Intramural Sports

Can you imagine quitting something you have such love and passion for? You may be thinking this is a crazy question and the obvious answer would be no, but that isn't the case for everyone.
While all schools want high performing athletic teams, school’s should understand that not everyone can make the team and when they don't make it all they feel is sad, disheartened, embarrassed, dejected and eventually could lose complete interest in the sport. I propose to you a solution that would make all coaches, students and parents appeared, Intramural sports. Intramural sports are great as they give students who don't make the team a chance to be able to play regularly, teaches them resilience and perseverance to not give up the sport. Playing intramural sports isn't just for fun, it allows you to reap rewards for your health, social life, and even academic pursuits.

The most crucial reason why we should have Intramural sports at our school is for students to maintain good health. Staying mentally and physically fit can be a hard thing to do especially when you are not part of a sports team. For example, the United States is struggling with a widespread obesity problem, according to the Journal of the American Medical Association, more than one-third of adult Americans are obese hence, physical activity couldn't be more important for the nation's health. Intramural programs provide a great alternative for those who don't have the time or abilities to compete in competitive school sports teams.
Additionally, Intramural sports at school offer you a variety of sports to choose from and will provide at least three or more training sessions per week which will help you to stay fit. Competitive sports, on the other hand, can be more rigorous in nature resulting in overworking your body and causing potential injuries to the body. Coupled with the fact that intramural sports are a team activity, your commitment to the sport and team will ensure that you turn up for practice. Many people also feel more motivated to exercise when they're playing in an organized program rather than following a personal fitness regimen.
Word Health Organisation (WHO) states that children ages five to seventeen should accumulate at least sixty minutes of moderate intensity physical activity daily, being part of an intramural sports team will ensure children get their necessary recommended work out.

Another imperative reason why intramural sports are beneficial is that it helps individuals develop leadership and team building skills in addition to creating new friendships and building bonds. Intramural sports encourage you to get to know your teammates, set aside individual differences and work together as a team. My sister plays basketball, before joining basketball she thought it would be a way to make new friends. After the first day of training she came back home complaining that all they do is train and do constant drills, “there’s barely any new time to get to know people, the only time I get to talk to people are during break times which only last a minute or two, our conversation is interrupted by the coach telling us to get back to training” she says. These are the kinds of people I believe Intramural sports are suited for. Abe Drabkin, the Director of Marketing for the National Intramural-Recreational Sports Association (NIRSA), points out that some researchers say organizational activity prompts the release of the hormone oxytocin, which helps team-bonding.
Furthermore, some may argue that involvement in team sports helps students build character, allowing them to develop a sense of self-control and boost their self-esteem. But others believe that when students play the sport with the sole intention of winning, it could provoke aggression and violence. 

Following that argument, intramural sports might be preferable to the more competitive sports.

In addition to keeping good health, Intramural sports are good for those who are not able to withstand the pressure and stress caused by competitive sports.
Drabkin also states that intramural sports help students maintain health and wellness while managing stress. A survey of more than 400 moms with children in organized youth sports done by The Observer says that culture of competitive sports not only puts unhealthy pressure on children but creates significant stress for parents too. Another survey was commissioned by i9 Sports, a nationwide youth sports league franchise, clearly shows that we need to change the youth sports format and add an element of fun to put less pressure on children and their families. This is significant because it strengthens my argument on why we should introduce Intramural sports at school.
Equally important, being actively involved in physical sport and exercise could help students reduce stress whilst keeping kids physically fit and mentally charged, which then helps students excel academically too. Some research has proven that physically active children do better in reading and math.

In essence, we should introduce Intramural sports at our school as it provides all the elements to mold a successful student. Although it could add extra costs to the school and finding an area to play could be hard but Intramural sports as compared to competitive sports is necessary as it encourages students to stay fit and healthy in a fun way, without causing undue stress. It helps to build new friendships, boost self-esteem and improves your collaborative skills.

Reasons Why Vegetarianism Is the Best

Although, for many people the smell of a well barbecued steak could make their mouth water, but have you ever thought about how much negative impact takes place just so that this piece of meat could come to you?

I take the position that vegetarian food, although for many people it may not be as tasty as non-vegetarian food, has huge positives like better health and a lesser negative impact on the environment, that can outweigh the benefits of having a Non vegetarian diet. In our day to day diet, I feel that for the benefits of innumerable we should have a completely vegetarian meal at least once a week, thus reducing your amount of meat consumption.

