The Downfall of Youth Sports – Part 3: The Effects of Sport Specialization

An email from our local soccer club that went out to all under 8yr. and under 9yr. families: I’m writing today to discuss the U9 (birthyear 2009) playing options this winter and for this coming spring/summer league. Our Rec soccer program will only offer U9 soccer through July 2018. After that, Rec soccer will only encompass U5-U8 ages. Any player currently playing U9 in Rec will be allowed to play U9 through Rec this summer (2018) but we would also like to extend the option of jumping onto a competitive team before the summer. We are hoping to form 1-2 MORE U9 teams on both the boys’ and girls’ sides. I’ve put together a little Q&A for parents considering jumping into Competitive (aka “Traveling”)… Q. What are the expectations of competitive? A. Players will practice 2x/week (schedule set by parent-coach), with a game 1x/week (Girls T/Th game days, Boys M/W game days). Q. What is the cost for competitive? A. Spring/Summer fees run around $200 for 8-10 weeks of league play. There are no coaches fees. Teams will decide as a group, if they wish to play in any weekend tournaments. This would be an additional cost (approx. $30/ea. tournament). [We just paid over $280 for my son to play his first season of competitive, not including tournaments – not $200]. Q. What is the cost/info on uniforms? A. Good news! We are just now ordering for the next 2 year uniform cycle. Uniforms will be in this January. There will be 3 uniform try-on options next week… [Soccer club] staff will be recording sizes and/or entering your order online (I’m not sure if they’ll be ready to enter now or not. Either way, I do not think payment is due at this moment). The cost for the full uniform kit will be around $125-130. [So, after we order uniforms we will be paying over $400 in order for my son to play summer soccer – not including tournaments, travel expenses, or extra training]. Q. What are the winter dome training options? A. Winter dome training is an optional “add on”. [Our club] would like all of our players to play 1x/week during the winter. Winter dome training would be the perfect time for your kiddo to get acquainted with the other U9/10 players. Q. Why should I consider moving my U9 to competitive this summer? A. Playing competitive this summer will give your player a season “under their belt” before the U10 competitive tryout and season. Q. How far will I have to travel for games? A. Each team will have 8-10 league games. Half will be home games. Away game locations can vary; [most locations will be within a 1/2 hr. drive]. Q. What if I have a U8 (2010) that is ready for Competitive? A. Players that have already played Rec soccer and wish to move into Competitive “early”, will be accepted, as long as there are roster spots available (and they do not take the place of a true U9 wishing to play). U8 play-ups are “first come, first served.” Q. I see no reason not to play Competitive. A. That is not a question. 🙂 Crossroads Crossroads – this is where my family is at within our youth soccer lives. In October, we were notified by our city’s soccer club that they would be discontinuing recreational soccer for kids that are nine years of age and older starting in the summer of 2019. This summer will be my son’s first year of competitive soccer. My daughter, who is currently in first grade will be forced to try-out this coming summer if she wants to be placed on a team. From here, she will be placed on a team (one of the club leaders expressed his intentions of making sure every child who tries out gets placed on a team, as they don’t want to cut players if at all possible), and will start her competitive soccer career that following fall – at 7 yrs. old. Following the fall season, players are asked to pay for additional training throughout the winter. As mentioned above – the club would like all of their players to play at least once per week throughout the off-season (winter and early spring). As soon as the snow melts, club players are out practicing again in the spring to prepare for the summer soccer season – at 7 and 8-years old. Competitive soccer: a season without end and a price increase that is six times the amount we currently pay for both of our kids to play summer and fall recreational soccer (competitive will be roughly $1,800-$2,200 to have both of our children play whereas we currently pay $300 for both children to play recreational soccer in the summer and fall). These costs for traveling sports is actually below average. According to The Aspen Institute’s “Project Play”, the average traveling team spends $2,266.00 annually on a single child’s sport. Within the past few months, I have been contacted by several parents on my soccer team that are worried about the upcoming changes. So far I have three players that don’t plan on returning. Parents can’t afford the price to play competitive soccer, they want their children to be able to participate in multiple activities throughout the year, and feel that sport specialization at young ages is not appropriate. Most of these players are girls that have been with my team for several seasons now. They are players that have grown to love the game, and who want to play, but the club expectations are too much. Declining Participation in Youth Sports These problems are not only happening in the sport of soccer. The BBC recently published an article by Tom Farrey called “Have adults ruined children’s sport?“, where a disturbing infographic depicts the sharp decline in participation in youth sports: Another image on the post depicts perfectly manicured soccer fields at one of the largest youth soccer tournaments in the United States. More than 600

