What's Wrong With Youth Sports

Youth sports are quickly multiplying across the country.  Leagues are being formed at much younger ages for all sports. I’ve seen football leagues (full contact) beginning at the 5-6 age level. Soccer leagues are going down to 3 or 4 years old.

Enough is enough.

7 and 8 year old tee-ball teams from a district are being selected with one “stacked” team and a couple other teams with the kids who aren’t as interested in the sport or just aren’t as athletic for their age.

Enough is enough.

I’ve also seen sports growing in other ways in older sects. Many more travel teams, AAU teams, and all-star teams are being formed in the junior high to high school level. Some kids end up not playing for their respective high school teams and instead participating in travel leagues with other kids they don’t even know.

Enough is enough.

Image Courtesy of youthsportsNY.org

I love kids and I love the idea of getting them involved and active at a young age. But let’s be smart here people! Soccer is the earliest sport for kids to play because the goal is simple: kick the ball, don’t use your hands, and get it in the goal. In the end there really aren’t “teams” but just 20 kids all chasing and kicking the ball and hoping it goes in a goal.

On the other hand, some of these other sports take a lot more skill, brains, and strength to play. Football especially takes a good deal of brain and bulk, something that 5 and 6 year olds just do not have. Actually, I take that back. Probably one or two players will be prodigies and understand the game but probably weigh 50 pounds.  Another one or two at most will be over five feet tall and weigh well over 150 pounds by the time they are six years old. Those players will literally bulldoze everybody, and the coaches (wanting to win of course) will just give the ball to the big guy every play.

So what benefit is that to the kids?  They see that you need to be big to win, that there is no teamwork when you run one play to the star athlete (or just the one who is maturing earlier than the others), and that you play to win the game no matter what. Oh, and don’t forget about the little ones out there who are getting bulldozed and having concussions at five years old.

Since I mentioned the “win at all costs” mentality, let’s dive a little deeper into that. It’s one thing if a coach has a player that is a bit better than the rest of the team. Naturally, that player will be a bit more involved in the play. That goes for every level of every sport because all other players will benefit from a play being run correctly and run well.  However, it is a completely different story when you have an organization that stacks one team of the “good players” and puts the “benchwarmers” all on the other team(s).

Shame. On. Them.

I’m sorry, but there is no room for those all-star teams at such a young age. What’s the point? You’re telling kids from the beginning that they’re not good enough to play on the winning team. And yes, trust me, the kids know when they are on a stacked/non-stacked team.  You know who is good around you.  And guess what, sometimes those kids who would have been on the non-stacked team end up being one of the best players when high school rolls around. You just can’t tell at that young of an age who will and will not be a great athlete.

So why do some organizations do this?  To win the game. Period. There are more important things than winning, right? Well, apparently I’m wrong.  It’s disheartening.

(side note: it’s awesome to see the two stacked teams in a big tournament make it to the finals and have the coaches start yelling at each other for cheating in a 7 and 8 year old game. Meanwhile, another district who did not stack their teams finished with their four teams in 3rd, 4th, 5th, and 6th places.)

Image courtesy of justawardmedals.com

One other thing about sports being played so young…I hear kids saying they want to play a sport so they can win a medal or a trophy. They think (and 99% of the time they are correct) that by just playing, they get a medal. I’m torn on the idea of participation medals. I like that kids can see “hey here’s something that shows I worked hard!” but at the same time I wonder if it de-values a “real” trophy for doing extremely well at something. I think trophies/medals for participation are very good for kids learning the game for the first time and playing WITHOUT KEEPING SCORE. But, honestly, are there ever any games anymore where they don’t keep score?  So when do you wean kids off of the participation medals?  Do participation medals lead to a sense of entitlement to a trophy? Many questions, I have no answers there.

Finally, let’s move forward past the participation medal years and to the middle and high school years. By this time, kids have played through the Little Leagues in sports. Now it is time to join the “big leagues” of playing for and representing your school.

But that’s just not happening anymore. More and more travel teams are being created, causing kids to have to choose between playing with their friends and classmates or going and playing ball elsewhere. 

Pros to travel ball: more exposure (maybe), better coaching (I never had it when I played), better competition (depends on the league, most of the time my school had better players who didn’t go to travel ball than anybody who played on my travel team), and meeting new people (again, depends on your social skills and who is there).

Cons to travel ball: more money (especially gas money in this economy to travel across three states to play), limited exposure to coaches in your high school system (how does a coach know how you’re doing if you’re playing three states away?), and lack of camaraderie with your classmates (teamwork makes winners, and that can’t be had when you have ten players on a team playing on seven different teams, some travel and some not).

As you can tell, I am not a fan of the travel ball / AAU format. I decided one year to play on a travel team that was eligible to qualify for the age-equivalent of the Little League World Series.  I don’t think the competition we played was any more challenging. I do think that the team we had was not nearly as gifted as my hometown team.  Yes there were some athletes who were unbelievable, but I think my “roster” team could have beaten that travel team.  Now, am I glad that I played? Yes, because I met some new people and am still in contact with a few of them today. But in terms of having any of the other “pros” of the travel ball, it just wasn’t there for me.

Great moments in high school ball like
this one mean so much more when you
play together with the same guys for many
years. Yes, that's me after our high school
team won the biggest game of the year.
(Image courtesy of NCnewsonline.com,
image no longer available online)

The next year, I went back to playing ball with my hometown “roster” team. We played in a local league (our furthest road game was maybe 75 minutes) and had in my mind much better competition than the travel league. We even went to tournaments and played against those travel all-star teams and beat most of them. But most importantly, we strengthened friendships and strengthened our TEAM that carried on into our high school playing days. I’d take that over the travel team any day.

So, all in all, youth sports have many problems with them at the moment. They are starting too early, are too competitive, put too much emphasis on winning instead of learning the game and having fun, and take away from the mindset of a team.

…and I haven’t even touched upon youth sport fans…that will have to wait for another day.

And that’s what’s wrong with sports.