The Vortex is alive, consuming as many innocents as possible . . . where did it start, and when will it end?
The beauty of experience is that it often allows an alternative perspective, often conflicting with what is currently accepted as common practice. From my seat, that is the dilemma with young athletes and many families today: naïve bystanders getting sucked in by a power that seems out of control--join in or get left behind.
As most who read my blog know, my background in coaching is lengthy; certainly, that does not make me an expert, but it does allow me the opportunity to provide an informed viewpoint on sports and kids who play them. Seemingly forever, kids have been participating in sports, many organized, many not. However, sometime in the past 15-20 years or so, the idea that we need not just a few leagues, but many leagues, emerged. Along with this came the idea that we needed travel teams, that we needed to play in competition leagues, that kids needed the best competition possible, and that future full-college scholarships depended on kids' involvement. Pick a sport, my friends, and you will see to what I am referring: basketball, baseball, softball.
I, as much as anyone, understand the thrill of competition as well as the lessons accompanying winning and losing. However, I am deeply troubled by the changing dynamics of youth sports. As indicated in my opening, a "vortex" seems to have surfaced creating the idea for parents that their kids must be involved in sports for them to be "somebody." No, I do not underestimate the values sports teaches us, so please spare the criticism for a moment. What seems to happen is that kids--in so many ways, both subtly and openly--are being force-fed to participate in youth sports. What concerns me, though, is that many times the emphasis is not on the involvement but, rather, on the development of talent so that a travel team can go somewhere and win resulting in kids getting a boatload of trophies. My observation is that oftentimes the kids who get chosen for the travel teams are most frequently the ones who have matured the earliest and whose families can afford the fees associated with the costs involved. In short, separation is created at a young age. Pity the poorer kids whose families know they cannot afford the luxury of carting their kids here and there most weekends. Pity the kids whose coordination and athletic talents have yet to surface as youths. Their opportunities and desire to succeed are often squashed before they have even made it out of elementary school.
For those whose kids are talented and whose parents can afford the costs, travel teams are probably welcome to their lives. However, I would bet that many of those same involved parents were ones who at one time said, "We will never do that." Thus, the vortex . . . many have been sucked in only because they have accepted that their children pretty much need sports to fit in . . . or is it the parents who need the fix?
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In the spring of every year as coaches organize their summers, we as coaches wait to see who is going to stop playing basketball, football, tennis, . . . . Invariably, a few walk away for a variety of reasons. Reasoning typically includes tension with the coach, loss of desire for the sport, lack of talent, or--something I have observed recently more than ever--specializing in a certain sport. I am not about to criticize others' decisions, but I do want to make a few observations, based on a 59-year-old man's reasoning. Even though it is a cliché, enjoying our youth is so vital to our development. I played baseball and basketball throughout high school and football for my freshman year; I wish my school would have had a cross country program because I would have loved to have run. I wish I had learned to play the piano, but I was too busy playing sports; I wish I had learned how to work on a car when my dad wanted to teach me; I wish I had learned carpentry when my neighbor wanted me to help him . . . my point is that as I look back, I enjoyed my opportunities, but I missed out on so much. Why was simple . . . I wanted to play basketball and baseball. Granted, my abilities were somewhat limited, but I would have loved to have been a three-sport athlete. Even today I look with admiration at my peers who were well-rounded athletes and those today who develop their skills to their utmost. When kids specialize, though, they lose in many ways. The lust for that all-encompassing full college scholarship overwhelms and blinds so many that they often fail to see the opportunity that is staring them in the face right now. Yes, it's true that when spring arrives, young athletes often are lured by warmth and sunshine and begin questioning their allegiance to various sports and activities, but when that football team takes the field or that basketball team emerges from the locker room, those kids who have not been willing to make that sacrifice will be missing out on their golden opportunities . . . here's hoping that those high school kids enjoy the sacrifice and the lessons learned--they will never regret it.
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Finally, in an attempt to bring my thoughts together, my parting words are simple: By the time kids arrive on varsity squads, most coaches have no idea who was on a traveling team or how many trophies were won or how many dads were championship coaches . . . it's almost like knowing the score at halftime--few know and few remember. Many of those kids who were on those super teams have quit playing, have been injured due to overuse injuries, or simply have realized that their athletic accomplishments have been overstressed by parents. What is left are those kids who have a passion, who have talent, and whose coordination has blossomed . . . my only fear is that we have not turned kids off before we have the chance to turn them on!
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