Agree or disagree? Kids should only play travel sports if they have college or pro potential

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I understand how they'd could be family time, but what about the siblings and what they might want? Do they have to go all the time? What if they just want to hang out with their friends or something?

Yeah, I think a lot of sporty parents have a blind spot when it comes to their non-athlete kids. They would never, for example, drag the athletic kid out to a D&D convention if that's what the non-athletic kid wanted to do on a Saturday.

I really do not understand why people think this kind of thing is specific to sports. One of my neighbors has a teenage daughter who is an amazing pianist. The youngest sibling totally gets dragged to her concerts and competitions all over the place even though that child does not play.

I know it's not sports specific, but are they thinking about the other siblings? What if they don't want to be dragged around? Don't you think they could have resentment towards the other child?

Well sure but people on this thread are trying to argue that there’s something unique about sports parents and how terrible they are. When in reality it’s something that can happen with any activity. The particular vitriol towards sports is very strange.

I think sports are targeted because they're so prevalent compared to, say, school orchestra or theater. Certainly, sports parents seem to believe their preferred activity is somehow morally superior, based on so many posts on here.

It's baffling that you seem to think sports even need to be targeted. Worry about your own life.

It's baffling to you that some people might think sports are a little too influential in American society?

More than “a little too influential;” sports are extremely influential. And harmful.

Equity in our society is harmed by the sports policies of cutting players, based merely on perceived ability.

And these are children we are discussing. What message does this send to our children ??

This is a joke, right???

OP is just a troll, trying to keep his troll thread going with outlandish statements.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand how they'd could be family time, but what about the siblings and what they might want? Do they have to go all the time? What if they just want to hang out with their friends or something?

Yeah, I think a lot of sporty parents have a blind spot when it comes to their non-athlete kids. They would never, for example, drag the athletic kid out to a D&D convention if that's what the non-athletic kid wanted to do on a Saturday.

I really do not understand why people think this kind of thing is specific to sports. One of my neighbors has a teenage daughter who is an amazing pianist. The youngest sibling totally gets dragged to her concerts and competitions all over the place even though that child does not play.

I know it's not sports specific, but are they thinking about the other siblings? What if they don't want to be dragged around? Don't you think they could have resentment towards the other child?

Well sure but people on this thread are trying to argue that there’s something unique about sports parents and how terrible they are. When in reality it’s something that can happen with any activity. The particular vitriol towards sports is very strange.

I think sports are targeted because they're so prevalent compared to, say, school orchestra or theater. Certainly, sports parents seem to believe their preferred activity is somehow morally superior, based on so many posts on here.

It's baffling that you seem to think sports even need to be targeted. Worry about your own life.

It's baffling to you that some people might think sports are a little too influential in American society?

More than “a little too influential;” sports are extremely influential. And harmful.

Equity in our society is harmed by the sports policies of cutting players, based merely on perceived ability.

And these are children we are discussing. What message does this send to our children ??

This is a joke, right???

OP is just a troll, trying to keep his troll thread going with outlandish statements.

I really don't think it's right to call people's opinions and statements outlandish. They might be true.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I understand how they'd could be family time, but what about the siblings and what they might want? Do they have to go all the time? What if they just want to hang out with their friends or something?

Yeah, I think a lot of sporty parents have a blind spot when it comes to their non-athlete kids. They would never, for example, drag the athletic kid out to a D&D convention if that's what the non-athletic kid wanted to do on a Saturday.

I really do not understand why people think this kind of thing is specific to sports. One of my neighbors has a teenage daughter who is an amazing pianist. The youngest sibling totally gets dragged to her concerts and competitions all over the place even though that child does not play.

I know it's not sports specific, but are they thinking about the other siblings? What if they don't want to be dragged around? Don't you think they could have resentment towards the other child?

Well sure but people on this thread are trying to argue that there’s something unique about sports parents and how terrible they are. When in reality it’s something that can happen with any activity. The particular vitriol towards sports is very strange.

I think sports are targeted because they're so prevalent compared to, say, school orchestra or theater. Certainly, sports parents seem to believe their preferred activity is somehow morally superior, based on so many posts on here.

It's baffling that you seem to think sports even need to be targeted. Worry about your own life.

It's baffling to you that some people might think sports are a little too influential in American society?

More than “a little too influential;” sports are extremely influential. And harmful.

Equity in our society is harmed by the sports policies of cutting players, based merely on perceived ability.

And these are children we are discussing. What message does this send to our children ??

Thank you. As a teacher who hears constantly about equity and a sports parent, this made my night. I laughed out loud for real when I read it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you disagree, please share why you're willing to put up with the expense, the travel, and the crazy parents.

Disagree in some cases. For the player who wants to play at a competitive HS, the competition and repition they get on a travel team may be necessary to improve enough to be able to play on their competitive HS teams. For example, the best HS lax players played travel lax. The best HS baseball players played on the best travel teams. For basketball, AAU teams. I hate that is it is almost necessary to play at that level to be able to get playing time or even make your HS team, and it interferes with their ability to play multiple sports, but that seems to be the case at some schools. I'm think in particular of large all-boys schools, but it's not limited to that. There are off-season "club" versions of sports that I didn't realize were even out there, including wrestling and cross country.

[Anonymous]

I would answer the question two ways:
1) As a parent and former collegiate athlete, I believe sports do a lot for young people in terms of building confidence, finding and creating friendships, time management, performance feedback cycles, dealing with setbacks/adversity, finding limits, and encouraging a healthy lifestyle. There is a benefit to playing with others that are similarly committed to the sport.

2) As a former youth coach I have seen many players go on to play sports in college. Some of those players you could tell immediately that they were special. But there were other players that didn’t make travel until later or started on lower teams that wound up division 1 athletes. Similarly there were standout young players that didn’t play sports in college. You can’t tell at a young age whether a player will have a collegiate level of ability, athleticism, and commitment in that sport.