The Race to Nowhere in Youth Sports

That about sums it up from what I saw in my sons time growing up. I am just so glad he played a variety of sports before HE decided that it was baseball that he wanted to concentrate on, and that was as a freshman in HS. I am so glad he was on a travel team the that didn't put winning first and let everyone play somewhat equally up until his junior year in HS when he went on a very competitive team. The memories of him TRYING to play soccer are hilarious. Same with flag football and basketball. Not that he wasn't good he just didn't have a passion for them like he had even then for baseball. But we had him try. Not worrying about if he was the best or even if his team won. All of this private training has become an industry unto itself with the aim of separating parents money from their bank account. I know of one travel coach who gave $20 lessons 2 hours before games to his own players just to turn a buck. Still incredible to me just thinking about it. But parents did it. Why? I don't know,alot of smoke was blown up body parts I think.

Good read... Thx for posting.  Soylent Grunt's first year playing just one sport was this year as a soph.  I think I miss football and hoops a lot more than he does.  What he really liked was the sudden expanse of time in the fall and winter.  Even with fall baseball and off season baseball workouts, he still felt like he had a lot of time for studies... As opposed to cramming after practice all three seasons.  I'm glad he played multiple sports as long as he did, though I really thought he'd be a three sport guy all the way through.  Really tough to do plus high level grades at the same time... Though we know more than a few who do just that.  The cottage industry around grades is just as rabid as the sports scene... Probably moreso.  

 

I have always wanted to somehow create the following: Get the full baseball roster of about 20 guys out to the field on a Saturday afternoon.  Let them pick captains, let the captains pick teams.  Go play a pick up game sans coaches... Sans parents.  I think most kids would have more fun that (imaginary) day than they've ever had on a yard... 100% playing the game instead of strictly working at it.

Good artical and I agree with most of it. The only problem I have with articals like this one is the way it try's to portray it to be the whole generation of kids. I think this artical even said that. To me when throwing a blanket over a generation it needs to be the majority of the members of said generation. This just isn't what I have observed. Yes, I see kids being pushed way too hard way to young. But it's no where near the majority. From what I've seen the majority of kids aren't pushed at all at anything. I feel the over pushing is a problem but not the catastrophic generational wide problem it's being made out to be. Definitely not near as big a problem as the actual generational wide problem of participation trophies. But hey who would read an artical titled 1 out of 100 kids are being pushed too hard.

Agree, Scotty.

 

This wasn't our experience, and I can't recall a single kid in our area who specialized at 9 years old. Some of JP's baseball friends did at 13 or so, but not many. And those who did usually wanted to. It wasn't because mom and dad were buying into myths espoused by coaches.

 

In fact, I can't think of a coach like that either.

 

The seeds of this were planted years ago.  Our older baseball son was a good 3-sport athlete through Jr. HS.  I still remember his AAU basketball coach, who was a good friend of ours, 'demanding' that he make a choice between basketball and baseball…13 or 14 years ago.  Pretty nutty when you think about it.

 

When I coached our younger son's baseball team…and we did some Fall baseball in the local "travel" circuit, we never asked a kid to give up other sports.  We just carried enough players and worked around it.  I do remember one of our best players was also a pretty darned good soccer player - on an elite soccer travel team, coached by some lady from Europe.  She wrote this kid's dad the most ridiculous email I've ever seen in youth sports about why he should commit specifically to soccer when the kid was 13.

 

A copy of that email made its way through me to a friend to Brandi Chastain.  Lets just say that I hope that youth soccer coach was never in the presence of Brandi afterwards because the sentiment about what was written wasn't too kind.  (BTW, I've seen Brandi speak at youth baseball clinics - absolutely one THE BEST speakers you would ever find to talk to you and/or your kids about sports).

 

I also thought that particular kid benefitted greatly from the cross-training of both sports.  He always seemed to get quicker, more coordinated and more mature each year after returning from soccer.  A year or so after that nutty lady wrote the email, she demoted the kid to her 'less than elite' travel soccer club.  Eventually he quit soccer altogether (she probably ruined it for him) and now plays D1 baseball on the West Coast in a very good program.

 

Its kind of interesting - as our older son in particular progressed towards the big leagues and I got to meet a lot of elite baseball players, the sentiment of nearly all of them is to resist the temptation to specialize and they often preach it at clinics I've attended.

I disagree with most of this article. We are living in a generation of bigger, faster, stronger, later has been replaced with right now! How many of you are old enough to remember (allow 4-6 weeks for delivery?) it is now thank you! your order has shipped. And if its not here in 3 day's someone is in trouble. If the USA decides a missile strike on our enemies is necessary, you can watch it live because there is a camera on the end of it. Information is everywhere and if you don't like what you read, just hit a button and get something different.

