To me - it's ridiculous. Totally on board with this
http://yellowhammernews.com/faithan...eon-pleads-parents-give-young-athletes-break/
http://yellowhammernews.com/faithan...eon-pleads-parents-give-young-athletes-break/
The specialization of youth sports...
- Thread starter dawgstudent
- Start date
Baseball seems to be the biggest culprit of overuse in my experience. The amount of time a buddy of mine's 7 year old plays baseball is insane. He plays fall ball, for his school, in a local league, all stars, local level travel ball, and then regional travel ball.
The systems out there in youth sports, particularly travel ball, have been important financial resources for the people who run them. Parents spend a fortune keeping their kids in a year-round sport, with travel and everything else. What’s happening is, the tail is wagging the dog. The systems are calling the shots: If your son or daughter doesn’t play my sport year-round, he or she can’t play for me. Never mind that your kid is 12 — I need year-round dedication.
This, this, this...... It is just INSANE now. I have a ten year old and a seven year old. They LOVE baseball and soccer. We play rec ball, and Lord willing, school ball when they get old enough. NO travel "competitive" ball. EVER. I love baseball as much or more than any of my friends, and all I ever played was summer ball with hay-stuffed bases and coaches that were usually just getting off work to come practice with us. If you're THAT good, Cohen or Bianco will find you, no matter whether you play in the "circle" or not. I'll always believe that. It's past out of control.
This, this, this...... It is just INSANE now. I have a ten year old and a seven year old. They LOVE baseball and soccer. We play rec ball, and Lord willing, school ball when they get old enough. NO travel "competitive" ball. EVER. I love baseball as much or more than any of my friends, and all I ever played was summer ball with hay-stuffed bases and coaches that were usually just getting off work to come practice with us. If you're THAT good, Cohen or Bianco will find you, no matter whether you play in the "circle" or not. I'll always believe that. It's past out of control.
One doctor was saying the rise in surgeries is also partly due
To these kids not playing multiple sports and developing the complementary muscles due to the specialization, not just overuse. Either way to me it's always seemed like something done more for the parents themselves than the kid playing, and it's not even that impressive, because anyone with a checkbook can make a team. I can probably say that the majority of my friends who were all in to one sport like this quit that sport eventually, and that includes golf, baseball and soccer off the top of my head. This is the complete opposite of me, at one time or another I played six different sports in high school, though obviously I wasn't a star in any.
To these kids not playing multiple sports and developing the complementary muscles due to the specialization, not just overuse. Either way to me it's always seemed like something done more for the parents themselves than the kid playing, and it's not even that impressive, because anyone with a checkbook can make a team. I can probably say that the majority of my friends who were all in to one sport like this quit that sport eventually, and that includes golf, baseball and soccer off the top of my head. This is the complete opposite of me, at one time or another I played six different sports in high school, though obviously I wasn't a star in any.
It can get ridiculous.
But not everyone who is involved in year round travel ball is completely evil. Some kids do it because they absolutely love it without any pressure from their parents. Some teams build fun environments where the kids fall in love with the game while still being competitive. Some coaches don't overuse their pitchers and don't let a kid pitch except for only part of the year.
I know that even when you take all the precautions that you still run injury risks for year round baseball. Which is why we're going to try to get my kid cousin to give it up when he gets to jr high in favor of a more diverse athletics schedule that includes football, and maybe basketball if he wasn't so damn short.
I guess my point is that not everyone involved in travel ball is a crazed lunatic parent putting too much pressure on a 10 year old and expecting him to go pro after high school. And to be honest, not sure if I would do it with my own kid, it's not my call on my aunts kid though. But I've supported it for a while and have found a good environment with 0 kids on his team getting injured or overworked from my untrained eye.
But not everyone who is involved in year round travel ball is completely evil. Some kids do it because they absolutely love it without any pressure from their parents. Some teams build fun environments where the kids fall in love with the game while still being competitive. Some coaches don't overuse their pitchers and don't let a kid pitch except for only part of the year.
I know that even when you take all the precautions that you still run injury risks for year round baseball. Which is why we're going to try to get my kid cousin to give it up when he gets to jr high in favor of a more diverse athletics schedule that includes football, and maybe basketball if he wasn't so damn short.
