them off which can really help outside scouts to pick players especially if they have experience.

Another reason is that competitions can also help bond teams and friendships within the team. This can help the team play better as they will also feel a lot more comfortable around each other. An article by Cherie Burbach from http://friendship.about.com/ says “If you're looking for friends, joining a sports team is a great way to connect with people. There are several reasons for this. First, you and your team are all working together and playing by the same set of rules. You need to trust each other (will he make the play, will she have my back when I miss) and as you get to know one another you play off each other's strengths.” This is saying how being in a sports team can help build trust with friends/team mates as well learn that they will always have your back.

Lastly, A player can gain confidence from participating in competitive sporting events.An article from Richard Bailey says “Over the years that followed my "discovery" of running, my self-confidence grew, and feeding off the accomplishments I achieved in sports - setting new personal bests, winning a little local race, surviving the setbacks of injuries and marathons gone wrong - I discovered a capacity within myself that I never knew I had. I wasn't just physically stronger than I expected, I thought of myself as a different person, as someone with more potential, broader horizons, bigger possibilities. I saw that I could push myself and take risks, not just in sports, but elsewhere, too. The competition in sports, as in life, was not with someone else, it was with myself. To "compete" was to discover my own potential to do better, to hold my own self to a higher standard, to expect more of myself--and deliver” This shows how from years of running he built up his self esteem and this helped him in places outside of sports and helped him push himself, take risks until he reached his full potential.

Owners of Youth sports teams and sports committees should take immediate action to include the less skillful player and offer more opportunities to help get players recognised to hopefully help them pursue their dream sometime. Opening more youth academies and more local and international sporting events for teams to bond and for young talents to be recognised in the community.

"Do Sports and Other Physical Activities Build Self-Esteem?" Psychology Today. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"3 Tips for Making Friends Through Sports." About.com Dating & Relationships. N.p., n.d. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.

"Six Reasons to Participate in Student Competitions." Top Universities. N.p., 03 Oct. 2013. Web. 16 Mar. 2016.