The Race to Nowhere in Youth Sports

[Unregistered]

I know this topic has been covered in several threads, but thought this was a good article I just came across worth sharing. 3 years further down the path of sports specialization for kids and it's probably worse than ever.

http://changingthegameproject.com/th...-youth-sports/

[Unregistered]

I know this topic has been covered in several threads, but thought this was a good article I just came across worth sharing. 3 years further down the path of sports specialization for kids and it's probably worse than ever.

http://changingthegameproject.com/th...-youth-sports/

Looks like this is your 3rd attempt at starting a discussion about this 3 year old article:

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/showth...highlight=race

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/showth...highlight=race

Not much activity on either thread, 10 and 4 responses respectively. Can't you take a hint?

[Unregistered]

Not too much action on these threads because the article referenced challenges parents to think about their own role in their child's development. It's uncomfortable for most people to do that. For the parents that participate in these forums, any type of self introspect is unlikely. They either don't know how, or see it as a weakness, which imo is why any of us are even having this conversation.

My child was a top 3 player on the team. We spent lots of time traveling at games, tournaments and practices. We've met wonderful families and built beautiful friendships that we still have. The downside, we lost touch with too many other family and friends because we were too busy running to the next game. We spent a lot of time and money chasing the dream. The dream ended with an injury in senior year of college.

As parents, some of us push because we don't want our children left behind, we want them to have better, do more, be more. Some of us just want bragging rights, others have no idea we are even doing any harm. I don't believe any of us intentionally set out to hurt our children but in the end, our best intentions may not be the best practices.

We live in a society where everyone deserves a trophy, we all want entry level jobs that pay $90k to start, we all want the BMW's and Range Rovers. This starts from someplace, it didn't happen overnight. This instant gratification is what we've been teaching our kids and instilling in them.

The state of our attitudes in our children's academics and athletics has done nothing to develop them into hard working, sensible adults. More people should read this article. Learn to find happiness doing what you love. Push yourself to do excel in areas that are important to you but not to the degree where you miss out on other equally important areas of living.

Parents, especially those with younger players, wake up. What do you really want from this. Our time is short.

[Unregistered]

Not too much action on these threads because the article referenced challenges parents to think about their own role in their child's development. It's uncomfortable for most people to do that. For the parents that participate in these forums, any type of self introspect is unlikely. They either don't know how, or see it as a weakness, which imo is why any of us are even having this conversation.

My child was a top 3 player on the team. We spent lots of time traveling at games, tournaments and practices. We've met wonderful families and built beautiful friendships that we still have. The downside, we lost touch with too many other family and friends because we were too busy running to the next game. We spent a lot of time and money chasing the dream. The dream ended with an injury in senior year of college.

As parents, some of us push because we don't want our children left behind, we want them to have better, do more, be more. Some of us just want bragging rights, others have no idea we are even doing any harm. I don't believe any of us intentionally set out to hurt our children but in the end, our best intentions may not be the best practices.

We live in a society where everyone deserves a trophy, we all want entry level jobs that pay $90k to start, we all want the BMW's and Range Rovers. This starts from someplace, it didn't happen overnight. This instant gratification is what we've been teaching our kids and instilling in them.

The state of our attitudes in our children's academics and athletics has done nothing to develop them into hard working, sensible adults. More people should read this article. Learn to find happiness doing what you love. Push yourself to do excel in areas that are important to you but not to the degree where you miss out on other equally important areas of living.

Parents, especially those with younger players, wake up. What do you really want from this. Our time is short.

As a parent of two former players. The last one stopped playing club at the end of this past season. I wish I thought about it more before we got started. I agree that good relationships were made because of soccer and that others suffered. If I had to do it again I would not have had my kids play club. Both of them were mid tier players with no possibility of getting any financial return or leg up from club soccer. If you child is not on the top team you should think about this long and hard, it is a big commitment of time and money.

[Unregistered]

Our only goal is for our child to be the best player they can be. Who knows where it will lead, if anywhere? One cannot know this ahead of time.

Club soccer is absolutely not for everyone. But, for serious/dedicated/soccer obsessed/driven kids, it is a perfect fit. Again -- that is not most kids. But it is ours.

Also, I guard against burnout as one of my top priorities. No organized soccer in the summer (playing in the yard, of course).

Agree, people should think about what they and their players want from this experience. Organized sports can teach so much!

[Unregistered]

Looks like this is your 3rd attempt at starting a discussion about this 3 year old article:

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/showth...highlight=race

http://talking-soccer.com/TS4/showth...highlight=race

Not much activity on either thread, 10 and 4 responses respectively. Can't you take a hint?

OP here and I'm not the OP of either of the prior threads, nor did I take the time to search through the archives here looking for them, only a vague recollection that this topic had been discussed.

[Unregistered]

As a parent of two former players. The last one stopped playing club at the end of this past season. I wish I thought about it more before we got started. I agree that good relationships were made because of soccer and that others suffered. If I had to do it again I would not have had my kids play club. Both of them were mid tier players with no possibility of getting any financial return or leg up from club soccer. If you child is not on the top team you should think about this long and hard, it is a big commitment of time and money.

Couldnt agree more...my son was similar and after playing for three years he figured it out on his own and gave up club soccer with the season that just concluded. he will now just play middle school and for his town team exclusively where he and his buddies will play a game they still love but cheer on the friends that are still playing club and actually have a shot at playing to a higher level. Happy to get back some time and money going forward