 

 I think I hear the most complaint's from parent's of average athletes that play Rec or participation level. They can't understand why someone would want to spend their summer watching baseball and softball every weekend. If we play in the Elite World Series in Orlando, guess what? that's where our vacation is. Cooperstown, South Carolina, Steamboat Co. Dallas, Atlanta, Sacramento, I could go on and on about the kool places that baseball and softball has taken our family. But all of these were because of our travel teams that we chose to be on. When I was a kid there were 16 games and a Tournament at the end of the year. And so that's what we did.

 

  Competitive ball, and travel ball is not for everyone some family's see it as a waste of time. And mom and dad can choose to play 60-80 ball games or 15-20. I know a guy that just bought a huge boat and now his son has quit baseball, so that he can go watch his dad drink beer every weekend at the lake. I guess dad had his priorities.

 

 Do I want to play 100 games every summer? as much as I love baseball probably not. But we will be where ever the top teams are playing and probably adding some new Cities to the list.

I can agree with some of your points Doc.  We too had some wonderful travel baseball trips to parts of the country (and out of) that neither I nor our family may have seen otherwise.  Two of our sons got to play on USA national teams with all expenses trips to faraway lands. I don't regret any of it.

 

And like you, I enjoyed the competition.

 

Complaints from the 'average players' and their parents?  No, I don't think so.  I'm sure there are some, but I really don't hear much at all from that group.

 

But I do indeed think that kids are specializing way too early and parents are putting way too much pressure on way too early…all due to the fear of "What if I don't?"

 

When our older son started playing travel ball at age 14, he was the ONLY player in his local rec league to do so…at any level.  There are now a dozen or more at every age doing it, ages 8-14…yet there are no more college or pro players coming out of that league than before.  In fact, there are fewer.  Why?  All that "specialization" isn't working so well?  Kids are getting burned out?

 

I think the article's main point, based on the title, is that nearly all of these kids in my hometown now are on a 'road to nowhere'…at least not to somewhere their parents believe they're shaping.

 Just think if there was a mandatory 2 week shut down from July1 to July15 wow the lakes would be busy.

I remember being in a conversation of a bunch of dads of thirteen year olds at a party. Several were going on and in about the expensive agility training their son's were getting at a facility. On each side of my shoulders was a little birdie. One was whispering, "Be an a-hole, say it." On the other shoulder was a birdie saying, "Be nice. These are your friends and the dads of your son's friends." All I could think was laughing at them and ask if they can see any relevant return yet.

 

I remember being asked to go in four ways on pitching lessons in the winter after 9u ball. I told the other dads my son didn't need lessons at nine and didn't need to throw in the off season at age nine. They warned me my son would fall behind. My son was the only one of the four kids still playing by 14u.

 

My son made Hoop Scoop Magazine top rated point guards as a 10u basketball player. A friend and former NBA player commented it means he sucks less than the typical ten year old basketball player. It's the sanest thing I've heard about being all something at age ten. I warned my son he was going to grow up to be a six-two white kid.

 

I didn't let my son play football until seventh grade. As the fastest kid around I didn't want some yahoo coach to instruct his players to go for my son's knees. Plus his mother didnt want him playing at all. I was warned my son would fall behind. He started in 7th grade when he started playing. He was a co-captain in 8th grade. That ticked off a bunch of parents whose kids had always played.

 

In 6th grade my son was asked to join a Junior Olympics soccer development program. All he had to do was quit all other sports. The same year he was asked to join a well known soccer club. Once again he would have to quit all other sports. Plus they were going to specialize him at goalie at age twelve. 

 

This soccer club representative told me all their U18 players go D1. So I asked how many U13 kids are still around at U18 and watched the guy stammer.

 

My daughter played soccer, basketball, fie!d hockey and softball until high school when she played volleyball, basketball and softball. My son played soccer, football, basketball and baseball until high school when he played soccer and baseball. He was bummed when the varsity basketball coach cut him solely because he had no time for optional off season workouts and summer basketball.

 

In high school my kids started playing, practicing or training with softball and baseball year round despite playing other sports. It was then I paid for their first lessons. I was about refining the talent as post pubescent kids rather than trying to buy talent (you can't) as prepubescent kids.

 

I didn't push my kids towards softball and baseball even though I played in college. I think my daughter liked basketball more until middle school. My son's favorite sport was whichever one he was playing at the moment until high school. Soccer probably would have been his best sport had he chose to play summer select. But had he not made varsity soccer as a soph he probably would have quit soccer to focus on basketball as his second sport.

 

 

 

 

If I was having practice or some kind of games or event out of season, I would tell my players to go to their football, basketball, or whatever it was. But once baseball season is here I want the same commitment to my team. If I have something planned out of season I should expect conflicts with my athletes.

Good article. Because it applies generally, it was written generally. Exceptions abound. My 2017 son has effectively specialized, as far as TEAM sports go, since tee ball. He's never played another team sport. He likes baseball, is very good at it, and works hard to keep getting better. I support that goal, emotionally and financially.

