Picture a sunny Saturday afternoon at the football field. Younger siblings on the playground, parents talking in the stands, concessions stand workers closing up shop; a typical Saturday. The youth league is about to wrap up the game, when we're hit with this horrible scene.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ePtTZZkaVqA&feature=related
This is, unfortunately, the ugly world of youth league sports. In an article entitled, "Who's Killing Kids' sports?," David Oliver Relin looks into the issues surrounding the violence and abuse that happen in nearly every community in America in the name of sports.
Sports are designed to give us exercise, stress relief, and a safe, fun way to pass time. However, with the advent of athletic scholarships and professional athletes in America, many parents have begun to push sports on children far too young to bear the load they are given. In his article, Relin describes many horrific stories that left children involved in recreational sports leagues injured by abusive coaches and parents. In one case, a coach actually told a kid to throw a baseball at the head of a disabled player so that he would not have to play (the thought of the coach being that the team had a better chance of winning without this particular player).
The injustice of stories like these can be overwhelming, but the state of Maine has decided to rise to the challenge of making kids' sports fun and safe again. Sports Done Right (http://www.sportsdoneright.org/custom.jsp?CPID=74&Content=Home) was started in Maine to set a high standard for sportsmanship within an entire community; students, coaches, and parents. This holistic approach to sports is a great idea, requiring parents to participate in sportsmanship to allow their children to continue playing, and teaching the kids about the value of exercise and having fun.
I think all of this is great for kids who enjoy team and field sports, but to be honest, I wasn't one of those kids. That's why I think that we should be giving kids more opportunities for exercise in different environments, such as rock climbing. I was actually in a rock climbing league pilot program in Evansville, Indiana. The program was offered through Vertical eXcape Climbing Center (http://www.verticalexcape.com/index.php?ppk=76). The league met once a week for a 2 hour practice, where we learned climbing techniques, had time to actively climb at our own skill level, and worked out muscle groups that weren't hit well climbing. This provided a great workout that was a ton of fun as well. Every month, we would also have competitions that were graded individually as well as in teams. The competitions were a blast, the staff would set us loose on all new routes and we would try our hardest to climb as many of them as we could in 2 hours. After time was up, we would sum up our 5 highest scores (based on the difficulty of the route) and the highest total score would win one of the individual categories. However, to account for varying skill levels, beginners were given "hadicaps" that allowed them to compete with climbers significantly better than they were. We also climbed in teams, summing up every member's score to fine the team's score. This meant that in any given competition, there could be up to 6 winners (1 who won by unadjusted points, 4 who won team, and 1 who won with the adjusted points scale). I think this kind of competition fostered camaraderie, and a healthy level of competition. I also had more fun climbing than I ever have in a field mindlessly throwing a ball around.
All in all, I think that kids should be able to decide what they like to do and then go do it! Parents shouldn't pressure a natural football player to climb just because they do, and a former college quarterback shouldn't push his kids to follow in his footsteps unless they genuinely want to. I know there's no way to enforce policies like this through the government, but I commend Maine for doing what they can to stop the madness of kids' sports.
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