Decline of Youth Participating in Baseball - Case Study Example

Decline of Youth Participating In Baseball Baseball can be described as game played by two teams composed of nine players and the players’ main aim is to bat and ball in an attempt to make a score. This paper examines the decline of youth participating in baseball, by giving out various reasons and highlighting various issues which makes the trend of youths participating in the game to decline. The trend for youth participating in baseball has been on the decline in the United States over the recent years. Recent research from National Sporting Goods Association has indicated the following regarding youth participation in baseball. The rate of participation in youths has declined by over 17.3%. The negative change in trend for youth participation in baseball has been caused by various factors some related to the baseball itself while others are external factors affecting the youth in different States (Land, 2004). The number of matches of baseball games has been increased over the years in an effort to preserve the game and make it popular among youths. However, youth baseball has continued to be on the decline as most youths have preferred other games to baseball itself. These games include Babe Ruth League, Pony Baseball, American Legion, USSA Baseball, or even Little League. Many youths and individuals have found it difficult to differentiate baseball from these other games as they can not accurately determine the rules and level of competition required for these games (Woods, 2011). As such, they do not participate in it due to lack of awareness on their side. An example is that football has many funs around the world. This is because awareness in football has been created in different levels thus most individuals find it easy to relate with the game than to baseball which is not widely known in various areas around the world. Baseball stands a good opportunity of being popular among the youths if a thorough awareness is staged and the rules and level of completion explained to youth. Pressure by schools to force youths to participate in any games has also negatively affected the number of youths enrolling up for baseball games. This is because most youths with no skills to compete in the games they are forced to participate in school, always lack the determination to pursue and succeed in the games they enroll for. The end result is that most of them always end up dropping the game as soon as they graduate to the next level in their education or find opportunities in other institutions. They lack passion for game as they take it to be an obligation rather than a sport. This makes them to be less serious with the game as they do not work to improve on the skills on the game or earn scores during competition. Values play an important role in the participation of most youths in different sporting activities world over. However, societies have always concentrated more in winning games or matches thus have forgotten their role in promoting good values and ideas among youths. In addition, values can also be responsible in making one to succeed or fail in life or an activity. Good values in baseball game has the potential of promoting the sport and increasing numbers of those joining the game.This has made youths to join baseball with a different attitude and mentality as they were not educated on the values and interest in participating in such games. An example is that football is widely watched by large fraction of the population in a society leaving countable if no funs to go out and watch baseball leagues. The perception that baseball that football and other related sports pays well than baseball has also had a negative impact on youths as most of them wants to be related with those sports which may pay them for their skills thus only few youths and individuals pursue the game to a professional level. Sports in youths should provide them with an opportunity to learn new lessons in life as well as develop skills which will allow them to be competitive in the game. When youths participating in baseball have a good reason for participating in baseball, then the number enrolling for the games will immensely increase as the youths themselves will not only have one reason to participate in the league but also enjoy the benefits that they extract from playing the game (Woods, 2011). This will make the baseball game stay to its course while also making steps to appeal to more youths to enroll for the game. Base ball leadership has also affected the rate at which youths participate in the game. This is because despite the game still being played in different schools within the country, students are discouraged as they are not good at the game. Most coaches assigned to manage the game have always not given their best for the game as it is rear to find a baseball coach practicing with his team on a daily basis. When compared to other sports like football where the coaches are always practicing with their players, most youths are discouraged to participate in the game as it has not been given the needed attention and leadership to motivate more individuals to participate in it (Mudrick, 2011). In addition, sponsors or school administrators do not always enough resources for the baseball game. They instead allocate extra resources to popular games like football in an effort to compete more favorably with other schools. This has discouraged the participation of youths in the sport as they lack necessary things like dressings balls among other things. In addition, most youths are always in a stage where they are difficult to handle and only good advices can get them back on the right track. However, many of the coaches coaching students on the game are always not easy with students on the field. This is because they are always mean on the students and it is interesting to note that a walk down the baseball pitch will yield to a scenario where the coaches shout more than the players and hardly does one hear laughter coming from the players’ side. This has made the atmosphere between youths participating in baseball and their coaches to be intense hence many of the youths completely avoid the game (Carino, 2004). References Carino, P. (2004). Baseball, literature, culture: Essays, 2002-2003. Jefferson, N.C. [u.a.: McFarland. Land, G. (2004). Growing up with baseball: How we loved and played the game. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. Mudrick, M. T. (2011). The decline in baseball participation amongst African American youth. Woods, R. (2011). Social issues in sport. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics. Read More