coachmccormick
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Re:They get younger and younger and... - 2006/08/04 06:43
In an article emailed to me today, Bobby Dodd, president and CEO of AAU, defends its youth sports championships:
"The media likes to spin it that we've added the younger age groups and that you're going to die and go to hell for letting these little kids play," Dodd said. "But little kids have played sports as long as I can remember. Why is this such a big deal?"
It's a big deal because it's no longer about play. Now, adult values are super imposed on children and winning and performance is valued over fun and play.
"I would ask (critics) to show me who certified them an expert," Dodd said. "Last time I checked, there's no university out there that offers a degree in deciding whether youth sports are bad. Most of it is personal opinion."
Every informed individual who studies youth education and/or youth sport is in agreement that the values of youth sports are out of place and too competitive too early. These experts include physiologists, sociologists, surgeons, etc. The only people who disagree are the parents caught up in the scholarship hunt and the businesspeople profiting from the weekly tournaments and leagues. So, who is a better source, a scientist who studies youth sports or a businessmen profiting from youth sports?
"You can't single out youth sports," Dodd said. "Because you can't tell me parents aren't spending time and money on spelling bees or mission trips, or whatever. Youth sports is just another chance to have family time, and for parents to watch their children succeed at something."
Family time? Is that what it's called when a son cries in the middle of the court because his dad keps yelling at him during an u-8 basketball game and he doesn't know what he wants? Or, maybe it's when the parents from one team brawl with a coach from another team after an u-11 girls AAU game? Maybe its the hours spent in the car transporting kids from practice to tournament. Yes, nothing like family time in the car devouring fast food between your AAU practice and your personal trainer.
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