Although I don't completely disagree with David Wood's June 23 letter, "Unhealthy promotion of sports," his logic and argument seem flawed. His lead argument is shaky at best.
Promotion of sports for young people develops an active lifestyle. In this active lifestyle, a person may be more prone to injury, but more often than not these injuries are acute — sprained joints, torn ligaments and muscles, stitches and even broken bones — and they play a relatively minor role in the cost of health care. It's chronic diseases — such as obesity, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes and many more that stem from a sedentary lifestyle — that rack up higher medical bills.
Wood then goes on to imply that promoting sports to kids could cause them to grow up to be dishonest professional athletes. The fact that a very small percentage of amateur athletes actually make the leap to professional sports negates this risk. By this logic, though, we should stop educating kids on subjects that may lead to their becoming politicians and business people since a high percentage of these types are corrupt. Following this logic all the way would leave us without schools, yet we must educate our children so that our society does not fall to waste as we pass away.
The way I see it, if people are spending money on sports tickets, memorabilia, equipment, ads, transportation to the events, and so on, those sales are creating jobs and tax revenue.
As for the Tokyo governor's bid to host the Olympic Games, there are many angles and uncertainties and I don't see a definite right or wrong on this one. ... There does need to be a more equitable division of funds between academics and sports. This is where Wood's emphasis should be.
The opinions expressed in this letter to the editor are the writer's own and do not necessarily reflect the policies of The Japan Times.