There is no doubt in my mind that the rise of "club teams" or "travel teams", whatever you call them, that demand near year-round participation, has ruined sports for young people. They drop out at 13, not only because of maturity, but because of burnout due to these year-round programs. I would love to see the kids go back to playing the sports with the seasons, and having the summer to recoup physically and mentally, and to play sports or games (not videogames, real games), or going to the beach with their friends. I'm glad I'm not a kid in this age. As parents, we must try to fight these pressures because our kids cannot stand-up to the coaches. The parents must. I made that mistake with my daughter who swam year-round for 11 years with a club team with a goal of swimming in college...but was done with the sport after high school. Yes, there was a community of friends on the swim team, and she got to travel independently in a safe way. and we were lucky to have wonderful coaches. But she burnt out, as did most of her friends who never swam again. Sports are a great activity for so many reasons - friends, teamwork, leadership. Let's not ruin it for them.
Agree.... and year round training does not really improve your odds for a college scholarship. I saw a lot of year round training in peewee hockey in Minnesota. Thankfully my son "burned out" in one year, LOL. By your senior year in HS, you either have it or you don't. As hard as I trained at track and cross-country (year round) I was too slow for Div 1. I did get scholarship offers at community colleges, but wanted to go to Oregon State and so ran intramural (and won those races, LOL)
Amen Skip!! Too much competition at too high of level for young kids. There is no reason for kids to compete for national, or even state championships before high school. No need to travel with all star teams. Too much pressure and time required for such young kids. Ever see 12 year olds bawling their eyes out when they lose a little league world series game on national television? Why do adults put them through all that? For the parents and coaches egos, that's why. Give a kid a small plastic trophy they earned for winning their league championship in their city/town and they're on top of the world, because they earned it. Then rest, relax, recover and on to the next sport. Let them be kids!!
Most teams can take a picture in 6th/7th grade, and especially for girls I am willing to bet on the vast majority of teams most will have stopped playing by the end of HS if not sooner. Also need to be reminded that playing a few years on the school JV team can be as rewarding as varsity. Of course a lot of that is how welcome the varsity coaches make everyone feel
Agree completely. Played varsity and Legion baseball. Most fun and fulfilling season I ever had was the year on the JV team. 45 years later still the highlight of my athletic career!!
This article resonates with me as a father of two boys who are 12 and 13. They have played sports in season but we have not participated in club or travel teams. My boys also participate in playing musical instruments, they love shooting sports and riding dirtbikes. We have a family rule that we don’t participate in teams sports on Sundays. We have a discipline of going to church on Sunday mornings and spending Sunday as a day of rest. There are 6 other days to play sports. We all need a break to unwind and re-set. That’s just our conviction as a family.
I am reminded what a friend told me years ago. When things became chaotic, you need to do what a diver does and sit on the bottom and get your priorities together. Close the office door or go into the bedroom and think about what is important and what actions you need to take. We often listen to the most vocal making the most noise or demands but the quiet kid in the corner might be where our attention should be directed.
Related issue: exclusivity. A friend's son on football team worked all summer at hard job to make needed money. Come fall, put at bottom of depth chart, never given chance. Asked coach why. Said he hadn't stayed in shape. Pointed out he'd done hard labor all summer. Yeah, coach said, but that meant he hadn't worked out with team.
I was a high school teacher once upon a time for about five years. The first school where I worked, the football players were all required to take weights class all school year first period. This meant that, in a school of ~600 students, about 10% of them couldn’t take math or science or history or ag or Spanish or or or during 1st period. It dominated the entire schedule. Ridiculous.
You've heard about Little League Dad'. Let me introduce you to 'Dance Mom'. On second thought, let's not go there. Our 29 y/o daughter was an accomplished dancer but decided on her own at 13 it wasn't for her, that she wanted to focus on school. Could not be more proud and she now has a blossoming career practicing law.
I will age myself. I am 63. When I was young I played organized sports year-round. I can only remember 3-4 plays from all that time. On the other hand I remember a ton of the times we all got together to play our own organized games with no adults around to interfere or coach us. I remember all the trips with the scouts. I remember times playing D&D with my friends. Sports should not be your life, they should augment it.
