Coaches regularly emphasize the importance of being humble, and many youth sport coaches identify humility as a cornerstone to the foundation of their team. Always respect the opponent, display sportsmanship, and don’t brag about your accomplishments are common messages coaches send to kids, with the end goal being a team of kids who stay grounded and pull for one another. All of this is great, of course, but what happens when we increasingly more today pick kids for “elite” or “premier” teams? Is it simple semantics with no potential negative effects, or does it set up kids (many who still haven’t hit puberty, and none who have established mature, adult cognition) to see themselves as better than the other kids? In other words, are adults manufacturing a false sense of superiority for club kids—unintentionally driving away other non-club kids who see it as arrogance?
Sports & semantics
By definition, the term elite is defined as superior in terms of ability, quality, rank, or skill compared to the rest of a group or society. While it is understandable that a sport club team use words like elite and premier to separate from the competition and attract kids, it is important to examine the overall impact of assigning those descriptors to pre-teen kids still trying to find their way in life. Empowering kids to feel good about themselves is certainly a worthwhile pursuit, but creating an artificial paradigm that club sport kids are worlds better than the competition may actually create bigger psychological problems. When other kids begin to perceive the “elite” kid as thinking he or she is better than everyone else, onlookers will often respond with jealousy, envy, and resentment. These reactions by kids often occur naturally, but they are even more apt to occur when teams self-title with descriptors like “elite,” rather than a more innocuous names like Big Bats Baseball Club, or Scoring Machine Soccer Club.
Kids who play for elite and premier teams become even more vulnerable to backlash when adults (coaches and parents) do not take the time to unpack what a select team is — and isn’t. Yes, kids who make select teams generally show a greater potential and/or proficiency for their sport, but that is about it. Their selection does not mean they will eventually play pro sports, earn a college athletic scholarship, or even stay with the sport one year from now! It also does not mean these kids are better as human beings, more intelligent, more likely for success beyond sports, or more likely to earn millions of dollars. No, it simply means that a kid is a little better than average at a specific sport at this particular life station.
It can be a heavy burden for kids to carry around an “elite” tag, and then wonder what that means, and how to live up to such billing? Things get even more compounded when these superior clubs professionalize and gear up kids with multiple uniforms, travel gear, and other related branded pieces of equipment. If kids feel as though they are almost pro athletes, it becomes very difficult for them to stay humble and keep two feet on the ground without appropriate adult guidance.
So how do we empower and build kids up, but do so in a way that doesn’t also create an unwanted arrogance? How do we help kids feel pride being part of a select team, but also humble enough to keep two feet on the ground? How do we prioritize sportsmanship and humility, but then at the same time brand “elite” all over their uniforms, bags, equipment, and other related gear? And perhaps most importantly, how do we help kids understand the great odds they face trying to play college sports, while the adults around them (coaches and parents) get caught up in all the “elite” and “premier” hype themselves?
Final thoughts
Pumping kids up is fine, but creating an illusion that they are mini professional athletes far superior to their peers is not a great message to send. Instead, naming club teams in more generic ways can still be fun, but leave kids less vulnerable to their peers seeing them as pompous and arrogant. Why divide kids up and put them in boxes, when they can still play “elite” competition, but not self-tag as “elite” and bring on unnecessary scrutiny? Create a fun name and keep the team exclusive, but steer the focus away from arrogant sounding team names that invite jealousy and division.
drstankovich.com
