Comments on: You know, for kids

By: krm

krm — Wed, 21 May 2008 21:29:19 +0000

Klasko – My kids were both high level competitive athletes, and due to good, ethical coaches learned the good lessons about teamwork and sportmanship as well as geting desired results through hard work.

The coaching determines much of the benefit (or detriment) to competitve sports.

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By: klasko

klasko — Wed, 21 May 2008 12:23:36 +0000

I’m with Kathy on this one. Sports aren’t what they used to be. The stuff Ive seen more often than not is so competitive that it’s win at any cost. I have not seen a lot of sportsmanship – something I was brought up with – maybe I’m dating myself. You don’t see a lot of sandlot baseball anymore where kids play for the fun of it. Now it’s all organized sports. Nowadays what I see is win at all costs and a lot of sore losers. Practice schedules are as rigorous as the homework load they bring home every night. I see travel teams that cut inferior players and parents who figure this is Little Johnny and Little Susie’s ticket to that all important sports scholarship at college. (Because they sure don’t hand out many scholarships for academics these days unless you happen to be part of a minority or in financial need – but that’s for another thread).
What today’s athlets are learning is cutthroat competition and that’s what makes them successful in the corporate world. And it is at the expense of our soul.

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By: hrw

hrw — Wed, 21 May 2008 03:03:14 +0000

Its an interesting theory and versions of it have been stated before but …. the lack of data on European participation makes it difficult to question its validity. Canada has the same rate of community sports but doesn’t have the same social attitudes nor does Australia which probably tops all countries in athletic participation.

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By: Kathy

Kathy — Wed, 21 May 2008 00:12:11 +0000

I don’t buy it.

Young athletes learn the formula for success in a market-based system.

This statement from the article says it all.The question though is, “What is success?” If you define success as making money and moving up in the company then I suppose it works. But if, as I think most on this sight believe, that success is caring about others and being an true imitator of Christ; I think sports fail. My mother hardly ever gets to see her grandkids (my niece and nephews) because their sport schedule doesn’t allow them time to come up on weekends and they’re too far (about a two hour drive) to just come for the evening. Way too many groups schedule games and practices on Sunday morning when the family should be at church. When sports are more important than church, what message is being sent?

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By: kBells

kBells — Tue, 20 May 2008 21:14:03 +0000

This looks like as good a place as my to brag that my baby got his first coach pitched hit (as opposed to hitting off a tee)in his rag ball game last night. One of only two kids in the whole game to get one.

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By: michelle

michelle — Tue, 20 May 2008 20:53:24 +0000

Thanks for posting the horrible NYT magazine article, Harris. Between them, my daughter-in-law and her sister–both outstanding college volleyball players–have had 5 ACL repairs. My daughter-in-law’s health has been compromised for life and it is hard to think about without getting weepy. I’ve forwarded a copy on to several super parents I know, as well as my daughter’s VB coach.

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By: Harris

Harris — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:49:07 +0000

Nice article.

I would think that part of the impact of the sports is the physicality of it. Mind and body do really go together ( a reason why we should also be worried about the disappearance of gym in school).

Another useful article on this topic was The Uneven Playing Field in last weeks NYT Magazine, detailing the impact of injuries on young women.

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By: NJLawyer

NJLawyer — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:34:27 +0000

The Europeans sound so depressed.

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By: TJ

TJ — Tue, 20 May 2008 17:15:02 +0000

Ah, a “Hudsucker Proxy” reference. Didn’t we have another one of those a few days ago?

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By: EYG

EYG — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:35:23 +0000

In the new world, hard work could help you get ahead.
Back then, in Europe, you could work very, very hard but you were in a dead end and pretty much confined to your station in life.

These are generalizations, but I bet they hold true for the most part.

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