Vegetarian food has further benefits than Non vegetarian food. One of the reasons is that Vegetarian food is significantly far more environmentally friendlier than Non vegetarian food. According to scientific research Animal Agriculture is the one of the three biggest reason for global warming. It is responsible for about 20% of global warming, being a greater contributing problem than deforestation. It has grow to a huge problem although many people don’t notice it. Scientists are so concerned by the effects of rising meat consumption that Dr Pachauri, chair of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), and possibly the world's leading authority on global warming, made a plea last year for people to have at least one meat-free day a week. (Finn, 2009). There are many reasons why IPCC made this plea out to us all. First of all Animals only give us 1/10 of what they eat as meat and use the rest to survive, and in that process they also pollute the air with methane. According to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, also known as EPA, Comparatively the impact of methane (CH4) on climate change is more than 25 times greater than Carbon dioxide (CO2). That's not only it, to feed the 19 billion livestock we're raising, we have to grow thrice as much plants for them than we had to if we all didn’t eat meat at all. This takes up a lot of land, 33 million square kilometers to be more specific. That is about the size of Africa. And that's not even counting the land used to grow crops exclusively for the animals.  That’s a lot of land that once could have been trees or grassland in their original state. After that all the effort to get so much food to the animals emits huge amount of greenhouse gases. Adds poisonous chemicals into our soil, air, and water. Animal agriculture creates a lot of greenhouse gasses and it is greater than all of the gas emissions from planes, trains, and automobiles combined. All of this mostly affects the land and air but what about all the freshwater being used. About 70% of fresh water is used for agriculture. It takes about 15000 litres of freshwater to make one kilogram of beef whilst it takes only 900 litres to make a kilogram of fruits. If you had to pay for all the damage that the meat had done the environment to get to you it would add a whopping $240 to your weekly grocery shopping bill. But, as the earth can sustain this damage, for now, we don’t have to pull out that extra 240 dollars from our pockets. Even if it’s not possible to completely become a vegetarian, it’s still possible to make the problem little better by eating meat less often. Now as you all can see eating meat already does so much damage to the environment but what about how badly it affects the animals. A quote from Paul Shapiro, vice president of farm animal protection at the Humane Society of the United States. “From locking animals in tiny cages, to slicing parts of their bodies off without any pain relief, to genetically selecting them to grow so obese and so fast that many become lame, it’s by far the biggest cause of animal suffering in the world.”(Melone, 2014). Now this is just the question about your humanity. How would you feel if you were just raised for the sole purpose for being food for someone else with no greater purpose in life? That is some food for thought.

Another reason eating less meat is an amazing idea is that, consuming meat not only harms the environment but it also harms you. A study from Harvard School of Public Health found an association with red meat consumption and increased risk of a shortened lifespan. “We know processed red meat like hot dogs and salami are the worst,” says Larry Santora, MD, medical director of the Dick Butkus Center for Cardiovascular Wellness, Saint Joseph Hospital, Orange, California. (Melone, 2014). Red meat is not what you think it is. To treat the meat, countless chemicals are added to it and this sometimes can be harmful to the consumer. According to a study published in the journal Nature Medicine, meat being rich in cholesterol can clog the consumers arteries. This increases the chance to obtain a heart disease or cancer by 44%,  and that is no small number. Even with the amazing taste a meat has, after knowing it’s dirty little secret it can make it hard to swallow.

It's been said that meat provides nutrients like Vitamin B12 and Omega-3 that is not present in any plant based food. The vegetarian diet often has many perks that are related to personal health.(Melone, 2014). Research shows that vegetarians tend to be leaner than their meat-eating counterparts, and that they also tend to have lower cholesterol and body mass index (BMI). Data also suggests that a vegetarian diet can help with weight loss and be better for maintaining a healthy weight over time. This can be a crucial aspect in the long run. It has also been shown that having a vegetarian diet increases your life span by an average of 10 - 13 years. A vegetarian diet is rarely a negative for anyone and it is always a win for everyone although not many notice it. Virginia Messina, M.P.H., R.D., who has written extensively about vegetarian diets quotes that “Vegetarians have lower blood pressure, lower cholesterol levels and tend to be a little bit thinner, so vegetarians are automatically going to be at lower risk of certain chronic diseases,”. According to so many studies it has been shown that there are multifarious benefits vegetarianism can have on your personal health.  Lot’s of people think that eating a vegetarian meal provides less protein and iron. But there are countless studies lauding the benefits of a vegetarian diet. As for protein, the great myth is that you won't get enough of it unless you eat meat. But according to the World Health Organisation, the average Non veg eats twice the amount of protein they need in a year, so the odd vegetarian meal at work shouldn't weaken you too much.

