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Reply to "Kids from the age of 11, 12 are on steroids... Trainers who can’t afford the good stuff giving horse steroids to kids. It’s a dirty business..."

cabbagedad posted:
luv baseball posted:

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.

First point taken... my personality doesn't really allow for my mind to be open to the notion of "dabble" so I had to let that set in.

I also agree that it is often misplaced priorities when sports are looked at as a means to an end regarding college.  But I think most folks have better perspective than that.  I will note, however, that one of my kids finished college largely because of sports.  Not sure if there was enough interest otherwise to go that route.  I realize there is a "chicken or the egg" argument to be made there.

As far as this... "There tons of activities that will have lifetime benefits and teach the same lessons as sports without the physical risks."  Personally, I just couldn't imagine a life without activities that present physical risks.  For most people I know, those moments are some of the most memorable of their lives.... some of the moments they consider "really being alive".  This is not to downplay the more important moments of life like achievement, service, new life, new commitment, etc.

Getting back to the OP (somewhat), I am totally not buying 12 yr olds on steroids in poor foreign countries as a correlation to sports being overrated.  When desperate people see an opportunity as a way out, they will take desperate measures.  It is not necessarily a poor reflection of the tools or vehicle used.  Do you think boats are overrated?  

I had a similar thought.  The steroid thing in a poor country is not the comparable to what is happening in America.  I don't many are giving their kids steroids at 12 years old, although, I wouldn't past some crazy parents.

 

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