I guess my point is that not everyone involved in travel ball is a crazed lunatic parent putting too much pressure on a 10 year old and expecting him to go pro after high school. And to be honest, not sure if I would do it with my own kid, it's not my call on my aunts kid though. But I've supported it for a while and have found a good environment with 0 kids on his team getting injured or overworked from my untrained eye.
Parents pressure or not, 10 is too young
period to do this for one sport. Ten year olds can't make an informed decision, and most parents probably do the opposite of what a ten year old wants
period to do this for one sport. Ten year olds can't make an informed decision, and most parents probably do the opposite of what a ten year old wants
I can't say I disagree
Just wanted to give an example of how it's been a good experience for us thus far. I know travel ball can have its negative effects, not trying to argue that it can't. Just trying to say that it can also be a positive experience, because no one can convince me that it's hasn't been good for us. But who knows, he may grow up to be a ******** and I guess we'll have something to blame it on.
Just wanted to give an example of how it's been a good experience for us thus far. I know travel ball can have its negative effects, not trying to argue that it can't. Just trying to say that it can also be a positive experience, because no one can convince me that it's hasn't been good for us. But who knows, he may grow up to be a ******** and I guess we'll have something to blame it on.
I've had 2 that played select soccer and it wasn't a big deal. Some of the parents were nuts but they would have been with or without soccer. The down side of the specialization at such an early age is that the kids that don't make the traveling teams at 10 are pretty much done. It's tough to have your 10 year old realize that her soccer career is over but it happened with my youngest. She found other sports but I think you miss out on some kids that are late bloomers.
It depends on where you live. Where I live, if your kid doesn't play competitive baseball, he won't be playing high school baseball. Take Desoto Central. Everyone of their players played competitive baseball. 7 or 8 signed D1 college baseball scholarships.
I'm not saying there aren't some coaches that are idiots, but majority of coaches don't overuse kids arms. I know most if not all competitive organizations have pitch counts or certain innings kids can pitch in 1 weekend to prevent overuse. If you find a good team, competitive is a hell of a lot better than rec. At least kids are learning how to throw a baseball right so that injuries can be prevented down the road. I would almost guarantee that kids arms are overused more through their school than competitive ball. Also a kid shouldn't be throwing curve balls in middle school.
Late bloomers are pretty much screwed
With today's standards. I was a non factor until I turned 15 and grew 6 inches in one year. In today's world I would have been sent home to play video games. I ended up being pretty damn good and many kids today will not have the same chance I had, early puberty is mannah from heaven when in actuality it is not.
With today's standards. I was a non factor until I turned 15 and grew 6 inches in one year. In today's world I would have been sent home to play video games. I ended up being pretty damn good and many kids today will not have the same chance I had, early puberty is mannah from heaven when in actuality it is not.
It's also a bigger issue in the big High Schools here in TX... When I was in a
high school class of 75, if you went out for the team, you made it. Also, you could play all major sports. My kids go to a 5A high school here in TX, and it is almost impossible to make the baseball team unless you have only been dedicated to baseball for the last 10 years. Football really only gives the only chance to make a team, not only because of the numbers, but because they have a Jr. Varsity team and 9th grade team.
high school class of 75, if you went out for the team, you made it. Also, you could play all major sports. My kids go to a 5A high school here in TX, and it is almost impossible to make the baseball team unless you have only been dedicated to baseball for the last 10 years. Football really only gives the only chance to make a team, not only because of the numbers, but because they have a Jr. Varsity team and 9th grade team.
Dr. Andrews has been preaching this for years. You'd think with all his credentials, people would listen to him. I saw a documentary on him about a year ago. He really is a great man who has done a lot of good for athletes at all levels. He's just as committed to the kids who will never go pro in anything as he is to the Hall of Fame players he treats.
Interesting the quote about Tiger Woods.....
How he was treated as a pro from an early age. Also seems like has also struggled with injury more than any golfer that I have ever heard of.
How he was treated as a pro from an early age. Also seems like has also struggled with injury more than any golfer that I have ever heard of.
I just don't understand how there are that many parents that buy into this. I understand there will always be crazy parents, but I grew up in a sports crazy area where there was nothing else to do, and none of my friends want to spend every damn weekend hauling their kids to baseball tournaments. I'm sure some of them will do it, but they won't be the ones pushing the kids to focus on one sport at age 8.