There are innumerable benefits from eating less meat, Including valuing animal rights, saving the environment and personal health. But coming down to to the core with biology, humans in the first place were never meant to eat meat, and ever since then we still haven’t adapted to eating meat like numerous carnivorous and omnivores. Many characteristics that meat eaters have such as Lions and Bears are not present in us. We haven’t developed many of the required characteristics that we need. Like strong acids in stomach to break down meat thoroughly so that we don’t get food poisoning from the billions of bacteria present on meat. We also don’t have sharp claws and canines to help tear the meat resulting in more work for the digestive tract. And now if you are thinking - nobody likes being a vegetarian, nobody wants to be a vegetarian, and being a vegetarian is so lame and stupid. I have a perfect answer for that. Did you ever know that the famous Steve Jobs was once a vegetarian and some people said that his vegetarian diet help battle cancer and live longer than others would. What about the genius Albert Einstien he too was a vegetarian and how can I forget our famous popular female singers, Beyonce Knowles and Ariana Grande. You see a vegetarian is not that uncommon as many people think. I know many people prefer the greater taste and varieties of the non veg options in almost every Restaurant . And also many people think it is the quickest and the easiest way to get food. Have any of you seen frequency of occurring Fast food restaurants like McDonalds, KFC, BurgerKing is ? Although there are these benefits from eating meat But is it really worth what little we are gaining from compared to how much we are losing?

I'm not saying that you have to immediately change into a vegetarian and have a super strict vegetarian diet, although that would be amazing and great for you. No, No, I'm saying that with the best of you efforts you should try reduce the amount of meat you eat bit by bit. Baby steps that's how we all learnt how to start walking. Maybe say no to that Hawaiian Pizza and go for a vegetarian Pasta. And it you want a have a goal set for yourself try with having at least one completely vegetarian meal once a week. And something to help you motivate yourself, remember all those cute little piglets and calfs your saving lives of. 

bibliography

http://www.vegetariantimes.com/article/why-go-veg-learn-about-becoming-a-vegetarian/

http://www.britishmeat.com/49.htm

http://www.eatingwell.com/nutrition_health/nutrition_news_information/why_a_vegetarian_diet_is_good_for_your_health_and_the_health_of_the_planet

http://www.theguardian.com/money/2009/apr/27/work-canteen-vegetarian-food

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/education/news/HRD-ministry-seeks-IITs-IIMs-views-on-veg-non-veg-canteens/articleshow/44976176.cms

http://www.menshealth.com/nutrition/7-reasons-vegetarians-live-longer

http://www.prevention.com/food/healthy-eating-tips/10-reasons-to-stop-eating-red-meat/3-youre-eating-pink-slime

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZDsSnpYZrw
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ANUoAdXfA60

Why running should be more of a focus amongst schools.

While some people think swimming has more of a fitness benefit, other popular sports, including running can help build stronger muscles and bones and can help maintain a healthy lifestyle. Schools should put more attention on a variety of sports, as putting more of a focus on one sport could be bias and partial. Not only can running improve health and body functions, it can actually increase one’s level of self esteem and confidence, which can impact school work and outside of school. This paper will argue why running should be focused on and why the increasing level of the attention to swimming should be discontinued in favour of other measures.

Firstly, running can have a big impact on one’s health. Research shows that running can raise your levels of good cholesterol, while also helping you increase lung function and use. running can also boost your immune system and lower your risk of developing blood clots. For women, running can actually help lower your risk of breast cancer. It can also reduce the risk of having a stroke and reduces your chance of developing tension headaches. According to active.com, many doctors today recommend running for people who are in the early stages of diabetes, high blood pressure, and osteoporosis, and it is proven to help reduce the risk of having a heart attack. Therefore, running can increase and maintain your health and fitness and should have more of a focus at school.

Not all benefits of running are physical, running can provide a noticeable boost to your self esteem and confidence. You can give yourself a greater sense of empowerment, which can increase your level of happiness. Research shows that running can also relieve stress. Stress can cause a number of health and mood problems and could possibly lead to depression. As running can relieve stress and increase levels of self esteem and confidence, it will also help school/home work. Therefore running should be focused on children at his age, since with all the homework that is given, running can prevent children from panic and stress from school work.

