Are high school sports dead?

When I was younger, I remember attending a basketball game at Greencastle Middle School. The stands were packed and there was a roaring cheer block, but that was quite a few years ago.

Now I am 14 years old, and I played basketball for the Tiger Cubs this year. The first games had quite a few people. But, after a few weeks there were substantially smaller crowds every game. It made me think a little, "Are sports dead?"

Sports have changed drastically in the past 50 years or so. I've seen the movie "Hoosiers" many times. Back then, Indiana high school basketball was a lifestyle for people across the state. Whole towns would come out just to watch a handful of teenagers try to get a ball into a hoop.

Look at the times now, with video games and electronics, kids look at sports as a hassle, and they think it takes away from their own time. Fewer kids and teenagers are playing sports. This leads to fewer parents, friends and family attending games or meets.

Sports consist of hard work and determination. It is very easy to walk into your room and turn on your game console and play games for hours upon hours. Which option do you think most kids will choose? Obviously, a majority would choose the latter. It is sad but true, kids don't feel like they need to put in hard work anymore.

We need to encourage our future generation to get outside, play and be involved in sports. The future generation needs to be active so that obesity will not continue to be a serious problem in America and the rest of the world.

We need to help kids play sports. Sports build character and make you happier. This will translate to the classroom as well as in your social life. When playing sports you make long lasting friendships.

I am not telling you to force your kid to play football or softball. I'm simply stating that we need to encourage kids to participate in sports, work hard, be active and fit, and make friends.

If we do this, sports might not be dead in the future.