 

HOWEVER, since he was 8 or so, he's also been an avid skateboarder and became very good at that. Went to the same camp for about a month every summer. He was a CIT last summer at the skateboarding camp and also mountain biking. This summer he will be paid to do both as a junior counselor, but we did have to only do half-days because his travel team will play and practice a lot over the summer. He's very good at working with the younger kids and takes the responsibility of being an employee well. So, one team sport, but prett well-rounded kid!

My son played multiple sports when he was a little guy.  Soccer, which he fell out of love with after a couple of seasons, basketball, baseball, and football.  Football was the next to drop and he continued on with baseball and basketball through middle school.  

 

He was planning to go back to football in high school, but the varsity football coach doesn't want his players participating in any other sport.  In any season.  He doesn't love football enough for that.  Basketball, other then rec, he has also given up.  He self-selected out of it at the HS level as he doesn't want to spend the time working on it.  He still plays, but on his terms.  He likes it, but doesn't love it.

 

In HS, baseball is a 6 day a week commitment for him.  He's loving it.

 

 

I really don't understand the point of the article.

 

Stop playing sports?  Don't attend your child's game?  Don't buy $300 cleats?  Don't be like Tiger Woods?  Return the world to the 1970s?

 

It's so silly and naive.

For the most part I agree with everything written in that article.  However, it is one sided and we all know there are positive and negative examples in almost everything.  

 

IMO, the #1 most important factor for young kids is whether or not they truly enjoy the activities they participate in.  I'm a fan of multi sports, but have seen many cases of children concentrating on one or two sports and totally enjoying it.  Have also seen many of these one sport people reach the very highest level. Also have seen those with very high potential in one sport get seriously injured in another sport. However, I don't think that should be the biggest concern. No doubt, the multi sport athlete also gains something from each sport that can help him in the other sports.

 

Now if the one sport participation is force fed, I think it might fail.  Also, if that one sport turns into a 365 day a year job, it might fail.  Most one sport kids I know, still have other activities outside that sport.  They might play golf, pickup basketball, bowl, etc.  

 

Just saying, there almost always is two sides to any issue. The author IMO is 100% correct about everyone should have a childhood.  Problem is each child is an individual, so there can't be a one size fits all approach.

Having just moved from a metropolitan area (Denver) to a small farm community (Lamar, CO) it's funny how different this issue is. My 14yo is also a very good basketball player. He just turned 14 last week and is 6' 2 1/2" / 175 lbs. However, he wants to quit basketball to concentrate on baseball. In this community, it's just the opposite as what he has gotten in the past from his AAU coaches who wanted him playing summer basketball. Here the pressure from high school coaches, friends, and the community is to play every sport. They don't understand why he isn't running track or wrestling this year. There will be a lot of pressure to also play football. Here, if you have top athlete and don't play every sport possible, you're letting down your school and your community. It's a different kind of pressure, but he's feeling it just the same.

For another perspective check out http://www.cehd.umn.edu/MNYSRC/programs/mnplays.html

 

Short version: a large number of kids who specialize leave all sports within two years of specializing.  Multi-sport athletes tend to participate longer in sports.  The key time frame is 12-14

I don't think kids should be pressured either way!  If kids quit participating in sports within two years of specializing in one sport... I wouldn't  even call that specializing In anything.

 

No matter how anyone wants to look at it, there is a very large number of MLB, NFL and especially NBA players who did specialize in one sport.  Of course, there is also a very large number that played more than one sport. I know that is a level most never see, but there is no doubt, both ways have worked for many.

Don't forget this site does not represent your typical athlete. Most athletes don't go on to college or pro ball. There are plenty of kids who start specializing at ages ten to thirteen because dad thinks the kid is a stud who never make the high school team. When these articles get posted they are geared to the overall sports community, not one as unique as hsbaseballweb.

Everyone is looking for a formula for their kid to achieve the highest level.  Like PGStaff just said, there isn't one.  I have never pressured my son to choose or not choose what he plays when.  Any sport that he has decided to eliminate has been his decision.  Other then the HS football coach who said you can't play another sport, he hasn't had an issue with coaches either.

 

Now if you want to talk about the academic pressures he feels at school... I'm ready to talk.  Fortunately he's never felt that same pressure in sports.

 

 

 

 

Great/provocative topic. I certainly encouraged my kids to play as many sports as possible for as long as possible. Now that they are in/out of college, it's been interesting to reflect back on the kids who did specialize very early. Most seemed to burn out/fade away (to paraphrase Neil Young).

 

I had to chuckle, though, recalling my own experience as a kid. I will never forget my 6th grade basketball coach, upon discovering I was also playing Pop Warner, screaming at me "You need to make a choice - basketball or football." Of course it wasn't much of a choice since all of my classmates were playing basketball and none were playing football. Fortunately I got a chance to play football later in high school. 

"Its kind of interesting - as our older son in particular progressed towards the big leagues and I got to meet a lot of elite baseball players, the sentiment of nearly all of them is to resist the temptation to specialize and they often preach it at clinics I've attended".

 

Ibid

 

When my son played minor league ball, there were a lot of guys (most?) on the rosters that played multiple sports in HS.