Parents Role Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2250 words

Parents Role - Essay Example Considerable financial investments frequently match this poignant investment. Coaching, travel, equipments, facilities, etc. augment the price tag for sport involvement and parents raised up the tab. While we distinguish the prospective influence of parental involvement, we know little concerning how young athletes distinguish parental investment and support (White, S. A., & Duda, J. L. 1994). Nor do we recognize the prospective influence of parents on the psychosomatic variables of motivation and anxiety. Newsham & Murphey (1999) asserted that "the main purpose of sport is to create an opportunity for fun and growth. All the triumphs and heartaches that are inherent in sport can provide learning experiences and lessons that help pave the road to adulthood." http://www.coloradoperformance.org/psych.htm Basically, there are two dilemmas for girls and parents of elite gymnasts. Opportunities are not enthusiastically available, and parents, particularly fathers, do not keenly support their daughters to join in athletics. This is not, inevitably, a conscious omission, but one that is a product of society. Daughters do not have the similar openings in youth leagues their fathers had. Miller Lite and the Women's Sports Foundation (1985) carried out a poll and in which questions asked was, "In your opinion, which of the following are the biggest barriers to increased participation by women in sports and fitness" The random sample of more than seven thousand respondents claimed, as their number one answer, "Lack of involvement and training as children. This poll showed that more than thirty percent of the respondents did not participate on pre high school athletic teams. "The Wilson Report: Moms, Dads, Daughters and Sports" (1988) confirmed the Miller Lite findings. In a random telephone survey of more than thousand mothers and fathers, and 513 of their seven to eighteen-year-old daughters, only 35 percent of daughters seven to ten years of age and 28 percent of daughters eleven to fourteen years of age became associated in athletics through community organizations; 24 percent of seven to ten year olds and 18 percent of eleven to fourteen-year-olds become concerned through private organizations; and just 6 percent of seven to ten-year-olds and 11 percent of eleven to fourteen-year-olds participated through their church organization. Though, other resources show an increase statistics; yet, it is still inadequate. According to the 1993 "Miller Lite Report on Sports and Fitness in the Lives of Working Women," prior to the passage of Title IX in 1972, only fifty percent of all girls take part in sports; above sixty percent took part after the passage of the law. It is also found that participation in organized youth sport programs is an accepted part of childhood development in the United States to greater extent in comparison with Britain (Coakley, 1998) and has the potential to have an enormous influence on the self-concept of children (Smith & Smoll, 1990). Coaches' parched parents mostly influence whether the female sport experience is optimistic (Sabo, D. 1988). Over the past thirty years several findings have been reported concerning adolescent athletes motives to participate or end involvement in youth sports. (Harris, D.V. 1979, Gill, D.L., Gross, J. B., & Huddleston, S.