Cheating in sports is a hot topic as we daily hear about it. NCAA investigations have acknowledged that the University of North Carolina has made paper classes- simple courses formulated to assist players to remain eligible. In the world of professional athletes, the Boston Red Sox have explored last month has robbed hand signals from opponent’s catchers with the use of Apple watches. Similar trends trickle down to youth sports.
Opinions on Cheating:
In today’s world, legendary tennis star John McEnroe stated in a conference that in youth sports cheating is at its worse than ever before. At every level of sports, college, professional, school, and youth, and even in Olympics, cheating is constantly getting exposed whether it’s at the individual or team level. As a professional athlete continues to cheat, it gives tacit and implicit permission to explore a way to skirt the rules according to your preferences. The outcome is evident from using drugs and steroids to enhance performance, lying about the ages of the competitors at different youth level competitions.
Why do athletes, mentors, and coaches cheat?
They are all doing this to find a way for a competitive edge over the others. Some even do this to overcome their current weaknesses; instead of working on them, they try to hide them through the shortcuts. Moreover, it can be compensated for the lack of confidence and courage. Some find it way too hard to compete and survive in the intense competition, rather than working on their skills and expertise they opt for cutting the corners to prove them.
Analysis on cheating at youth sports:
Roger Pielke Jr, head of the Governance Center at the University of Colorado in a conversation talked about the pressures and too much emphasis on winning at every level of sports that have made cheating, inevitable. Players keep molding rules to achieve success at every game, which is otherwise impossible. Due to tremendous notoriety attained, you emerge at the top of the line this gives you the remarkable perks of breaking the rules.
Even the coaches and mentors of young players send positive vibes to players doing that. They convey a message that winning is a must, either fairly or unfairly. Winning has become an ultimate goal even though sports are meant for developing mental and physical ability, improving skills, and learning.
The bottom-line:
Belief in yourself and your skills must be taught to the youth athletes at the early stages of life. Nevertheless, it’s equally important to make young players realize that it’s completely fine to fail. Winning is an integral part of the game but it must not be the sole objective of playing sports. Everyone fails in his or her life, not just sports. We need to teach our children not to be scared of setbacks in life. Failure can be a way to move further by learning from the mistakes and keep moving forward without losing confidence. Make them realize that cheating is not necessary to achieve new heights in life. It’s the consistent hard work, dedication, and enthusiasm for sports and learning that can make everything possible.
This doesn’t mean you teach kids to fail, it’s about teaching them to be afraid of failure. It’s all about building your character and skills by working on your confidence, skills, and development. Sports should remain a game that needs to be enjoyed and a fun experience altogether. Always, remember kids cheat or find ways of cheating when they are under pressure to achieve the impossible. Winning forever is simply not possible.