While some people think that swimming has a better health benefit, swimming can actually have a negative impact to your body and health. In a chlorinated pool, the chlorine could provoke Respiratory problems, such as asthma. According to a 2002 paper published in the "European Respiratory Journal." Chlorine can also dry out your skin and create a green hue on your hair if you don't rinse it off. There's also a small risk of contracting a virus or infection from a public pool, particularly if it's not properly chlorinated. Therefore, the sports department should consider focusing more on running, simply because it has been proven by livestrong.com that it is important to alternate between these sports to maintain health and weight loss.

Therefore, I truly believe that the increasing level of attention on swimming should be discontinued throughout schools. This is because other popular sports, such as running can have a positive impact to your body and health. Even though, swimming can have a big health and body impact, swimming can also have negative effects to one’s health. Therefore, running, and other sports that have a positive impact, should definitely should have a big focus amongst most, yet all schools.

Having The Freedom To Choose The Sports Done in P.E.

I take the position that middle school students should be allowed to choose the sports we do in P.E. While kids get the required amount of physical exercise with the variety of sports given to us, middle school students are not enjoying P.E. classes because of the sports they don’t enjoy or are struggling in. The UWCSEA P.E. department should allow the freedom for middle school students to choose their own sports units in the P.E curriculum, because firstly, middle school students are starting to not enjoy P.E classes, and are pushing themselves to do things they don’t want to. Secondly, students’ self esteem is becoming lower because of how uncomfortable they feel when they’re doing the sports they’re not good at.

One critical reason middle school students should be allowed to choose their P.E curriculum is because students are starting to not enjoy P.E classes, and P.E classes are meant to be fun. Penelope Trunk, author of the article “Forced Gym Hates Exercise”, says: “Kids who don’t have any gym yearn for exercise during the day and they generally know what they like, team sports or individual sports, rigorous or methodical... Kids who are forced to do a certain type of exercise generally dislike exercise in the same way that kids who are forced to learn a certain way that’s not appropriate to them start to hate learning.” (Trunk, 2013). This is important to notice because that quote summarizes what I feel like in P.E. class. I don’t usually like the way we are being forced to learn the sports that we don’t take any sort of interest in, and I find myself become quite tense. I think the author’s intention was to tell P.E. coaches and parents that kids that have to follow the system of P.E. units get tired of doing forced sports. A study conducted by the Women's Sport and Fitness Foundation (WSFF) interviewed 1,500 kids and found that over half (51 percent) of girls are “put off physical activity by their experiences of school sport and P.E. lessons.” (Alamy, 2012). This is significant because 51 percent is a lot of girls that don’t like sports just because of their experiences, which is saddening because kids should be able to enjoy sports without any obstacles in the way.

Another crucial reason middle school students should have the right to pick the sports they do in the P.E. curriculum is because kids’ self esteem is decreasing because of how unconfident kids are feeling when doing sports they’re not good at or not fond of. I have personal experience. I really find myself engaged in some sports that we do, such as basketball or badminton. They are really fun, interesting sports which I wouldn’t mind doing in P.E. classes. I feel I strive in these sports and really like them. However, I feel that P.E. units I have such as touch rugby and volleyball are really challenging for my abilities, and I dread P.E. and feel uncomfortable when attempting to do the sports. Furthermore, I know some people like my classmate Piper, that really like touch rugby and volleyball, and some people that despise basketball and badminton. This is important to notice because I feel this can relate to everyone, even outside of the P.E. subject. You can be really talented at humanities, but struggle in maths. It’s exactly the same for P.E. units. Also, Sarah Harris, contributor to the Mail Online, found a research at that was conducted at the University of Bedfordshire in the UK. They found that almost half of middle school teachers (42 per cent) say that their students don’t enjoy PE lessons, and that thirty-nine per cent of children across the UK have a negative attitude towards being physically active by the age of 16, according to a survey of 400 middle school teachers. This shows that many middle school students’ interest in P.E. is decreasing, because it says that by the age of 16, the children have lost their attention towards P.E. At this age, children are going through adolescence and while we’re going through this transition, we start to make many decisions that usually stick through to the end of adolescence. P.E. is a subject in school that shouldn’t be ignored, and is crucial to our health, but with people losing interest in it, it’s not gonna benefit their mental health (e.g. feeling better about your body) if children are not interested at such a young age.

