Playing youth t-ball or joining your first soccer team when you were 9 years old used to be fun, beginner level experiences for kids to be exposed to the fun of learning how to play a specific sport. You used to try a recreational league for a season and then if you wanted to, could try a different sport the following season. Youth sports have changed dramatically over the past 20-30 years and now kids are starting to play organized team sports as young as 3 or 4 years old and picking a sport to specialize in and play year round by the end of elementary school with special private coaching and using the best pitching machines and batting cages in the winter, for example. The level of intensity for youth sports is the same as it was for high school and even some college athletes 25 years ago and this is leading to a host of new problems.
One of the greatest differences is the age at which kids are encouraged to play sports. Not long ago, the youngest age usually, was around seven or eight years old to play soccer and ten or eleven years old to try basketball. Now it is sometimes still in diapers for soccer and five years old for basketball. Most of the kids at these little ages do not have neither the physical coordination nor the attention span to be able to handle an hour long sports practice. Because of this, children quit a sport very young because it was too hard for them.
Children are also being told that they have to specialize and focus on one sport around the age of 10 years old to be able to get an athletic scholarship for college. This has increased stress related injuries in a lot younger kids as a result of overuse on their growing bodies. The overuse on the kids physically and mentally has created an entire generation of kids that totally burn out by the time they are teenagers which is a real shame.
This increased intensity of athletics at a younger age is also experienced by their coaches and the parents too. There have been several incidents when parents become unruly at their children’s games or competitions that they cause problems with their inappropriate behaviors and must be told to leave. Because of this, most schools and youth leagues now require parents to sign a contract saying they will act appropriately. Coaching has also become much more intense for kids. In the past a parent would volunteer to coach and that was much appreciated. Today parents are hiring private coaches and personal trainers to have their kid to be the best athlete ever. The amount of money parents now spend on their children’s athletic pursuits is sky high.
Perhaps, people will realize that children need to be children and do not need the physical or mental stress that is being placed upon them in their sports by their coaches and parents.