Lots of valid points made in the article and by the posters. I wanted to add a couple things from my own experience. I agree there is a lot of pressure put on young kids by over zealous parents and coaches. There is some balance where you want to give your child an opportunity to explore sports without being too pushy or hurting them mentally or physically. It's tough, because as many posters have commented, a lot of the school sports today are pushing towards early specialization. If your son or daughter doesn't play competitive baseball/softball, then he or she may or may not make the team. Even if your child makes the team, they will probably be looked over for key roles because the coaches have not been interacting with them on the competitive teams for years. I have a 10 year old and he loves baseball, football and basketball and I let him play all 3. We do play competitive baseball and rec ball and it is a totally different world. The positives of competitive ball are better instruction, better players (my son wouldn't throw hard at first because the other kids couldn't catch well in rec ball), and a competitive spirit. Rec ball is great for fun, but the games are often very sloppy and could lead to bad habits. I actually like him playing both. Someone mentioned that there are inning restrictions and pitch counts. My experience is that the USSSA enforces the inning restrictions but few coaches do pitch counts. I do, and I have a sheet to keep up with it, but I don't see other teams doing it. They just watch innings and the problem with that is that an inning in 10U baseball can be 10 pitches or it can be 60 pitches so there is a huge difference. I also see parents teaching their kids how to throw a curve at 10 after being repeatedly advised not to do so, but they saw it on the Little League World Series. Ultimately, it boils down to educating yourself as a parent and as a coach if you are one, keeping the kids safe, trying to make it as fun as possible, and focusing more on teaching than winning. In our competitive based world, its hard to do. For the example of competitive baseball, I like the competition, but dislike how crazy the parents get and how much pressure they put on their kids during tournaments. There's too much drama...where's the fun at? On the flip side, our YMCA has rules to prevent football games from being lopsided, but the enforcement is poor. They allow a losing team to do whatever they want, facemask or block in the back etc., to try to catch up and its simply dangerous. The rules limiting score are okay if the rules are enforced properly. Where's the balance? How do you allow your child to grow competitively in a constructive manner and avoid the negatives in today's environment?
I got my first taste of this over the summer. Our rec-league in Wesson (45 kids in 9-10U, 4 teams) took a legitimate rec league all-star team (12 players) to 4 USSSA tournaments in and around the Jackson area in June-July, mainly because we got out of Dixie Youth 3 years ago, we had no place for the all-stars to play. My son made the 9U team, and we played the first 'all-star' tournament at Northwest Rankin on Fathers Day weekend. We won 1 game and lost two. Our final game wasn't over until 11:30 p.m. My son and I were done at that point. No way was I going to put him or myself through that week in and week out for the rest of the summer. Plus, some of the parents on the TRAVEL teams we played were almost as fanatical as some of these McDaniel supporters. I mean, in your face loud and obnoxious to the opposing teams. I couldn't stand that one more weekend.
The other coach on the team decided to go to two more tournaments and took the remaining 9U's that wanted to keep playing and picked up a couple of 8 year olds+ a coach to go with them in my/my son's place. A couple of weeks later he called me up and asked if we could play in one more tournament to replace one that had dropped out. He said it would be good for my son's development and so forth. So, I reluctantly accepted because it was middle of summer and my son and I were bored around the house in the evenings at that point. "What could a little practice in the heat of summer hurt?" I thought.
So, we practiced 3 times during the week leading up to the tournament, and he's just not that into it-you know, dragging *** in practice, "its too hot" and all that crap. So I asked him at that point if he really wanted to play in the upcoming tourney and if he did, why was he half-assing it in practice. He said, "I really didn't want to play, but I just did it because you wanted me to."
I thought, "whoaaaaa! am I becoming one of THOSE parents?" When we got home from practice that night, I had a talk with him and told him that we were committed to play on Saturday and we were going to stick to our word so he better make the best of it.
Lo and behold, this kid of mine, who had TWO legitimate hits all during 11 games of rec ball (pitching in the league was horrible-mainly walkfests) had two doubles and drove in seven total runs in the first game and proceeded to pickup three more hits over the final two games. He even made three good plays in right field-one of which saved us in the second game.
