As the old prospector said: There gold in them thar hills, real gold, it’s called kids playing sports. The business of youth sports is the 800-pound gorilla in the room that is never talked about. Do the math – a soccer club with 1,000 members that charges $500.00 per player is not unusual. So the directors of these clubs have a vested interest in playing more games or matches. AAU Basketball is big time business with shoe contracts and huge travel budgets. They are all selling the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. They are feeding the parent’s fantasy. Telling parents that that if little Johnny plays for them and takes extra lessons at $50.00 a session (After all we know you need 10,000 hours to make it to the NFL or NBA) Johnny will be the next Lionel Messi or Tim Tebow.
I am not against free enterprise, we all have to make a living, but this does feel quite right. It is adults using kids for financial gain. Folks this is no longer a bake sale operation. The “coaches” make much more that the average high school coach or teacher and they are really not accountable to anyone. They are killing high school sports. This might be the root of the whole problem. I know I am old school, but I would like to see sports for kids back in the elementary, middle and high schools with trained teachers as coaches. I know that with all the financial restraints in education that this would difficult, if not impossible, but we have to find a way. Sports are part of the education process; they are an outgrowth of physical education that is physical and educational. There is more to youth sport than preparing to for a scholarship. There are lessons of teamwork, fair play, learning to lose and win with grace that must be part of the process. I don’t see much of this in the club sport phenomenon that exists today. Let’s bring some sanity to all this and let the kids be kids and save the parents money so they can take a family vacation and sit around the dinner table and have a conversation with the family meal. Old school values, I hope not.
nfl fans
As the old prospector said: There gold in them thar hills, real gold, it’s called kids playing sports. The business of youth sports is the 800-pound gorilla in the room that is never talked about.