The Downfall of Youth Sports – Part 2: The Effects of Not Keeping Score

Losing doesn’t make me want to quit, it makes me want to FIGHT that much HARDER.   –Bear Bryant, former football coach at University of Alabama   Continuation of the phone conversation with a leader in our city’s soccer club (see the first part of our conversation in Part 1 of this series: Overuse of Individual Skill Training here): …”May I ask you why our club is not allowing teams to keep score in the U5-U9 age brackets?” I asked the leader. “We decided to stop keeping score in the younger age brackets because the parents and coaches were becoming too competitive. Parents were getting rowdy on the sidelines, and certain coaches were not giving players fair playing time. Taking away scoring makes the game of soccer player-centered, not adult-centered. Plus, we want our youth soccer players to focus on skill development instead of winning or losing.” he replied. “I can see where you are coming from” I said,”But I have to disagree with no scoring being player-centered. Players love to keep score. When you take away scoring, the kids don’t get a chance to experience the feel of a win, and they don’t get a chance to learn how to process a loss. They don’t get to practice sportsmanship in winning and losing, and they don’t get to feel the thrill of competition. The excitement of play-offs at the end of the season has been taken away because there is no score-keeping. Instead, U5-U9 athletes play in a three-game jamboree at the end of the season where medals are awarded to every team – no winning and no losing. So, when scoring is taken away due to the behavior of adults – youth soccer becomes adult-centered, not player-centered. We need to talk to adults about their behavior instead of taking away the scoring and tournament-play from our young athletes.” Again he replied: “We’re just going to have to agree to disagree.” I’ve missed more than 9000 shots in my career. I’ve lost almost 300 games. 26 times, I’ve been trusted to take the game winning shot and missed. I’ve failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed. -Michael Jordan In Part 1 of The Downfall of Youth Sports series, I discussed the shock I felt in my first coaches meeting as I learned that my young soccer team would be involved in individual skill development training for the first 8 weeks out of the 10-week soccer season. This wasn’t the only surprise I experienced. I also learned that the club did not allow scoring during games, and would not hold play-offs due to this practice. As an elementary physical education teacher, one teaching tactic that was always a hit in the classroom was counting/scoring. In the volleyball unit, kindergarten students loved to see how many times they could bump a balloon up in the air without letting it fall to the ground. The students could have participated in this activity for the entire class period without getting bored, as they loved to try and beat their previous score. Second grade students loved to add up the points on their bowling cards at the end of the game to see who had the lowest score in the class. The older students loved to time themselves as they sprinted around the track in preparation for the all-school track meet. All students loved the pedometer unit where they would count their steps during activities – many of them running to get more steps than a friend by the end of recess. During a sporting event, every player, coach, and fan knows exactly where his or her team stands by looking at the score. The score provides a base of knowledge upon which further decisions can be made in order to be successful. In other words, score-keeping allows us to know if what we’re doing is effective. In turn, scoring is a powerful motivational tool. Zachary O. Toups, Andruid Kerne, and William Hamilton, 2009 (Texas A&M University), studied motivating play through score and found that: Score motivates game play by rewarding behavior and providing a gauge of performance, enabling comparison and competition. Players compete individually and collaboratively to maximize score. Team sports across the nation are taking scoring out of the game in hopes that players concentrate more on their skill development instead of concentrating on the score. Instead, players are less motivated to play as they have no measurement of their performance. In turn, competition declines significantly, and the need for collaboration decreases. This past summer, I coached my daughter’s U7 soccer team. At the end of the season, the soccer club put on a scoreless tournament for all of the U5-U9 teams in the club. Each team played three games, and at the end of the day, every player was given a participation medal. Even though the club did not keep score, the girls on my team kept score. The girls would have won all three games as they scored more goals than the opposing teams they played. When the girls received their medals, they couldn’t understand why all the other teams were also getting medals. I explained that each player in the tournament was given a medal at the end of the tournament for participating in the tournament. Their response: “At least we still got first place!” Each and every girl on the team came off the field at the end the day with a red face and a smile. I was proud of them for playing hard, playing well, playing fairly, and for having fun. They had decided on their own to use scoring as a means to reach their goal. Even though the club took away scoring, the girls intrinsically knew they wanted to keep score to gauge their success. When the club takes scoring away from our youth, they’re taking away something that makes each and every game meaningful – in many different ways. Participating in team sports encompasses a lot –

