Club youth sports teams: Why should anybody other than parents GAF?

We don't cover anything lower than the VFW baseball level, but we'll run submitted photos.

 

Way to draw the line.

 

Club sports? You don't say.

http://res.dallasnews.com/interactives/club-sports/part1/

 

Sarcasm?

 

Yes.

We're a big golf community, with more than 150 holes available to be played within a 20-mile radius of our office, it was a good field of players from all over the country (and two from overseas), the event has some history behind it, and it had far more interest to our readers than another day of World Cup coverage or another day of Braves gamers.

It was a no-brainer.

 

In my experience, you can't go wrong with local golf coverage.

And just 150? Out of curiosity, I counted up courses and holes, with 30 private and municipal courses, there's over 500 holes in a 20 mile radius of my paper.

 

That's actually a good story on the root issue -- the total subsuming of school/community based youth sports in favor of independent club programs.

I can attest first-hand (almost) to these issues: I have three nieces, one 13 and twins almost 9, who are very active in youth sports. They are all good 'natural' athletes -- all three are the fastest kids in their classes (the twins tied) and scored the longest on the softball distance throw. They're not big kids -- they are small quick guard-infielder-setter types, but they are smokin' fast.

The 13-year-old, 'Becky,' going into eighth grade, is a slightly-above average basketball player, probably average in softball despite only having started to play last year, and a very good volleyball setter -- she's been named MOP at several camps, etc.

She's now being told, going into eighth grade, that she should quit softball and basketball and concentrate this year only on club volleyball.

The varsity volleyball coach of the high school she'll be attending more or less made veiled threats that if she didn't concentrate on club volleyball, she would "have a hard time making the varsity" in future seasons.

So Becky is debating doing just that, and dropping off of her school's basketball team (on which most of her friends play) and dumping softball altogether.

I advised her mom, my sister, who I coached on several youth teams in her own junior high days, to take this advice with a grain of salt, because the varsity coach handing out this advice has been well under .500 for the past 4-5 years at the high school, and from decades of covering prep sports myself my suspicion that the odds she will even BE the coach in 2-3 years when "Becky" gets to varsity level, are probably well short of 50-50.

Mom did have a talk with the coach, and observed, "well, several players on your varsity play other sports," to which she responded, "Well yeah, because those girls are 6-foot tall power forwards and outside hitters. 'Becky' is going to be a setter, and I don't let setters play other sports."

Meanwhile, the nearly 9-year-old twins are playing the major "ball sports" (VB, bkb, sfb) and doing very well in all three.

But a problem is arising because several of their friends (more accurately, their friends' parents) are trying to recruit them into a semi-travel soccer program.

Up until now they have only dabbled in soccer, playing only in gym class and for one season in a city-rec house league, but they have done well on sheer speed -- they can run fast enough to get away from the defense, which at 8U is usually pretty sad. But their overall interest in soccer is not really very intense.

The thing is, they are actually VERY good at softball -- they practice a lot in the back yard and are already starting to work out as a SS-2B combo -- and the club soccer program schedule flies directly against all the summer softball around here.

The soccer parents are selling the idea that to make varsity in HS you have to commit full-time to club play starting at the 10U level.

The school district they're in has been somewhat of a state soccer juggernaut, winning a state title and frequently advancing far into the tournaments, and they are heavily built off of products of the local club programs.

Bottom line, kids and parents are being told at the second-and third-grade levels that they have to specialize in one sport and quit everything else to have a chance to make varsity in HS six or seven years down the road.

So it's no longer delusional parents dreaming their kid is going to be the next LeBron James or Peyton Manning -- or even chasing the ever-elusive college scholarship -- it's parents dreaming their kids might be good enough someday to make the high school varsity.

 

As well you should. Sportswriters in small towns bust their backsides at 60+hrs/week for 9 mo of the year. A few weeks without the burden of incessant game schedules are justifiable. Easily so.
There has to be a limit. Little League, 7-on-7, etc represent the dividing line.

 

I mentioned this on another thread a while back, but I wonder how much of that has to do with the kid improving their game by being in one sport and how much of it has to do with the coach wanting their ass kissed by the kid concentrating on just one sport.

Oh, and the "setters can't play another sport" line is bullshit. What matters is your niece is happy. If she wants to play three sports, let her. If that's going to keep her from playing volleyball, then she probably wouldn't have had the ability to make the team anyways just playing one sport. It's good to diversify, instead of getting burned out.

 

She already understands when she gets to HS, she probably should specialize, at least more than she has up until now. Volleyball is far and away her best current sport.

She is probably about equal as a basketball/softball player: a slightly above-average junior high player, but a kid who is going to have to step it up to make it in HS. She's been playing basketball longer, but she acts like she likes softball more.

For the upcoming school year the question is whether she will play basketball for her junior high or concentrate on club volleyball. Once she gets to HS next year, my bet is the odds are 100 percent she'll play volleyball, probably 25 percent she'll play hoops and about 50-50 she'll stay in softball. (Of course if she quits basketball now the chances of playing in HS go to effectively zero.)

Another factor I suppose is her high school-to-be (my old HS) has been below .500 in softball the past 3-4 years, so the competition to make the squad is apparently not all that fierce.

They have been quite good in hoops, and also have had a pretty consistent pipeline to bring in a couple of transfer/schools-of-choice players from the nearby urban city area every year, so even if she threw herself into hoops 100% and attended every camp and AAU team in the world she would probably be even money to get bumped off the roster by some transfer hotshot, so basketball is probably not her best long-term time investment.

 

This is the crap I hate so much and it's part of what drove me out of whatever shred of joy was left in covering prep sports - and out of newspapers altogether.

Specializing in one sport for high school? Such bullshit. It's high school sports. You know how much high school sports really matter? They don't. If the girl wants to play all three sports because she enjoys it, that's it. That's the end of the discussion. If she's good enough to get the SCHOLARSHIP, she'll get it anyway, whether she's playing all three or not.

A high school coach telling a kid to specialize is one of the most self-serving things I can think of. Just because your athletic "career" ended in high school or some small college doesn't give you the right to railroad kids. Here's an idea for those overcompetitive jerks - compete with your colleagues to be a better TEACHER.

Know the people to whom high school sports matter the most? Those whose best days ended with graduation. Funny how most of them end up being high school coaches and ADs.

 

This story about why young athletes should be allowed some time away from sports mentions a interview Dr. James Andrews gave the Cleveland Plain Dealer last year. One of Andrews' points: Specialization is one of the reasons why kids are getting serious injuries at a young age.

http://yellowhammernews.com/faithandculture/world-renowned-alabama-surgeon-pleads-parents-give-young-athletes-break/

ETA: I'll add this quote as well... definitely relevant to Starman's points.