Youth Sports

In the news is the claim that youth sports has a tremendous positive impact on those that participate.  Interesting stuff considering all the negative influences that lurk for young people today.  Yet, my initial reaction was that the conclusions drawn by these authors is a bit too far reaching in its praise.

The premise they build is that young people who play sports are much more likely to be successful (based on career earnings).  The rationale is that athletes come to appreciate competition and because of the work they exert they come to appreciate that hard work, not luck, determines their success.

Some questions I have. First, can't young people challenge themselves in endeavors other than sports (and I love sports and played them as a child).  If anything, I see this as an indictment on schools for making learning so trivial (by promoting values in popularity and social interaction among peers) that sports is a lone outlet to express themselves in a way that challenges them. No doubt, many a young person who has run afoul of basic social norms has found a safe haven in organized sports.  I would think (and I have seen it in my own kids) that at age 14, 15, and 16 people can get fully engaged in non-athletic activities that challenge them improve and measure themselves against others (e.g., writing books, starting businesses, drawing, sewing, experimenting, Eagle Scouts, etc. etc.).  The problem is that K-12, with a few exceptions, completely stifles this type of engagement, instead spending time getting kids ready for tests [which by the way is an unfortunate byproduct of the school culture where many a student challenges themselves to be a good student not for learning sake but for the competition of getting grades].

Secondly, not mentioned in the article are possible negatives to youth sports.  In general, I think they are quite positive; but like any good they can taken too seriously and too often.  Are families being controlled by youth activities (not just sports) so that young people have little time other than going from activity to activity.  Are all the people in youth soccer really using it as a platform to improve themselves and engage in useful competition or are some of them simply using it as one more thing to take up their time -- so they don't have to account for free time to do things like reading and helping out with the family chores?

Well anyway, on to other current events:  Our seniors and many graduate students officially graduate tomorrow . . . I look forward to seeing them get recognized for the commitment to finishing their degree.  Congrats to them.