It’s an unending global construct most adults don’t have the drive, ethics, discipline, knowledge, capacity, or selflessness to build out and consistently act upon.
“Youth development isn’t just checking a box.
It’s not just an ‘extra hitting lesson’.
Youth development is a global construct.
It’s an unending process most adults don’t have the drive, ethics, discipline, knowledge, capacity, or selflessness to build out and consistently act upon.”
-Ray Zingler on X
The youth development model we use here in America is..
We don’t have one.
Ask a general parent of a youth athlete to clearly define the model.
They can’t do it.
Not because they’re dumb, but because it doesn’t exist.
Essentially how it goes:
Parents inject their kids into their favorite sports when they were kids or sports they like watching.
Therefore, you see baseball fields littered with 3-5yo kids, who more times than not are miserable.
Obviously, not because baseball is a bad game, but do you honestly think they’re having fun standing around?
It’s for this reasonsports like gymnastics and parkour, even soccer are far better choices, initially, because not only are they more fun and engaging, they’re better for their overall athletic development, too.
But dad wants a pro baseball player, so “go get ‘em sport”.
From there, as our kids reach the 7-12 range, we say audibly that we’ll let them “try them all” but we don’t.
We steer them to what we like or what makes the most sense logistically, or, my most favorite, what everybody else is doing.
And it’s in this phase that we are subconsciously tying our kids’ identities to a specific sport or 2.
And the year-round wolves are keenly aware of this, which is why it is around this time, they come out to feast.
“Commit now or be left behind!”
Don’t believe me? Try to get on a “quality” travel ball team at 13, if you’ve not committed to travel ball. It’s “too late” those rosters (more importantly the fees from the players) are plum full.
Then we spend careers nursing burn out and overuse injuries, wishing it was different, but not having the energy to do anything about it.
Most walk away by the age of 14 (go figure) and all, but a microscopic portion, are done by 18.
Where was the development?
When did it take place?
It didn’t.
And the reason it doesn’t and will continue not to is because anti-development is more profitable for the adults on the other side who don’t have the drive, ethics, discipline, knowledge, capacity, or selflessness to build out & consistently act upon.
And well, we’re at where we’re at in youth sports today because of it.