I do agree that their is no need to change the system of the current P.E. units. In the survey I conducted within my mentor class, most if not all the respondents generally said they didn’t mind the P.E. sports we had in school, and 12.5% of the peers said no to changing the sports curriculum. The P.E. units we’ve been having have been quite successful throughout many years and there have been no complaints. Also, I do understand how painful organizing everyone into these sports would be, let alone organizing middle school students into different P.E. classes. But don’t we want all kids to be comfortable, confident and contented when they’re playing sports? Isn’t that what sports are meant to be doing? Offering this opportunity to select what sports we can do would help achieve this goal.

Middle school students should be able to have the rights to choose the sports they want to do. I take the position that while middle school students stay fairly fit with the P.E. units given to us, we are having to follow the system of sports that some kids aren’t eager to do. The UWCSEA P.E. department should provide the rights for middle school students to choose their own sports units in the curriculum.

I do understand that it’s gonna be very chaotic to organize the sports for 620 students. Also, most kids still like the P.E. units. However, there are kids still struggling out there. I’m proposing an idea which can help solve this issue. We can treat P.E. class as a health society; kids who are keen athletes can have the opportunity to sign up for hardcore sports, and other kids who are less eager to do tough sports can choose ones they want to do so they feel better about themselves.

Food isn't Trash

Food isn't trash. Of course, it is true that our stomachs can get full easily, and some foods are just not enjoyable to everyone, but what people do not see is that every day, tons of perfectly good food is thrown away. It is bad enough that we throw away our food, but it is worse when that food is perfectly fine to eat. Schools need to take immediate action against this and so do students. Schools should let students decide the size of their portions, and students should only buy food that they will eat. Finally, students should not be allowed to throw large amounts of food away, or there will be more consequences than just wasted food.

One definite way we can reduce this is by letting students choose their food portions. A survey was taken of 51 7th grade students at UWCSEA East. 36% of grade 7 said that Sodexo meals are average sized. 28% said that it was below average and not more than 12% of the students said that their food portions were above average. This evidently shows that there should be at least three options of portion sizes for students to choose from, to avoid them dumping food that the school has provided for them. This will not only cut down on food wastage but keep the child refreshed, which could lead to a better, more focused approach to their learning.

Students should only take food that they will eat. It is not just a waste of money when children throw away their meals, but a waste of resources and time as well. If children bought food that they want to eat, they would finish it. At UWCSEA, students play many sports and get plenty of exercise. The right amount of food in combination with a lot of exercise can improve their nutrition and health. Sometimes on one’s plate remains food that is inedible, like banana peels, bread crusts etc. Instead of binning food, one good solution is to throw it in compost bins which are found near the gardens and music area. According to Zion Lights from OneGreenPlanet.org, composting is not only good for the soil and earth but can reduce emissions and our dependence on fossil fuels.
Therefore, this is beneficial for us and our planet.

Another way we can take action against this is not to let students throw away their food. Since many students clearly waste a lot of food, our school in particular should get teachers who are working lunch shifts to stand by the food bins and check how much food is being thrown away. Awareness should be spread as well, only then will people waste less. Not only should action be taken at school, but everywhere in the world. According to Channel News Asia, 790 million kg of food was wasted in Singapore during 2014, which is equivalent to each person in Singapore throwing away 2 bowls of food every day. There are organisations in Singapore where volunteers pick up leftover food from restaurants and donate it to poorer families.

A small course of action to keep away food wastage can go a long way.
Of course this is not only the school’s responsibility, but students as well. It is one thing for schools to make their students stop, but it is different when the students themselves learn to stop. There are many children all around the world who starve for days without a single grain of food. Food is a resource, not something we should take for granted. So spread the word. Food isn’t trash.

Bibliography:

Lights, Zion. "5 Reasons Why Composting Is the Greenest Thing You Can Do." One Green Planet. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Mar. 2016.

Othman, Liyana. "Singapore Needs to Rethink Food Wastage: Masagos." Channel NewsAsia. Mediacorp News Group © 2016, 10 Jan. 2016. Web. 21 Mar. 2016.

Happiness, Can it Lead you to Becoming more Successful?

