Many “elite” youth sport clubs and academies promote themselves heavily on things like “college preparation,” and “attracting the best college coaches to scout your kid.” Often these marketing messages are geared toward the parents of very young kids (under age 12), and hyped in a way that if you want to see your kid one day play college sports, then you better join our program ASAP! For some parents this messaging is exactly what they had hoped for, but for many other parents the focus is too narrow, too serious, and simply not their goal for a youth sport experience. These parents instead desire good coaching and instruction, nice facilities, and other amenities that add to the overall youth sport experience — but the success of the experience has nothing to do with college coaches watching, or even a future college athletic opportunity. While the assumption is that every kid that joins an “elite” sports club wants to eventually earn a full-ride athletic scholarship, the reality is most kids simply want to play, and these days with so many recreation leagues folding, the only place left to play is through a club or travel team.
What if you don’t care if college coaches see your kid?
It wasn’t that long ago that communities across America offered youth sport opportunities for just about every sport right up until kids could join their local high school team. Because there weren’t “elite” sport clubs, all the kids in a community interested in a sport played for the same recreation league — and the competition was quite good! These days, however, recreation leagues are often looked at as only for the worst kids, and any kid with even a hint of talent would be playing club sports instead. While there are lots of things wrong with that assumption, the reality is that today’s kids often can’t find sport opportunities that are not automatically geared to turn kids into miniature professional players, trained and ready for D1 sports.
All of that is good for the hyper-intense family trying to help their kid “make it” in sports, but what about all the other kids forced to play at an intense level simply because there isn’t anything else to choose? These families could care less about college coach scouts, or anything else designed to help their kid get the attention of a college sports team. Still, they are regularly marketed to this way, and the price to join the club is commensurate with this focus.
While the assumption is that every kid that joins an “elite” sports club wants to eventually earn a full-ride athletic scholarship, the reality is most kids simply want to play…
What if you don’t care about college sports, or creating a family schedule that allows for the best possible opportunity to earn a future athletic scholarship? What if your child simply loves a sport for the sake of playing the sport, and nothing more? What if as a family you see sport participation as a great way for your child to improve her physical and mental health and meet new friends, yet the entire focus is instead about intensity, winning, and being seen by college coaches?
For families that are all-in on making it as far as possible, there are plenty of elite clubs and organizations to join. On the other hand, kids who simply want to play and have fun face entirely different concerns with so few recreation leagues today. There is most definitely a gap here between “all in” and “balloons and streamers” seen in entry leagues — the kids in between that just want to play without all the expectations are most definitely being overlooked in this moment.
Final thoughts
If you are a parent hoping to prepare your child for college athletics, you won’t find any trouble locating elite clubs, programs, and coaches in your area. If, however, you simply want to find youth sport opportunities that offer good competition, but without the hyper-college focus, your options may be very limited. While it is true that some kids want to do everything they can to make it to college, many others play sports for the physical and mental health benefits, to make new friends, and to fill their schedule with things beyond sedentary activities likes phones, screens, and video games.
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