For many adults and children, healthy sports are enjoyable pastimes with myriad benefits. Sports can increase physical fitness, enhance self-confidence, establish social liaisons and teach teamwork skills. However, participating in sports for the wrong reasons, under extreme stress, too competitively or irresponsibly is unhealthy; such participation often leads to emotional damage, psychological trauma, physical injury or mental distress.
Physical Dangers
As long as players wear prescribed safety equipment and take the proper precautions, sports injuries can often be prevented. Sports become physically unhealthy when a player plays to the point of extreme exhaustion or risks injury by playing too hard for too long. Players who are especially dedicated may ignore pain in order to continue participating, resulting in more serious injury and even death in some extreme cases.
Sports can also be unhealthy when players do not properly hydrate themselves. Knowing when to stop playing is key to keeping sports healthy and fun. In weight-focused sports, such as gymnastics and wrestling, players can diet to the point of illness or use harmful substances like anabolic steroids to gain an advantage.
Emotional Dangers
Particularly for children, the potential for emotional trauma in sports is high. It's important to learn early on how to keep things in perspective on the field. For some, a loss can be a devastating blow that leaves them feeling depressed and to blame. Coaches and teammates can exacerbate emotional injuries with haranguing a player about her performance, jeering at her appearance or not being supportive. In some cases, players can even experience emotional trauma from spectators who shout insulting or hurtful comments. A player should always evaluate the emotional environment of her sport and remove herself if it becomes unhealthy.
Mental Dangers
For especially competitive players, mental or cognitive problems are a strong possibility. Some players can begin to subjugate everything to sports; they turn in a weak performance at school, work or home by failing to interact sufficiently with parents, children, siblings or spouses. They may feel distressed by thoughts of losing or what could happen if they make a mistake. They may also begin to place too much emphasis on winning, berating themselves for an error or loss until they're consumed with thoughts of improvement. Keep in mind that sports are meant to be fun, not punitive. If you find yourself thinking excessively of winning or losing, try to put things back into perspective.
Psychological Dangers
Sometimes, but not always, teams subject players to psychological abuse in the form of hazing. When hazing is humiliating or painful, it can lead a player to associate the abuse with the sport and cause permanent psychological damage. This kind of damage can also result from a parent or spouse who is consistently unsupportive or even derisive of a player's ability and efforts. For sports to be fun and healthy, they must be free of negative psychological associations.
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