What is happiness? How do you achieve it? Is it really worth spending your time trying to make yourself happy? I am here to inform you that happiness is actually very beneficial. But it is only beneficial when you drive your energy toward improving yourself. Happiness is a great way to motivate yourself in life to get inspired and strive to improve yourself. Some people may argue that happiness is not worth wasting your time on and all that matters is getting an A in academics or getting a promotion at work; that is possible but all not are so probable or long lasting as that can’t happen just in an instant. being happy will allow you to excel even further and empower you to carry on developing yourself. Small things like getting an A may give you a boost but being happy can give you eternal motivation. There is no denying that happiness can provide you with strong motivation to excel in life. Sometimes the amount of pressure there is at school or in work can cause you to be constantly stressed, angry maybe even sometimes jealous. So here are some ways that can help you stay healthy and happy: go outside surround yourself with positive people try not to stay online too much do things that you have always wanted to do which you know will make you happy. (ie. shopping, sports etc.)

Going outside can help you open your mind and allow you to disconnect from your normal life and spend some time in the greenery. “Spending time in nature has been shown to lower stress levels” Seattle-based environmental psychologist Judith Heerwagon tells The Huffington Post. "Just looking at a garden or trees or going for a walk, even if it's in your own neighborhood, reduces stress," she says. This proves that just simply taking 30 minutes off your schedule, if you walk in your garden or go to a park it can reduce stress and when you start your errands again you will more likely to be in a positive mood to finish what you want to be done finished.

You can also push yourself to greater heights by the people that surround you to build a positive environment. Most times you can get very disappointed with social pressure and sometimes you can get caught up into catching up with useless people that you can forget the real people that actually make you feel good about yourself. Most times you can get so caught up on being the person that everybody else wants you to be but the real people that care about you won’t care what you look like. They can inspire you to be a better individual as it is shown here -

“Good friends can inspire you to reach greater heights, and see your strengths even when you don’t always.”- from an article by abouthealth. This proves that family and good friends can inspire you, they can always see the good things in you even in the times that you don’t.This proves that positive people around you can inspire and motivate you so that you can put effort into things that you are passionate about. More happiness = more success.

Social media is great, it can allow you connect with your friends and stay in touch. Sometimes it can make you feel good and sometimes it can make you feel disappointed. When you are scrolling through your social media sometimes it can be a very negative environment. It may be that someone is just insulting another person or maybe even in some cases you. But on the days that you don’t feel your hundred percent sometimes disconnecting can help. Going for a walk or even maybe just relaxing in your room without any electronics and social media can be extremely helpful. “One in three people felt worse after visiting Facebook and more dissatisfied with their lives.” -http://www.becomingminimalist. When you are on social media, you can get caught up in the social media world so much that sometimes you need to escape back to reality. From personal experience I know that now and then it feels like there are a lot of expectations for yourself on social media; disconnecting allows me to realise that I don't have to live up to those expectations and I just have to carry on being myself. When I disconnect I also feel more happy which leads me to being a lot more productive and getting my work done much faster. Others might claim that using social media to contact friends if you need help when working is beneficial. That is true but most times talking about homework will once in awhile lead to another discussion that is off topic. That is the reason why disconnecting leads to happiness which leads to productivity. It also leads to good effort and most times that opens doors to success.

Success is more than just getting good scores for academics or getting a promotion at work. Real success comes from motivation and putting in the effort for things that you are passionate about. The best way of getting real motivation is through happiness. Happiness is easier said than done but doing the things like going outside, surrounding yourself with positive people, trying not to stay online too much, and generally doing things that you have always wanted to do which you know will make you happy. This will help you gain motivation and drive your energy. So stay happy.

Biblography:


https://hbr.org/2014/11/being-happy-at-work-matters
http://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2014/nov/03/why-does-happiness-matter
http://lifestyle.allwomenstalk.com/reasonable-reasons-to-take-a-break-from-social-media
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/06/22/how-the-outdoors-make-you_n_5508964.html
http://stress.about.com/od/optimismspirituality/a/positiveenergy.htm

Higher Sporting Opportunities For Kids For the Future

Coaches may not know or rather even realise that kids sometimes feel pressured or don’t get enough opportunities to go professional or showcase their talent because they think that their system is really good.And it is good most coaches have a great system but there are things that they should do more like giving kids more opportunities and chances to also meet new people so they get used to it and also will help them in the future.

In some cases sports could end up bad as it could lower confidence,ruin self esteem and possibly injure themselves. However, they will never get chances or be able to become better or more confident if they aren’t given opportunities which is why I argue that there should be more sporting events organised to kids.

