As I look back over my childhood, my memories revolve mostly around sports. I played baseball thru minor league, and basketball thru 8th grade before realizing that I was way better at stats than on the field or court. I completely lacked coordination. My brother and sister on the other hand, they were the athletes. Don’t get me wrong, I was still part of the teams. My parents coached and sat on every board of every sport that us kids played. We had birthdays with our teams, and even spent holidays with them. I truly felt like I had this whole extended family that wasn’t blood but were cheering me on in life anyway.

As a result of sports, I know how to work as part of a team, how to build those around me up when they need it, and how to work thru failure. These skills in my opinion make me a more valuable adult in the work force!

Because of these memories, I couldn’t wait for my kids to be old enough to start playing sports. We have had great experiences and not so great experiences.

What have I learned so far as a parent of kids in sports?

I fear that we are pricing kids out of sports.

Gone are the days of rec leagues where you can get your kid on a team for a reasonable fee and everything is provided. Where all that kid has to do is put in the hard work of learning to be a good teammate and athlete.

And it’s our generation’s fault. How many of you played sports where you were assigned a uniform at the beginning of the season that you were responsible for, and had to turn back in at the end of the season? I know that was the case all the way thru graduation for all the teams myself and my siblings participated in? Guess what, it didn’t kill us. Am I heart broken that I didn’t have my name on shirts from every team I ever participated in. Hell no! So tell me why is it that our children have to have uniforms with their names on them that they get to keep in order for them to feel like they are part of the team?

There’s no concept of winning and losing until it’s almost too late.

Kids learn things so much faster than adults. That’s why they say you should start teaching them multiple languages at an early age.

Let’s use t-ball as an example. There are no outs and everyone bats every inning no matter how many kids, and all kids have to play every inning….Now last time I checked there are 9-10 positions on a diamond so by having all the kids play all the time means they don’t learn positions. If they are lucky when they leave t-ball the can maybe hit off a pitcher and hopefully have the basics of playing catch. They certainly don’t know where to throw the ball when it is hit to them. This idea that the rules should change at every level just makes it too confusing for the kids and coaches.

No scores and everyone winning all the time just means that they never face failure or loss. The concept of winning teachings you what hard work results in. Risk and reward.

Final thoughts?

Let’s take a step back for a minute and think about this logically. If you were to go to work, and instead of doing your job, you sat and did nothing for 8 hours what would happen? Would your boss say good job see you tomorrow? More than likely you wouldn’t have a job anymore. So why do we as a generation think that we should be teaching our kids that they should be rewarded for nothing, and that everyone is a winner all the time? That you won’t strike out, or that that missed shot that lost the game didn’t happen? What was so wrong with our childhoods that we want to deprive our children of those lessons?

As an adult, I realize that the friends that I still have from high school are all from sports. They were the people I spent early Saturdays and late bus rides with. The ones that showed up for birthday parties at baseball fields after games and in locker rooms!

I have stepped up and coached, as well as sat on boards and committees, and I will continue to do these things for my children! I choose to be part of the solution by participating because most of these sports are volunteer run!