As you walk by the baseball field next to your house, you see a little league game is going on and decide to catch a few innings. You make your way to the benches and take a seat next to the parents of the children who seem to be around seven years old.

    You notice the parents are cheering really, really loudly, well at least you thought it was cheering….

    When you listen a little more closely to the parents of the little boy who is batting, you hear "Come on boy, it’s all up to you!" "Knock it outta here boy!" The pitch is thrown and the boy swings and misses, slowly the father’s comments start sounding more and more disappointing. On the third pitch the little boy misses and he is out. The father makes a furious comment, and throws his hat to the floor and swears.

    Think about it, a seven-year old is first pressured to perform, thinking that if he makes a mistake he’ll be letting his father down. So there he is concentrating as hard as he can, trying his best to live up to the expectations of his father, so that he loses the fun of playing, the joy of the game and also misses the pitch. He swings again and misses. Now he sees his father with an angry face and after the little boy is struck out, he is so angry with himself inside for letting his father down, that he remembers his poor batting for a long time. He thinks about his performance so much that he begins to play really bad, and he also begins to have thoughts about quitting because the game had now become a burden to him, instead of a fun, enjoyable pastime.

`These kinds of situations are going on everywhere, the parents, coaches, and sometimes even the teammates are putting a lot of pressure on players.

    True, some athletes perform better when under pressure, but the fact is most children and teenagers can't handle the pressure, the disappointment they see on their parents and/or coaches' faces. The children usually respond to the pressure by usually continuing to play the game and not having fun, or they quit.

    Either way, this is not good for a person at such a young age. If they continue playing with the pressure, they will always blame themselves and be depressed. If they quit the sport, there are many negatives to this. Young people need to stay active and be healthy; this will prevent illnesses and diseases. Also, when a child plays a sport, he is doing something productive with his/her spare time, staying away from drugs, gangs, violence etc. Sports keep teenagers off the streets.

    Parents need to make sure they do not cross the line between encouragement and pressure to perform. Same goes for the coaches and other players. Many players thrive when there is no extra pressure being put on them. A relaxed atmosphere is the best thing an amateur athlete can have in order to have fun, stay in shape and be able to learn things as he or she goes along.