If kids were allowed to meet with friends for pick up in whatever sport they likely would improve more because they would be free to try things without coached yelling at them
I’m sitting here in my home town of Sisters watching my granddaughter play lacross on field #9. There are 18 fields, game after game from 6yr olds thru high school. Both boys and girls from all over the northwest including some Canadian teams. The number of people in town this weekend rivals the annual quilt show which boasts an attendance of over twenty thousand. Local merchants love it. Every restaurant, motel and VRBO is booked for miles around for the three days.
People love coming to Sisters area. We repeat this for soccer, then basketball and a whole bunch of art fairs and the rodeo.
Some residents love it, others hate it. I am ambivalent about it since I don’t have kids this age anymore. With gas prices and how motels seem to raise their prices on weekends like this, I can only imagine the investment some families are making…like the mom I met yesterday (from Vancouver) with 4 girls at different ages all playing. She estimates the weekend is costing her over two grand, even though she is wheeling a cart full of food she brought from home.
We need more columns like this to balance the negative political crap 💩 that will take time to unwind. You share feelings that many of us had raising our children. Keep up the great work.
“The youth coaches will mostly tell you they support your kid playing other sports, but do they really? Do their practice demands mesh? Will your kid still start if they miss a practice to go on vacation? Is the structure of their program congruent with the messaging about versatility?”
I’ve had 2 go through this and the true answer is that if the kid is super talented, yes, they can play multiple sports and go on vacation. If not, good luck making your high school (or even middle school) team.
Coaches are fine with you playing multiple sports as long as *theirs* is the priority. Otherwise not so much.
The other widespread practice is for coaches to “encourage” more talented players to move to/transfer to their high schools, beating out all the kids who skipped vacations and paid all their time and money along the way. It’s gross. I love sports and believe they can be fun and teach a lot of good lessons (along with getting kids off of their phones) but it has really become a racket.
I don't envy you the tug of war, John, although I hope to be a parent one day. I do recall, growing up, that my parents were dead set against me and my brothers being involved in Scouts because of the many weekends that would require us to be away from church (family is very devoutly Christian), and throughout our schooling me and my siblings were all very involved in the performing arts, so I have some personal experience with how engrossing these extracurriculars can be for both the kids and the families. My parents even made a point of keeping me out of marching band my freshman year to make sure I could handle the academic load prior to adding the obligations that came with participating in that particular elective. I think the key for you, as it is for all parents who care deeply about their kids, is to makes sure your girls are still enjoying whatever activity they're doing while also ensuring they recognize the potential opportunity cost that results from their choices.
I think a lot of families feel exactly like this article. Trying to get it “right” between sports and life in general. We’re playing baseball this morning and inlay with whether they win or lose. If we win we’ll keep going and if we lose we’ll head to the mountains for the afternoon.
Also I think you should take a look at coming to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston. It’s a great event that I think you would appreciate the level of volunteer involvement to make it happen and general community support. The history of LC and the community is quite impressive.
High school coaches are the problem. They all stress at the parent meetings how much they encourage multiple sports, but none of them mean it. Even club volleyball coaches punish kids for missing a tournament. Which is ridiculous when you’re paying them thousands of dollars. My daughter had to quit club volleyball after her freshman year. There was not enough time with basketball and softball. It’s hurt her role on the high school team, but still worth it to play multiple sports.
I have coached 25 years in high and unfortunately see this a lot. I am grateful for the person coach with because while we don't necessarily love they are gone, we get it and know the best chance to keep them around. All we do is ask for open communication and to not blindside us the day before. The last 3 years starting SS has been in the school play, and every year she misses 2 -3 games, it sucks but if we were jerks we would have her for 0 games
I really enjoyed this column. When I grew up the schools had football, basketball, baseball and track for grades 5-8. The teams were coached by 7-8 grade teaches. We played the three other schools in the district, so there was minimal travel. There were no clubs. Summer baseball was sponsored by the city. Unfortunately there were no girls sports back then.
