Basketball players are broken down before they get to college (article)

[upstater]

Read Just Let the Kids Play: How to Stop Other Adults from Ruining Your Child's Fun and Success in Youth Sports by former Celtic, Bob Bigelow

I can't say I'll read it but I will say youth sports are insidious and that anyone who tells you there are ways to resist is lying. Yes, tell your kids to join a team full of kids who can't make a simple pass. See how that goes over. You go up and up the ladder, you get sucked in, until you reach a point where you have to say no for the good of everyone. But the road to the breaking point is a long one not easily resisted. I have talked to my kids about going back to the saner conditions of travel. I never have drama or issues with my kids, but even broaching the subject was almost like death.

 

[upstater]

And the crazy this is a lot of these kids aren't even that good.

If you're going to be getting a college scholarship... okay, kind of makes sense in the long run, even if it is a pain. Little Jimmy who is going to play through HS and nothing else? Come on.

The clubs that do this are high end and have a track record. It is also a demand of US Soccer teams affiliated with the DA. This is mainly a problem on the boy's side where the tie with US Soccer is long established, but on the girl's side there are fewer DA teams so it's not a big problem.

But, I will say that 80% of our club's girls on the top team get college scholarships, so parents do see the incentive (although personally I could make a dozen arguments why these scholarships are not all they are cracked up to be -- like, half scholarships at schools your kid doesn't necessarily want to even go to! All the money you spend on soccer doesn't add up even when you get a scholarship). Of the 18 girls on the team, only 4 or 5 landed full D1 scholarships. The rest essentially picked over the scraps (hate to sound so condescending about half scholarships, but the truth is many schools give half scholarships to a kid just for breathing).

 

[UConnJim]

It's not one sport. Most sports have issues with steering kids to playing year round or almost year round. In my opinion, if the commitment is 10 months at age 12 or 13, then it is year round. I see this is basketball, baseball, hockey, soccer, golf, lacrosse, ... And, "elite" teams can have different rules of participation. Some elite teams require kids to make every practice and every game or they will get suspended.

I have written about this before. I was part of a group of parents that formed an AAU baseball team as the parents wanted the kids to be able to play multiple sports as we had a number of hockey and basketball players on the team and they were going to miss practices and some games. We hired a professional coach and rented facilities. Our costs were much lower (youth sports can be very profitable) and we never had a problem attracting kids as our model was what the kids and parents wanted.

 

[ClifSpliffy]

people in pro sports? a few thousands.
people in bigtime college sports? a few tens of thousands.
people in America? 330 millions.
parents and adults are the cause of training mania. sorry, but your kid ain't gettiin paid.
coaching middle school bball a few years back, every so often a parent would come at me with 'where's the handout/manual for home training?' id say 'I told them in practice what to do if they wanted homework. situps, swimming, and ride a bicycle. it's a great life routine whether you're 8 or 80, along with walking. if you think im gonna tell your kid to weight train or etc. before college age, well, guess what? your kid ain't getting paid either, so I aiin't gonna be the one to waste their childhood on 'training.' some would call me 'coach mess around' cuz often I finish practice with 'ok, we're done here. go home and mess around, but try not to get hurt, knuckleheads.' it was troubling to learn how few children had climbed a tree, but every now and then I did have mandatory kite flying practice. in the beginning, guaranteed to have 1 or 2 parental calls for my dismissal every season, but over time that stopped cuz word got out that the hoops program was fun. they're only kids once.

 

[Mr. Wonderful]

soccer is the worst example of this - clubs demand the kid doesn't do other sports and focus entirely on soccer. My kids have to sneak around when they've wanted to try other things, it's ridiculous. I really hate youth soccer in the US

Agreed. A lot of it is pushed by US Soccer as well. It's ridiculous.

 

[HooperScooper]

soccer is the worst example of this - clubs demand the kid doesn't do other sports and focus entirely on soccer. My kids have to sneak around when they've wanted to try other things, it's ridiculous. I really hate youth soccer in the US

Similar experience. When my son was 10 he wanted to play club soccer. Took him to the tryout and they offered him a spot on the top team. Told us that training started the middle of August. Games and practices in the fall. Break between Thanksgiving and Jan. 1. Then training and indoor games all winter. Spring games and practices through Memorial Day weekend.

He asked if he could still play basketball and baseball. Not likely. So he said he wasn't giving up baseball and basketball and he went back to our town soccer travel team. I found it ridiculous that they were basically forcing a 10 year old to specialize in one sport.