A main concern regarding violence in sport is the effect it has on culture and society.

In today’s world many of our

youth look up to elite athletes and sports shape their young minds and lifestyles. When elite athletes get into fights
or are violent, it reflects a bad image on the youth that look up to them and it makes them think they also can act that
way because of the impact the mindset of competition has on their young minds. When young minds are exposed to
violence in an activity, they love it normalizes it for them. The main issue is that they no longer see it as an illegal
act such as assault, they now see it as just something that happens in sport sometimes. When they see it in sport, they
still know that it’s wrong, but they believe the players may be defending their favorite team or that there are no
consequences to this violence. Taking another look at violence in sport, it may happen in the heat of the moment, or
it is sometimes to be believed that it is premeditated and on purpose. Because of the culture established around sport,
some elite athletes and young athletes purposefully will act violently towards other players because of the influence
competition has on growing minds. In young athletes with low impulse control, the pressure may push them to
whatever they need to do to win whether that is hurting a player on the team who is really good or getting into a
fight with referees or other players to defend “their’ team. Competition brings out these types of emotions and
impulsive decisions not only in athletes but in society itself. It is not just a reflection of sport but it’s how humans
act. I don’t believe there is anything that could stop violence in sport besides very strict punishment which still may
not prevent it because of human nature. Us as a society as a whole must. make a conscious effort to promote the
respect of others, look down upon violence, and in sport promote good sportsmanship, taking pressure of elite and
young athletes, and lowering the weight of winning and the theme that competition holds in our culture.