And then encourage behavior that is completely counter to their development.
“As a coach, you can’t say ‘you want what’s best for the kids development..’
If all you do is pigeon hole them into what’s most financially beneficial for yourself.
They’re not going to hold you accountable?
Personal accountability is the anchor tenant of integrity.”
-Ray Zingler on X
How can you say you want what’s best for the kids, but not encourage behavior that is best for the kids?
If your cry is you “think” what you’re asking them to do is what’s best because you don’t know any better, well that’s called ignorance.
As a consumer, think about it.
I mean really think about it.
Do you truly think this year round narrative of endless practices, games, tournaments, school teams, travel team(s), showcases, sport specific instruction, & etc. is what is best for developing youth athletes?
Or do you think that maybe, just maybe, the people who have made a career off the backs of our kids recognized that if they could pin their ideology of 12-month per year specificity onto the kids, they could have predictable income year-round, instead of only seasonally?
If you’re unsure, here’s a simple exercise you can do to clear any doubts.
Take away all the money.
Is practice from 8pm-10pm on Thursday night’s?
Are they pushing that “essential” (9th one) tournament in late July.
Are they “requiring” additional lessons on top of the practices they’re prescribing to be on their team. (The fact that we must sell additional instruction to, remember, “elite” players, is wild to me.)
The answer to all these questions is of course not.
While there is obviously nothing wrong with the youth sports industry being a business, what does matter is being physiologically sound in developmental behavior recommendations, authenticity, & integrity.
There is not an inkling of positive literature that defends the abundance of sport specificity our modern kids are subjected to today. Not one iota.
There is however, ready for it, an ABUNDANCE of literature that speaks to the negatives of the grotesque volumes of specificity we see today.
But most look away because, “well that other kid is doing it.” Or, “our coach recommended we do this.”
I’d probably recommend year-round sport and lessons, too, if I had an $1100 truck payment, I was a slave to every month.
If we want what is best for the kids, we must learn what the best is for kids.
And then we must act on it.
And like most things in life, what’s best isn’t what they’re feeding you on the surface.
