Why youth sports and $$$$ don't mix

I don't see what the problem is. It's not like he's benefitting financially from this venture. He's just helping some kids out. I agree with what he said about the money and parents. If I was a parent on this team, it'd be hard for me to gripe about playing time when I'm flying a custom jet and staying at Caesars.

 

Are you sure that wasn't 98 Degrees?

 

Yeah but their kids are actually pretty talented. Snoop Dogg's son is said to be a very good quarterback. And Master P's son, Lil Romeo, is a great AAU basketball player.

 

This guys moives seem pure enough. I actually have no problem with this. If he was just taking already privlidge suburbanite kids on an all-expense paid trip around the country, I'd be raising an eyebrow. But he is also taking underprivlidged kids on the team as well and giving them the best coaching money can buy, something likely unattainable otherwise. Beyond that, I don't see what's wrong with spoiling the kids to some extent on a sports team like this. It is obvious that they are not receiving this treatment back home, that they're not having grades bought for them, that many of them do go back to underprivlidged situations. This is also not a life time team, as he mentioned when they graduate to Jr. High they willbe travelling in yellow buses and wearing second hand uniforms, so why not give them a little bit of the high life now?

 

I would expect nothing less of you, my sweet.

 

Philanthropy!! That's the word I was looking for earlier!! It just came to me ...

 

We talk all the time about arrogant athletes with their awful sense of entitlement that comes from years of being coddled and pampered just because they're good at sports. Hello? This is the ultimate in pampering. This isn't high school kids getting free sneakers and gear from their AAU program, this is third and fifth-graders getting treated like NBA royalty. Good luck to the HS coaches who get these kids in a few years, when they've been spoiled beyond belief. I'm not saying they're all going to be arrogant pricks, but this kind of thing certainly increases the chances.

And by the way, I understand that some of these families are quite poor, but no parent with any self-respect would free-load to that extent, accepting thousands of dollars in trips and lodging on the backs of their 8 or 9 year old kids. This guy may think he's doing the right thing, but he's gone way overboard. The whole thing is more than a little creepy.

 

I like that he makes the parents sign a contract requiring that they don't meddle or yell at officials or anything like that. I wonder how true it is that they won't cut kids because of their ability.
But I wonder what it will be like when these kids get to junior high or high school and they're not starters or even if they're cut.

 

I have no problem with the billionaire spending his money on youth sports.

I have a problem with the fact that he's only spending it on, what, two dozen kids? At most? And they conveniently happen to be the teams his kids are on. Spread the wealth, literally.

Why not take that money and, instead of sending 8-year-olds across the country and the globe, make sure that every team in the area has nice uniforms. Or nice playing fields/courts. Or set up scholarships for kids from empty-pockets backgrounds.

Why is it necessary for elementary school kids to play in tournaments outside the major-metro area they currently live in?

And if winning isn't the objective, why was this project spurred on by the fact the kids went 0-4 in an AAU tournament?

 

Cadet is right. With the money this guy has, he could be helping a lot more kids in a lot of other ways.

 

You know, I hate it when people tell me what to do with my money. It's his. He can do what he wants. You want to spread the weath, give your own money. Don't dictate to others what to do with their own.

How many team sponsors come because Joe Secondbaseman's dad owns a garage, or Sue Center's mom is at attorney. Their kids' teams benefit, too, not just all Sports Kids USA.

IMO, people have a right to donate their money, and should they choose to do so, they have the right to decide to whom it goes.

 

"The alliance concluded that too many adults impose a professional sports model on kids by overemphasizing winning and year-round training."

What if we changed this to:

"The alliance concluded that too many adults impose a higher education model on kids by emphasizing grades and excessive homework."

People who study youth sports are still stuck in the notion that it's something you do on the side, for fun. For some of us, maybe. For kids good enough to play nationally, it's much more than that.