A few days ago, the San Jose Mercury News had an interesting editorial about youth sports. They ask some good questions about access to sports, the role of club sports and about youth sports injuries.
I’ve commented before about a great book on the subject by Mark Hyman. I’ve also talked about the Positive Coaching Alliance.
While they asked some good questions, here’s one thing that caught my attention: The editorial starts with an assumption that youth sports should be designed to produce winning teams/developed players.
“The burst of excitement when it seemed the United States might have a chance to get to the World Cup final this year has led to heightened hopes that we’ll make it someday. But without a revolution in how we deal with youth sports, it’s unlikely to happen.”
The reality is that producing a team that wins the World Cup should be a goal for the US Soccer program – from youth all the way up. But this should not be the goal of the the soccer program or any other sports program. Only a very small fraction of today’s youth players will play professional sports. While more will play in college and even more will play in high school, even those numbers are dwarfed by the over all total number of kids that are currently playing organized (and unorganized) sports in the US.
Sports teach many important lessons: team work, self confidence, physical fitness, focus, respect for others and for self, and on and on.
Right now somewhere between 70% and 80% of children drop out of organized sports before they become a freshman in high school.
To me, that is the real problem. We need to find a way to keep kids involved and playing. Girls that participate in athletics are less likely to use drugs, become pregnant or drop out of school. Recent studies show that they make more money after college as compared to girls that don’t participate.
Youth sports should not be about winning and losing. It should not be about Division 1 teams, winning a tournament or paying for college. Winning should be a goal – but it should not be the goal. It most cases, it should not even be the second or third goal.