There is no doubt in my mind that the rise of "club teams" or "travel teams", whatever you call them, that demand near year-round participation, has ruined sports for young people. They drop out at 13, not only because of maturity, but because of burnout due to these year-round programs. I would love to see the kids go back to playing the sports with the seasons, and having the summer to recoup physically and mentally, and to play sports or games (not videogames, real games), or going to the beach with their friends. I'm glad I'm not a kid in this age. As parents, we must try to fight these pressures because our kids cannot stand-up to the coaches. The parents must. I made that mistake with my daughter who swam year-round for 11 years with a club team with a goal of swimming in college...but was done with the sport after high school. Yes, there was a community of friends on the swim team, and she got to travel independently in a safe way. and we were lucky to have wonderful coaches. But she burnt out, as did most of her friends who never swam again. Sports are a great activity for so many reasons - friends, teamwork, leadership. Let's not ruin it for them.
Agree.... and year round training does not really improve your odds for a college scholarship. I saw a lot of year round training in peewee hockey in Minnesota. Thankfully my son "burned out" in one year, LOL. By your senior year in HS, you either have it or you don't. As hard as I trained at track and cross-country (year round) I was too slow for Div 1. I did get scholarship offers at community colleges, but wanted to go to Oregon State and so ran intramural (and won those races, LOL)
good points.
Appreciate this perspective.
Amen Skip!! Too much competition at too high of level for young kids. There is no reason for kids to compete for national, or even state championships before high school. No need to travel with all star teams. Too much pressure and time required for such young kids. Ever see 12 year olds bawling their eyes out when they lose a little league world series game on national television? Why do adults put them through all that? For the parents and coaches egos, that's why. Give a kid a small plastic trophy they earned for winning their league championship in their city/town and they're on top of the world, because they earned it. Then rest, relax, recover and on to the next sport. Let them be kids!!
Most teams can take a picture in 6th/7th grade, and especially for girls I am willing to bet on the vast majority of teams most will have stopped playing by the end of HS if not sooner. Also need to be reminded that playing a few years on the school JV team can be as rewarding as varsity. Of course a lot of that is how welcome the varsity coaches make everyone feel
Agree completely. Played varsity and Legion baseball. Most fun and fulfilling season I ever had was the year on the JV team. 45 years later still the highlight of my athletic career!!
This article resonates with me as a father of two boys who are 12 and 13. They have played sports in season but we have not participated in club or travel teams. My boys also participate in playing musical instruments, they love shooting sports and riding dirtbikes. We have a family rule that we don’t participate in teams sports on Sundays. We have a discipline of going to church on Sunday mornings and spending Sunday as a day of rest. There are 6 other days to play sports. We all need a break to unwind and re-set. That’s just our conviction as a family.
discipline wins.
Love this comment Ryan!
Love this comment Ryan!
I am reminded what a friend told me years ago. When things became chaotic, you need to do what a diver does and sit on the bottom and get your priorities together. Close the office door or go into the bedroom and think about what is important and what actions you need to take. We often listen to the most vocal making the most noise or demands but the quiet kid in the corner might be where our attention should be directed.
good advice
Related issue: exclusivity. A friend's son on football team worked all summer at hard job to make needed money. Come fall, put at bottom of depth chart, never given chance. Asked coach why. Said he hadn't stayed in shape. Pointed out he'd done hard labor all summer. Yeah, coach said, but that meant he hadn't worked out with team.
I was a high school teacher once upon a time for about five years. The first school where I worked, the football players were all required to take weights class all school year first period. This meant that, in a school of ~600 students, about 10% of them couldn’t take math or science or history or ag or Spanish or or or during 1st period. It dominated the entire schedule. Ridiculous.
priorities out of balance.
unreal.
You've heard about Little League Dad'. Let me introduce you to 'Dance Mom'. On second thought, let's not go there. Our 29 y/o daughter was an accomplished dancer but decided on her own at 13 it wasn't for her, that she wanted to focus on school. Could not be more proud and she now has a blossoming career practicing law.
Bracing for "Dance Mom" in the comments.
Achievement-By-Proxy Syndrome is a real and serious issue in youth sports today
https://www.leagueoffans.org/2023/09/23/achievement-by-proxy-syndrome-hurting-youth-sports-and-more-importantly-kids/
I will age myself. I am 63. When I was young I played organized sports year-round. I can only remember 3-4 plays from all that time. On the other hand I remember a ton of the times we all got together to play our own organized games with no adults around to interfere or coach us. I remember all the trips with the scouts. I remember times playing D&D with my friends. Sports should not be your life, they should augment it.
Thanks for this.
