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Main Issues Covered in terms of Youth Sports Participation in the United States
According to Atencio and Wright (2008), the main issue covered in youth sports participation in the United States revolves around the relationship between the African American culture and basketball.
While this relationship appears to be almost taken for granted, it forms the root of the levels of risk surrounding African American youths. The connection is also attributed to the concomitant and post-industrialism social anxieties facing these youths. The basketball game comes out as a platform through which policymakers use the game to turn young black adults from crime and gang-affiliated thoughts into positive alternative community groups. As an example, Atencio and Wright (2008) show that the sport has been central in changing the mindset of the community groups in African American neighborhoods, from poverty-stricken to socially cohesive individuals. Therefore, with sports serving as a medium for transformation, it transforms the black youths in the United States from gang-oriented to productive people in the community.
Cameron et al. (2017) show the other main issue covered as the connection between sports involvement among youths and the negative experiences encountered courtesy of organized sports. In the United States, like most other western countries, studies show that despite the health benefits long associated with physical exercises in sports, organized sports experience both harm and bruises. For example, Cameron et al. (2017) show that high levels of competitiveness among youths in the United Kingdom, United States, the Netherlands, and Australia cause physical injuries among young adults. Organized sports utilize inappropriate or excessive training, which, as recalled by youths, is a source of their body harm.
The other main issue addressed by Cooky (2009) is the mistaken assumption, based on a common idea in the United States, that creating or expanding existing structures is central to inclusivity. Despite being frequently reproduced among girl sports, the same is not the case since the newly created opportunities do not accept girls from minority groups in the United States. Messner (2002) contributes to this issue by arguing that even with the increase in the number of ladies taking part in sports, the mistaken assumption makes people believe that girls who fail to participate in sports do so because it is their choice. To counter this belief, Cooky (2009) gives an example of one research done by Acosta and Carpenter in 2005 that showed that with the number of girls/ladies actively involved in sports, the part that fails to participate blames limited opportunities as the reason for their non-involvement in sports.
From another perspective, Messner (2002) brings out another severe issue associated with youths involved in sports in the United States. In this alternate contribution, Messner argues that it should not come as a surprise when high-profile sports youths in the U.S. perpetrate crimes causing physical harm to their girlfriends. To build on his study, Messner (2000) gives an example of an incident in November of 2000 where six footballers representing Yucca Valley high school were convicted of rape, sexual battery, and false imprisonment. The trend has been on the rise among youths and adults in sports, where gang rapes and physical and verbal abuse are reported among young adults known to belong to school teams. With such reports, youths in the U.S. become representatives of violent acts making policymakers yield few results in their fight against ill-mannered young adults. This understanding by Messner begs the question of whether athletic youths are more likely to engage in violent acts compared to their non-athletic counterparts. However, Messner cautions his readers. They should not be surprised if this is the case because, according to such experiences, it’s clear to establish the connection between athletic youths and violent acts in the U.S.
Critical Race, Ethnicity, and Indigenous Culture Issues on Youth and Pro Sports
Based on the information presented by Gary (n.d), the National Football League (NFL) has been associated with the use of racist mascots as an inappropriate representation of the Native Americans. It has been argued that in sports, particularly among professional athletes, participants are the subject of the governing bodies running sports organizations. In the U.S., issues of racism, ethnicity, and indigenous culture remain relevant, and the governance systems have not yet fully incorporated every minority group in the country. With this, school and professional organizations still practice discrimination, even if to a small extent. Thus, Native American images, symbols, and names are still a practice of hostility to the less fortunate in the country. With this said, conflicts still exist in sports organizations, youth and professional alike, and that is why apart from states like Oregon, Maine, and Wisconsin, Native American mascots are still in use in sports throughout the country, which is offensive to Native Americans (Gary, n.d). In the words of Susan Harjo, Gary shows that being called a redskin portrays the worst kind of humiliation of associating with any Native American.