After we lost the third (seeded) game he was ready to go to the house. It was hot, everyone was tired and had just about enough of ball for the year. So, our coach told the kids he apreciated the effort yada yada yada and that we all needed to sign up for FALL BALL that starts in September. My jaw hit the floor. He said that we'd be playing in a couple of tournaments and some games during the week. and we'd practice about 2 nights a week until the first week of November. It will be good for their development, he said.
My son pulled me toward him and said, "Ain't no way I'm doing that, Dad. Please don't sign me up for fall ball. I like baseball, but not this much of it." Of course, we aren't going to play fall ball, I said.
So, i did a little research on this travel ball thing and talked to some neighbors who are full-throttle into the travel ball. It turns out that they don't really like having to travel every weekend to Louisiana, alabama, texas and so forth to play baseball, but they are doing it 'for the kids.' They've felt pressure, too from the other parents to keep playing because their two boys are pretty good ball players.
My theory on all this is that kids today aren't 'ate up' with baseball like we were growing up in the late 70s, early 80s. If we weren't playing baseball, we played woofle ball, cup ball .... just anything we could find to hit with a stick or our hand and that required us to run bases. That was pretty much all we had. My parents loved that my brother and I played basseball, but I don't think they would have ever agreed to do travel ball.
I think most of it is driven by the parents forcing their child/children into it because they see other parents doing it and feel pressure to keep up with the baseball Joneses'. Those who put on the tournaments are just trying to make a dime, for the most part.
The other coach on the team decided to go to two more tournaments and took the remaining 9U's that wanted to keep playing and picked up a couple of 8 year olds+ a coach to go with them in my/my son's place. A couple of weeks later he called me up and asked if we could play in one more tournament to replace one that had dropped out. He said it would be good for my son's development and so forth. So, I reluctantly accepted because it was middle of summer and my son and I were bored around the house in the evenings at that point. "What could a little practice in the heat of summer hurt?" I thought.
So, we practiced 3 times during the week leading up to the tournament, and he's just not that into it-you know, dragging *** in practice, "its too hot" and all that crap. So I asked him at that point if he really wanted to play in the upcoming tourney and if he did, why was he half-assing it in practice. He said, "I really didn't want to play, but I just did it because you wanted me to."
I thought, "whoaaaaa! am I becoming one of THOSE parents?" When we got home from practice that night, I had a talk with him and told him that we were committed to play on Saturday and we were going to stick to our word so he better make the best of it.
Lo and behold, this kid of mine, who had TWO legitimate hits all during 11 games of rec ball (pitching in the league was horrible-mainly walkfests) had two doubles and drove in seven total runs in the first game and proceeded to pickup three more hits over the final two games. He even made three good plays in right field-one of which saved us in the second game.
After we lost the third (seeded) game he was ready to go to the house. It was hot, everyone was tired and had just about enough of ball for the year. So, our coach told the kids he apreciated the effort yada yada yada and that we all needed to sign up for FALL BALL that starts in September. My jaw hit the floor. He said that we'd be playing in a couple of tournaments and some games during the week. and we'd practice about 2 nights a week until the first week of November. It will be good for their development, he said.
My son pulled me toward him and said, "Ain't no way I'm doing that, Dad. Please don't sign me up for fall ball. I like baseball, but not this much of it." Of course, we aren't going to play fall ball, I said.
So, i did a little research on this travel ball thing and talked to some neighbors who are full-throttle into the travel ball. It turns out that they don't really like having to travel every weekend to Louisiana, alabama, texas and so forth to play baseball, but they are doing it 'for the kids.' They've felt pressure, too from the other parents to keep playing because their two boys are pretty good ball players.
My theory on all this is that kids today aren't 'ate up' with baseball like we were growing up in the late 70s, early 80s. If we weren't playing baseball, we played woofle ball, cup ball .... just anything we could find to hit with a stick or our hand and that required us to run bases. That was pretty much all we had. My parents loved that my brother and I played basseball, but I don't think they would have ever agreed to do travel ball.
I think most of it is driven by the parents forcing their child/children into it because they see other parents doing it and feel pressure to keep up with the baseball Joneses'. Those who put on the tournaments are just trying to make a dime, for the most part.