O.T.: America's sick youth sports culture

[pap49cba]

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[KnightBridgeAZ]

LINK

While interesting, I also was reading the comments on top at the time I read the article, and in taking the writer to task they also raised a number of other points.

In essence, I do think that there are a lot of folks that would agree that the system - and the culture of youth sports - are flawed. Big issues for me include the dichotomy of "everyone wins" (certainly a feature of some youth sports) vs. the intense stress on the value of winning (which may or may not be parent driven). I also think (and he touched on this) that some youth programs look to teach flash and stardom over fundamentals, and stress personal success in lieu of subordination to the team. And I am concerned as to the quality of coaches and the whole coach / parent dichotomy.

But as an old professor always said - "there is the rub" - I got to use the word dichotomy twice because these are issues where the "right" answer probably isn't agreed upon.

 

[wire chief]

I was struck by the comment that there's no schoolyard soccer culture here.
I watch many European movies,
and guess what kids are always doing in the streets?

 

[Ozzie Nelson]

Both my sons played sports all their young life, one through 4 years college. Good and bad times, sure, but quite the ride. Similar to the rest of life. Flawed, but full of fantasy and fun. Nothing "sick" for us.

For me, like winning the lottery.

 

[RadyLady]

Important lessons are taught during those useful sports activities, which relate to the fundamentals of living life:

How to win humbly, how to lose gracefully, the importance of teamwork, and playing with kids who are better than you so you work harder to be just as good as them... these I learned all my years playing sports, and all of which I apply to my life today.

The concept of there are no losers does not teach humbleness nor grace. Playing as an individual with a team teaches arrogance as a winner, and anger and frustration as a loser unless of course there are excuse after excuse after excuse for the loss. The element of trusting the other members of your team is lost as well.

If everybody wins you don't push yourself to be the best, you do not set goals and strive to achieve them - it is an open invitation to an attitude of "just doing enough to get by" will do.

I shudder to think that the leaders of our country could come from pools of children who were not taught these fundamentals... it is in my opinion a recipe for disaster

Sent from my SGH-T769 using Tapatalk 2

 

[rbny1]

I think the article is full of wild generalizations. Participating in sports is wonderful for kids. For the writer to cite a few cases of bad conduct, and then extrapolate those cases to a nation of 300 million people, is a wild stretch. I was very happy that my son participated in sports when he was a kid. He learned good values, got exercise and made many friends.