If kids were allowed to meet with friends for pick up in whatever sport they likely would improve more because they would be free to try things without coached yelling at them
I’m sitting here in my home town of Sisters watching my granddaughter play lacross on field #9. There are 18 fields, game after game from 6yr olds thru high school. Both boys and girls from all over the northwest including some Canadian teams. The number of people in town this weekend rivals the annual quilt show which boasts an attendance of over twenty thousand. Local merchants love it. Every restaurant, motel and VRBO is booked for miles around for the three days.
People love coming to Sisters area. We repeat this for soccer, then basketball and a whole bunch of art fairs and the rodeo.
Some residents love it, others hate it. I am ambivalent about it since I don’t have kids this age anymore. With gas prices and how motels seem to raise their prices on weekends like this, I can only imagine the investment some families are making…like the mom I met yesterday (from Vancouver) with 4 girls at different ages all playing. She estimates the weekend is costing her over two grand, even though she is wheeling a cart full of food she brought from home.
$2k... wow.
We need more columns like this to balance the negative political crap 💩 that will take time to unwind. You share feelings that many of us had raising our children. Keep up the great work.
thanks Clyde
“The youth coaches will mostly tell you they support your kid playing other sports, but do they really? Do their practice demands mesh? Will your kid still start if they miss a practice to go on vacation? Is the structure of their program congruent with the messaging about versatility?”
I’ve had 2 go through this and the true answer is that if the kid is super talented, yes, they can play multiple sports and go on vacation. If not, good luck making your high school (or even middle school) team.
Coaches are fine with you playing multiple sports as long as *theirs* is the priority. Otherwise not so much.
honest.
The other widespread practice is for coaches to “encourage” more talented players to move to/transfer to their high schools, beating out all the kids who skipped vacations and paid all their time and money along the way. It’s gross. I love sports and believe they can be fun and teach a lot of good lessons (along with getting kids off of their phones) but it has really become a racket.
I don't envy you the tug of war, John, although I hope to be a parent one day. I do recall, growing up, that my parents were dead set against me and my brothers being involved in Scouts because of the many weekends that would require us to be away from church (family is very devoutly Christian), and throughout our schooling me and my siblings were all very involved in the performing arts, so I have some personal experience with how engrossing these extracurriculars can be for both the kids and the families. My parents even made a point of keeping me out of marching band my freshman year to make sure I could handle the academic load prior to adding the obligations that came with participating in that particular elective. I think the key for you, as it is for all parents who care deeply about their kids, is to makes sure your girls are still enjoying whatever activity they're doing while also ensuring they recognize the potential opportunity cost that results from their choices.
thanks David.
I think a lot of families feel exactly like this article. Trying to get it “right” between sports and life in general. We’re playing baseball this morning and inlay with whether they win or lose. If we win we’ll keep going and if we lose we’ll head to the mountains for the afternoon.
Also I think you should take a look at coming to the NAIA World Series in Lewiston. It’s a great event that I think you would appreciate the level of volunteer involvement to make it happen and general community support. The history of LC and the community is quite impressive.
Balance is key. Hard to attain when you are in the middle of it.
High school coaches are the problem. They all stress at the parent meetings how much they encourage multiple sports, but none of them mean it. Even club volleyball coaches punish kids for missing a tournament. Which is ridiculous when you’re paying them thousands of dollars. My daughter had to quit club volleyball after her freshman year. There was not enough time with basketball and softball. It’s hurt her role on the high school team, but still worth it to play multiple sports.
Have seen the coaches do this first hand.
Absolutely. Every coach wants you to only focus on their sport. It’s worse for boys.
I have coached 25 years in high and unfortunately see this a lot. I am grateful for the person coach with because while we don't necessarily love they are gone, we get it and know the best chance to keep them around. All we do is ask for open communication and to not blindside us the day before. The last 3 years starting SS has been in the school play, and every year she misses 2 -3 games, it sucks but if we were jerks we would have her for 0 games
Wonderful message, John. Too many parents and kids need to read it and take it to heart.
Thank you Eric
I really enjoyed this column. When I grew up the schools had football, basketball, baseball and track for grades 5-8. The teams were coached by 7-8 grade teaches. We played the three other schools in the district, so there was minimal travel. There were no clubs. Summer baseball was sponsored by the city. Unfortunately there were no girls sports back then.
There was an offseason...
Not any more.
Excellent piece
thanks J