It has now been a few weeks since the article I contributed to was front page news regarding the downfalls of early sport specialization and the winning at all costs focus of youth sports.

Since that time, I have spoken at two different events, been interviewed on radio, TV, have had a college professor reach out to me to collaborate on a project and even one of the oldest youth sports org in the US reach out to me as well as daily reach outs via email, text and social media.

Needless to say, it has been a whirlwind few weeks, and it has made me realize more than ever how much work we have ahead of us to stop the madness to reverse the negative trends of early sport specialization.

Simply put, it is the WRONG pathway for any child that aspires to reach the highest level of their respective sport other than a few like figure skating, gymnastics, or artistic “sports” like ballet, highland dancing.

Hot off the presses is the recent NFL draft, 91% of those drafted in the first round (29/32) were multi-sport athletes.

 

 

Also to note, that players athletic index (PAI) has also increased year over year, now 3.9 (very close to being ranked outstanding 4-5.0) vs. 3.78 2014-2018 average

It is very apparent since the digital edition in the Vancouver Sun continues to go viral worldwide, the writer shared with me that it is still one of the top 3 articles in April viewed by readers.

Why?

Because even those that have been arguing against specialization have gotten caught up in the madness as we all aspire for our son or daughter to become the best THEY can be (not THE BEST.)

The sad reality is even though we believe as parents that our sons who are playing AAA hockey (like my son did), Rep Softball (like my daughter did) are amongst 100’s of thousands that do so every year.  Some may be early bloomers who are “selected or recruited” by the sports entrepreneurs (private clubs, academies) and “sell” parents that they have the potential to play collegiately, professionally as early as 7 years old.

Less than 2% of those playing youth sports will play varsity (college), less than 1% will play professionally and the % of those that go the Olympics is almost unmeasurable.

We (as in the parents) also get pressured by fellow parents of our son or daughter’s friends who are playing at their competitive level and do whatever we can to help them reach there.

We sign them up for extra development, off-season camps, even one on one sessions at a great expense to help them develop their core skills.  We do so because many organizations that “claim” they are focusing on development show their ugly face when it comes to game play and run short benches to win tournaments, games even though at the end of the day many are meaningless in the overall scheme of things.

We (as in parents and coaches) also put unrealistic pressure on the athletes who may not report they sustained injuries as they may lose their starting spot on competitive teams that lead to Rowan Stringer not sharing with her coach or parents but only texting her friend “nothing can stop me .. unless I am dead” and played in a subsequent game, that proved to be her last, less than a week later of suffering a concussion.

 

The latter was fatal and as a result, Ontario is now going thru the process of passing “Rowan’s Law” which coincidentally goes hand in hand with one of the overuse injuries that kids are suffering from early sport specialization in Hockey, Football and Rugby; Concussions.

It calls for:

• Medical clearance of all concussed athletes before they return to play
• Mandatory concussion education for all athletes, parents and coaches
• The immediate removal of a young athlete from play if a concussion is suspected
• Strict adherence to return-to-learn and return-to-play protocols for all youth athletes with concussions.

While we were going thru the new Rowan’s Law in the breakout session at the 2018 Ontario Coaches Conference, one of the coaches shared how she had a player come to the bench complaining of being woozy as they had hit their head against another player’s in a basketball game.  She then had the players Dad come to the player’s bench when she was going thru concussion protocol with the player and he insisted at the top of his lungs with language not appropriate for many that his son get back into the game.  The coach, also male, did the same, putting the female assistant coach/teacher in a very difficult situation as felt bullied by the two men.

WHAT?  REALLY?

Not only are players, official’s victims of verbal abuse, but at times, so are coaches due to the unrealistic expectations that parents have regarding their child’s potential of playing collegiately or professionally.  This should not even be an issue, parents should trust that the coaches have their children’s best interests at heart and will adhere to do not harm principle but thanks to our winning at all costs culture even those that do are being bullied.

Every time I hear one of these sad stories, just as I did when I was in the breakout session, I say to myself .. WHEN ARE WE GOING TO STOP THE MADNESS?

The behavior that we see almost daily in social and traditional media with emotional parents, coaches being verbally abusive and even threatening physical abuse towards players, officials, co-coaches or other parents MUST COME TO AN END.

I also have questioned why all the governing bodies continue to focus on new initiatives like increasing female participation and leadership, the inclusion of indigenous, LGBTQ communities as it does not appear that NO ONE is taking the firm stance to STOP THE MADNESS.

All we are doing by promoting participation for other potential user groups that have not have the same opportunities is for them to come into a broken system only to get a sour taste in their mouths as well that will lead to further attrition.

The female coach/teacher I referenced above is one who shared that she is thinking twice about being a coach next year as a result of the abuse she took from a parent and a fellow coach.  SHE is just one of the small % of female coaches we have in all sports,  approx. only 15% of coaches are female.  This is not to say I am not advocating female participation, leadership, far from it. I believe we have a long ways to go to remove the gender inequality but to have those that aspire or willing to put their hands up to coach is just going to scare more away.

We are at the crossroad where we first must FIX the problems that exist in youth sports so that it will be a positive experience for ALL.  We don’t need any more campaigns, initiatives, PDF documents to then move on to the next campaign a year later, we need to stop turning a blind eye, sweeping it under the rug and ACT NOW like the governing bodies in Ontario bringing in legislation to STOP THE MADNESS.

Let’s all work together to bring the game back to the kids…. Where it belongs