Kids games

By The Gazette Editorial Board

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‘The landscape of youth sports in the United States has changed. In past generations, children played at their leisure. They played games and sports of their own choosing. They picked the teams. They made the rules or modified the rules as they saw fit for their environment. They served as the officials and administrators and a rough law of equity enforced fair play. Adults were rarely in charge.

“Culture has shifted, however, and now for more than a generation, this style and methodology of play has all but disappeared for American youth. Adults have become the ‘ultra-organizers' of youth sports. … Adult behavior has become extreme for a variety of reasons, like the desire for college athletic scholarship moneys, and has forcibly pushed this change on children. What parents want and what parents hope to gain from their children's participation in organized youth sports is often at a polar extreme to what their kids want.”

- From the introduction to “The Professionalization of Youth Sports in America,” a thesis by Jordan D. Cox accepted for publication by Baylor (Texas) University in August 2011 (see http://tinyurl.com/ma2febq).

The topic outlined above drew a lot of robust discussion during recent Gazette Editorial Board meetings, which routinely includes input from members of our Community Conversation Corps. To a person, we all enjoy watching sports at various levels. We see considerable value in kids playing on teams and learning to compete and develop positive physical, mental and emotion-coping skills from that experience.

The conversation also carried a troubled tone. Many of us have been told of and have sometimes witnessed heavy expectations routinely being placed on young children in organized sports. Are those expectations from adults too often crossing the line of what's really good for kids? And what's the impact on families?

WHAT'S THE DOMINANT FOCUS?

Has the nationwide explosion of organized youth sports in the past generation been a positive experience overall for children and parents? Or, as critics argue, have youth sports organizations become mostly about winning and developing a feeder system of athletes for higher levels of competition, with more and more parents focused on encouraging or even forcing Johnny or Susie to practice and compete almost year-round toward getting noticed by coaches who can in turn help them earn a college athletic scholarship?

Are organized youth teams sucking up so much of children's lives outside of school that many are burned out on sports before high school or even the middle school level. Are sports programs' demands essentially excluding kids whose families can't or don't want to devote many weekends and weeknights to practices, games and traveling to other cities and states to compete, sometimes at ages as young as 6 years old? Are concerned parents not speaking up because they don't want to risk their children “missing out”?

Most or all of those things are increasingly common across most of the nation, according to the Baylor University thesis that analyzed a number of studies and other data. And you don't have to look far to find other reports on this issue. Parent and medical organizations, such as the American Academy of Pediatrics and Kids Health, have focused more attention on what's good for kids' development and how organized youth sports can either help or harm them.

INJURY DATA

A related concern is the injury rate among such young competitors, including youth football, where a tackle version is offered as young as the first grade in parts of Iowa and elsewhere. The University of Iowa Sports Medicine department just launched a study that will compile and compare injury data from tackle leagues and flag (non-tackle) competition - data that just isn't readily available.

It's clear that there have been a lot of changes involving children's sports activities in the past several decades. Parents are much more involved. The changes also appear to have closely tracked with our nation's increased obsession with sports in general, including the popularity of watching sports in person or on television.

But as the NFL's uglier side has been more exposed in recent years - i.e., the concussions issue and disturbing reports about the pro game's internal culture - more parents appear to be questioning whether there's an overemphasis on athletic competition. National sports commentator Frank Deford, while lamenting what he called the “thuggish” behavior of some NFL players on his NPR radio spot last Wednesday, cited a 13 percent drop in the number of young kids and adolescents playing organized football over the last two years.

CONSTRUCTIVE SCRUTINY

Don't get us wrong. We like sports and believe it makes many positive contributions to the American way of life. But like any evolving institution or tradition, they need constructive scrutiny - especially how they affect our children, an estimated 40 million of them ages 5-18 who participate in organized sports.

What about it, Eastern Iowa? Are our youth sports programs providing mostly valuable and fun experiences for the vast majority of participants? Do they need some serious review and revision?

Don't be shy about speaking up. Youth sports are not just kids games anymore.

Comments: editorial@

thegazette.com or (319) 398-8262

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Share your experiences

We'd like to hear from coaches and parents involved in preadolescent organized youth sports leagues and teams in Eastern Iowa, as well as from adults who participated as kids. Tell us within 250 words about your experience and observations - especially related to the impact on youngsters who participate. We want to share your thoughts with readers as part of an effort to expand our communities' conversation about and understanding of organized youth sports - their value, their role and how that's being carried out in our region.

Send us your letters on this topic via:

Email: editorial@thegazette.com

Online: http://thegazette.com/guidelines/#gform_fields_26

Regular mail: Letters, c/o The Gazette, 500 Third Ave. SE, Cedar Rapids, IA 52401.