Borrowing from Atencio and Wright (2008), the argument raised is that even with the critical explanations made to show the connection between young adults and professional sportspeople, what culturally underpins basketball in African American neighborhoods outlines the broader notion that is black athletic masculinity. Despite the constricting cultural and socioeconomic conditions shaping urban basketball, only a few black communities benefit from the sport. The discourses surrounding black masculinity in the African American neighborhoods revolve around poverty, basketball, masculinity, and blackness, which sustain and constitute black masculinities and masculine hierarchies (Atencio & Wright, 2008). The traditional understanding of masculinity still holds its place in society, which is highly represented by incorporeal and discursive regimes that still define how youths and pro athletes understand themselves. Therefore, the notion embodied by the disciplinary practices within the sport ensures the understanding of cultural practices relies on the desires and subjectivities constituting the black neighborhoods.
Cameron et al. (2017) further show that based on the context of the negative experiences of young adults and pro sports athletes, that sense of self-worth is damaged. Additionally, sports also bring out multiple contexts associated with social exclusion among peers, and discrimination against these peers is founded on socioeconomic status, gender, and ethnicity. Athletic objectification continues to be a cultural practice among coaches, teachers, and parents. On the other hand, society also encourages sexual objectification in pro athletes, specifically women athletes (Cameron et al., 2017).
On the other hand, while female participation in sports is improving, the sport continues to assume that symbolic and natural boundaries still exist where lines have been drawn to limit how lesbians and gays, women, and racial minorities, among other disadvantaged groups, contest (Cooky, 2009). While history shows girls and ladies have always encountered struggles in their involvement in sports, the same fight continues to date. However, modern-day works correlate to the historical foundations in sports that still teach male athletes to practice hegemonic masculinity and black masculinity among African Americans. This concept still places the female athlete as a more miniature counterpart to the male athlete. In this example given by Cooky (2009), a 2002 research by Shakib and Dunbar showed that the girl basketball team was perceived as lesser in stature compared to its boys’ team counterpart. In other words, the aspect of both black and hegemonic masculinity places a lesser social value on the young and pro-female athlete.
While Cameron et al. talk about the abuse experienced by athletes among their peers. At the same time training, James (2016) shows that the high levels of poverty and low socioeconomic status in racial minority neighborhoods increase the possibilities of violence. Black masculinity plays a significant role in how violent acts are perpetrated within the communities. The only escape route is playing at the parks to escape the emotional and physical abuses at home, even if temporarily. According to Messner (2002), evidence shows that due to the overrepresentation of black athletes, it is possible to link violent acts among them, especially among basketball and football athletes. Once charged with violence and criminal behaviors, these youth and adults, particularly those whose reputations are maimed with serving sentences, end up being violent fathers who force their children to encounter experiences discussed by James. Aggressive images of athletes continue to surface, resulting in racial stereotypes that make people worry when youth and pro athletes begin to behave unprofessionally. To a great extent, these poor behavioral influences are dictated by men who assume the central position in athletic peer groups and present themselves are dominant. This understanding answers the question asked by Messner on whether athletes are more violent compared to non-athletes.
References
Atencio, Matthew, & Wright, Jan. (2008). “We be killin’ them”: hierarchies of black masculinity in urban basketball spaces. Sociology of Sport Journal, 25, 1, 263-280.
Cameron, N., McPherson, L., Atkins, P., Nicholson, M., & Long, M. (June 01, 2017). Child Athletes and Athletic Objectification. Journal of Sport and Social Issues, 41, 3, 175-190
Cooky, C. (June 16, 2009). “Girls just aren’t interested”: The social construction of interest in girls’ sport. Sociological Perspectives, 52, 2, 259-283.
Gary, A. (n.d). The Aftermath of Redskins Indian Mascot Decisions: What’s Next? James, A., M. (2016). Park “Rats” to Park “Daddies”. Chapter 11, 221-236.
Messner, M. A. (2002). Taking the field: Women, men, and sports. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
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