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IELTS Writing Task 2 | Competitive Sports, Young People & Stress

IELTS Writing Task 2 | Some people believe that competitive sports cause young people stress

Sports Essay IELTS

Sports - IELTS Writing Task 2

Some people believe that competitive sports are a source of emotional stress for young people.

Therefore, young people should be banned from participating in competitive sports events.
To what extent do you agree or disagree with this statement?
Write at least 250 words.

IELTS Writing - Sports Essay - Banning young people from competing in sports events

While competition almost always has an inherent degree of stress associated with it, this is not always necessarily a negative thing. In fact, it can be used to develop essential like skills in young people. Prohibiting young people from participating in sports competitions would seem to be a misguided idea at best, and possibly extremely damaging, for the long-term development of youth.

Young people naturally learn about the concept of competition from many aspects of their daily lives. From watching their favorite soccer team or following the most popular music artist; the concepts of ‘the best’, ‘the most popular’ or ‘the most successful’ all carry with them the spirit of competing against others in order to become better than others, in whichever field.

Therefore, there is little evidence that prohibiting young people from competing in sports events would be a positive move in terms of their development as individuals. Apart from this, if the objection is that sports competitions are a source of emotional stress and the aim is to reduce the amount of stress that young people experience, then it would also make sense to prohibit young people from taking academic exams and other such tests, which effectively are a competition, and very likely are a greater source of stress than any sport they might be involved in. Moreover, importantly, most academic testing is compulsory in most countries whereas participation in sports competitions is entirely voluntary; therefore, the concept appears to be flawed from the outset.

In addition, an integral part of growing up is learning how to become a well-rounded and productive member of society and acquire the necessary life skills to thrive in the adult world. As many aspects of adult life involve an element of competition, from competing to obtain employment, a promotion, or even distinguish yourself in your career, it would seem senseless to try and shield youngsters from the fact that competitive stress is a part of life, and in fact can be a motivating factor to excel and do well in life.

In conclusion, personally, I feel that the notion of a ban on young people participating in competitive sports events is not in the best interests of young people in general and has little overall merit.

Sample Answer | Sport | IELTS Writing Task 2

Sports Essay Discussion Questions

  • As a young person, what are some of the ways you deal with stress?
  • Do you think that competitive sports will exacerbate the amount of stress in people's lives? Why or why not?
  • Is it possible for us to reduce our levels of stress through sport, and if so how might we do this? If not, what steps should we be taking instead?
  • In your opinion, is the competitive nature of sports always paramount over other factors such as physical fitness or mental/emotional wellbeing?
  • Do you think it's too stressful for young people to play in sports competitions?
  • How do you feel about parents organizing their kids schedules to make time for sports, and potentially cutting back on academics because of this?
  • Does it affect the physical or mental health of children who have an increased amount of sports practice and games compared with those who don't compete at all (or compete less)?

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