Children's participation in sports activities depends on the content presented by the media. The media highlights sport but with a certain bias. The most popular sport in America today, as represented by the media, is soccer. TV channels describe it as a supersport. While such representations are essential for motivating children to participate in sports, they discourage the development of other sports in society, thus denying children who lack talent in sports effective opportunities to hone their skills in other types of sports. Participation of children or youth in sports is crucial to the growth of every child, which involves the psychology of children in sports. By using coaching and tutoring, along with each child's personal growth or development, children can use sports psychology to mature their sports skills. Personality development is a key psychological characteristic influenced by participation. Participation and success in sports depends on an individual's talent and drive. Talent refers to an innate potential that people show from childhood. When combined with interest and effective training, talents can be transformed into life-sustaining professions. Children's participation in sport is important as discovering talent at such an early age helps develop successful careers in sport. Personality influences sports performance, mentoring children helps influence the development of a desirable personality, a characteristic that thus influences children's productivity in sports even as they grow up. Sports are strenuous activities that require both dedication and discipline, and children's instructors must therefore strive to develop appropriate mental states that help motivate children to h...... middle of paper ...... daily media, coaches and motivators to enhance the prominent focus of a number of different sports and athletics. The importance that football has in contemporary society is a creation of the media which portrays the fact that the media can easily make any other sport more noticeable as they currently are (Horn, 2008). The participation of children and young people in sport is essential to promote the future of sport and develop the personality of children in today's society. However, each sport has its advantages and disadvantages. This requires children to be exposed to different sports and try them with the goal of determining their personal interests in whatever sport they choose, rather than what the media says is important. Parents and coaches can help foster the direction children choose to take in their desired sport.
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