An important reason why kids should get opportunities is because, It is just another thing to have fun in and not only that but also when kids grow up if they are good and studies and sports, they could have 2 things they might do just incase one may not work out.

“We certainly encourage our children to read, write, and learn math.We don't think twice about making them go to school every single morning. Yet when it comes to sports (that can also be very valuable to their development) we shy away from one practice a week.” From the article, 10 Reasons Kids Should Play Sports by Shari Medini. Shari Medini is trying to convey that the fact that, sports are equally important and useful as math, reading or other intellectual subjects like that. She is trying to say that sports will help kids out a lot when they grow up possibly as much as studies would. It helps develop the child in sports and also mentally for many other things.I do agree that studies is really important as it has so many different aspects and so many highly opportunities for people but Sports also provide highly level benefits for kids for the present and the future. As kids they have a lot of fun and get better at it so it can help them meet new people and interact and as well as help them for future by giving them another path.For example if teens or anyone is good at intellectual subjects but also sports and for some reason one may not work out they have a fall back and a good one.Something they enjoy.And although not all kids like do sports which I agree with and not all of the have to, however the kids that do really enjoy it and kids who don’t should maybe give it a try.

Another important aspect to sporting events and opportunities is that it helps bond kids with others and also helps team building which will help people a lot in many circumstances.

People who work together will win, whether it be against complex football defences, or the problems of modern society. Vince Lombardi, American Football Coach from the article

‘Psychological and Social Benefits of Playing True Sport’. Vince Lombardi is trying to make people realise or rather even convey that sports that involve teams will only will win if players play as a team.Which is why I stated the point earlier that helps bonds by team building and meeting new friends but also helps players learn more about being in a team.And he is trying to say that essentially a win will only come if players play together not as a bunch on individuals put into a game and are called a “team”.It is about the fact that they understand each other and know each other and play as one.I agree very well with this as it is obvious although there are players with great individual talents out there, and can showcase it eventually if it is a team sport it comes down to everyone together.And I also sort of agree that yes there will be times individuals will spark and try out things which is good and helps confidence but however it is a lot about the team and how a player can also contribute to the team's development and not just his. 

Another real life example is that I was at a football tournament and we would have presentations and other things like that to prepare mentally and tactically as well as physically for the game, and we would always reinforce the fact that it is about “surrendering the me for the we”, It really helps players and it definitely helped us always know that it is how we do as a team.So sports opportunities and competitions are good for team building and meeting newer people and its good for the present and future.

If kids get more opportunities they will learn more about physical activities which is very good and also academic success

Physical activity is the most obvious benefit of sports participation. Children often spend too much time watching television or playing video games. However, sports practices and games provide an opportunity for exercise that can help keep kids in shape and healthy, from the article why should kids play sports, by Amanda Davis. Amanda Davis is trying to say that kids should really take opportunities to join a club or start a sport and maybe go to games to learn and then play or do the sport. It will help them stay fit and help them be healthy which is good for the long run, in the future.It keep children fit to also be ahead of people and it will really come in help in the sport they are doing even when they grow up.I think it is very important to stay fit and active as I also do sports and all my friends and it really helps keeps kids and players more healthy and will also help them in other things people do, not just sports.Another good quote, It is no surprise that children who participate in athletics excel in academics as well. They can apply the same principles of dedication and hard work learned through sports participation to their studies. According to an article published on the website America, playing on a high school sports team increases a young woman 's chances of graduating from college by 41 percent, from the same article and by Amanda Davis. She is trying to convey that the amount of hard work and dedication and how much they try in a game or in sports helps keep that mentality for other things like academics and it will help boost academics as the proof given because people have the effort now to push themselves and use the same mentality.I think that it is very good and I do agree that because they love sports people might put effort there, however I argue that they have put in effort in sports and they know how it feels so if they could focus and also use it in other activities it could really help. And also it helps them feel healthier and better which is good for a other activities or rather all activities.

It really does matter when it comes to taking opportunities in sports. It is important to take them and make the best of them earlier as it will help in the long run.And I agree sometimes people don’t want kids to join sports too early however I argue that maybe parents should just ask them about it or if they like to do sports just put them in the first chance they get. Hence, to conclude Sports opportunities should be more frequent to kids, maybe by just adding a sports day, or maybe a few, also maybe just other tournaments to engage them as it will give positive outcomes.