Wow! We’re going to play 100 games this summer, own 6 different sets of uniforms, and travel over 5,000 miles for games! What an ideal summer for my athletic child, right?
Is this an ideal summer? Truthfully, that question is impossible to answer before fully understanding the role of athletics in your child’s life. For a very select few kids, the summer I just described could lead to eventual positive outcomes by means of a future college athletic scholarship, and even a pro sport opportunity. In these examples the kids have exceptional athletic talent, clear goals, family support, and strong motivation. But what about all the other kids playing sports (the vast majority)? Does the hyper-committed schedule work the same for them? This group includes kids who simply play sports for fun, with talent that ranges from a little below to a little above average. Is this the best way to spend a summer, or would a more balanced approach that includes non-sport experiences and activities be a better choice?
Selecting summer sport schedules
Should all kids today play on professional sport schedules? Absolutely not! But this is trend we are seeing today, where increasingly more kids are signing up for “elite” sport organizations (often in name only) and playing a ton of games. Breaking this schedule down, however, shows that kids who follow this pattern often deal with the following concerns:
- A super-busy schedule that leaves little time for anything else.
- Increased chances for sport-related injuries, including serious injuries like concussions and ACL tears.
- Varying playing time, as club/elite teams are supposed to have many other talented kids, leaving only so many opportunities to play (compared to recreation leagues where kids get a ton of playing time).
- Mental health concerns, including anxiety and undeveloped stress coping to deal with new stressors.
- Sport burnout, almost guaranteed to occur at some point as kids simply aren’t wired to play a adult professional sport schedule.
Sure, flexing on the fact that your child plays on an elite team may be cool, but is that experience truly delivering on the needs of your child? Yeah, the uniforms are flashy, but how is that adding to your child’s sport skill set? When you talk to experts, including former players and coaches, they will almost always tell you that the best thing you can do for your child and sports is to keep it fun, and find as many opportunities as possible to get reps and develop fundamentals. As your child enjoys the sport and gets better, then look for advanced opportunities to improve — but really work on those fundamentals first!
Another way you might look at it using an academic example — your child would not go from Introduction to Math right into Advanced Calculus, as there are many incremental steps between basic and advanced math. Similarly, sport skill advancement is scaled the same way, with the ideal approach being to master the basics, then move up a step at a time to allow for skill mastery and greater self-confidence. When families chase swag, travel, and prestige, they may be missing out on the real experiences needed to reach maximum athletic potential.
Final thoughts
At the end of the day when it comes to youth sports, kids need reps, not frequent flier miles. While it is exciting to feel the hype of a so-called big name program, if your kid doesn’t get to play a lot you may actually be setting your kid back, not forward. Additionally, playing a ton of games over a summer can leave your child at much greater risk for serious injuries, sport burnout, and even premature quitting — things that will quickly curtail your child’s fun and investment into sports. Finally, fun keeps kids playing sports, and confidence is what motivates them to play harder — putting too much on kids too early can zap the fun, and leave them on the bench watching better skilled kids play instead of them.
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