Cabbage,
My point about the Golf and Tennis was to "dabble" meaning not to make the effort to be Tiger Woods but rather to learn and play enough to be proficient....i.e. a 10 handicap rather than scratch. The point being that later in life they could use it as a tool for social interaction. But you are correct that like team sports if you go all in - the result isn't much different.
My other point was not that sports do not offer the teamwork/competitive aspect … but rather the notion that somehow they are either the only way or even the preferable way for kids to experience those lessons.
You do go on to talk about college sports at length so even if I stipulate to your argument regarding college sports it wins my argument in spades. For baseball the number of HS players that play in college is 7.1% for the 2016/17 year based on NCAA stats. If you cut at DI it is 2.1%. Thus sports are a total loser activity if college is the goal. All of that time and energy would be better spent with books once college is the objective.
So put those together and you return to the premise...Are sports better or even preferable activities in the long term? Are they the most beneficial ways for youngsters to spend significant time and energy?
My conclusion is that if I had to do it again that there is a very strong argument that the answer is no. There tons of activities that will have lifetime benefits and teach the same lessons as sports without the physical risks. I would not argue that sports have no value - but I am quite confident that their value is overrated. This string starts with 12 year olds on steroids....if that does not perfectly frame the value of sports being overrated I cannot conceive of something that does.