Quote:
Originally Posted by Iowanian
When I've coached younger age groups, I've had 3 rules that I tell the kids and make them repeat at practices or before games.
1. have fun
2. do your best-try as hard as you can
3. If you do 1 and 2, good things will happen.
Some of the things above are not age appropriate, and that stuff is problematic.
I'm still on the fence about the value of the "highly competitive" travel stuff for kids under 10. It puts a lot of pressure on these kids and probably takes the fun out of it....and we wonder why there is such a drop off in participation when the kids get to the age to compete for their schools.
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The problem with highly competitive sports is the time demands. We're getting there with gymnastics (she spends 8 hours/week at the damn gym).
And you want them playing/doing as many things as they show an interest in. Well if you're in competitive soccer - you aren't going to have time for basketball. If you want to do high level softball, gymnastics is out.
And so many of those activities have components to them that will help in other sports. So you hate sacrificing one for the other. But ultimately the way youth sports have gone, you pretty much have to. I mean when the local HS Baseball team is coached by a guy who also coaches a competitive traveling team, how do you think you're gonna make the high school squad when that coach has 20 kids he knows trying out as well that he's worked with all summer and has worked with them for 3-4 years?
It's really a cruddy little conundrum. I guess the answer is club teams but that's not the full high school athletics experience either, IMO. I loved gamedays in high school; wearing the letter jacket and football jersey on Fridays and feeling like a big swinging dick even though I knew I was riding the bench. The comradery of coming in on Monday and talking about the game with your schoolmates is just different.