The Downfall of Youth Sports – Part 1: Overuse of Individual Skill Training in Team Sports

“One-hundred percent of the focus in youth sports should be on individual skill development!” exclaimed a leader in our city’s soccer club. “I completely disagree with you. How can you concentrate solely on individual skills when you are introducing the game of soccer – a team sport?” I replied. “I can guarantee you that the kids that train in our club will be able to run circles around the best players on other teams that haven’t participated in our club.” he responded. “Okay, but will your players be able to play the game? Will they be able to use the skills they have learned successfully in game-play? Will they be able to use game tactics? Will they have a bond with their teammates? How about with their coaches? Will they love playing the game?” I asked. “Our training approach works, and we are just going to have to agree to disagree.” he retorted. “Well, I feel bad for our young athletes who have to have their first soccer experience in training, because they aren’t learning the game of soccer.” When my daughter turned five-years old, I was excited to volunteer as her recreational soccer coach. I remember playing rec. soccer until I was 14 years old. We would play in the fall against teams from other schools in our school district. One practice was held per week with our soccer coach, and our games were on the often chilly Saturday mornings. I remember the sting of the ball bouncing off my legs in the freezing temperatures. Noses were red, fingers were ice-cold, but we loved it. Players of all abilities came together to learn the game of soccer, and to experience what contributing to a team felt like. The Awakening You can imagine my surprise as I sat in on my first coaches meeting for my daughter’s team and was told that the first eight weeks of our ten-week season would be spent in training. I wouldn’t be coaching. I would be watching my players rotate from drill-to-drill – spending five minutes on each skill. Not only were they rotating to different stations, they were rotating to different trainers, so there was no sense of team. Coaches were given five minutes (if we were lucky) to guide our team in a scrimmage – once per week. Four weeks after the girls had started their first training session, we played our first game. I had yet to coach a practice. To say that they had no idea how to play a soccer game is an understatement. The girls didn’t know how to start the game, they didn’t know where to stand on the field, they didn’t know what the lines on the field indicated, they didn’t know which way to dribble the ball or which net to shoot on, they hadn’t been introduced to passing, and they didn’t know how to play as a team. They didn’t know how to play soccer. They did, however, know how to dribble the soccer ball. Halfway through the season, parents started mentioning how their daughters were not having fun at training. Several girls also began lying on the grass toward the end of training due to boredom. The club had said that the number one goal for our recreational program was to make soccer fun because then the players would want to continue to play. The training was deterring us from that goal. Have you ever seen children running drills at recess? How about at the park? Do children get together after school to run drills? Of course not! Drill practice is not fun for anyone. Once our eight weeks of training had ended, I was finally able to lead my girls in real practices for the final two weeks of the season. We packed in as much game knowledge as we could while playing small-sided games. Within those two weeks, a noticeable difference was apparent in the team’s understanding of the game. The girls started dribbling toward the correct net, I observed the use of rock-paper-scissors to decide who got to take the kick-off, I noticed that the team was beginning to respect the field boundaries, and I even observed a pass or two (developmentally, this is not expected at the five-year-old age). Best of all, I heard conversation happening on the field. The girls were talking, trying to figure-out the game, and using creativity with their skills to move on the field. A light had gone on, and the girls were learning. They were enjoying the game of soccer. Team Sport and the Overuse of Individual Skill Training Soccer is not the only team sport that is putting much of the training emphasis on individual skill development. Football, hockey, basketball, and other team sports are doing the same. Before I go on, I want to make something clear. I know that individual skill development is important, but, putting the majority of training focus on individual skill development when introducing a team sport is counterintuitive. Why? When training programs spend the majority of practice time drilling players, players are not given enough time to use these skills in real-world situations. Also, drills are not fun. Repetition without purpose causes boredom, and the motivation to continue to learn wanes. We need to give youth sports back to the kids. Teachers, coaches, and parents need to allow for the fun to be put back in team sports. Instead of focusing on isolated technique, skill, and drill, we need to use game-play to enhance skills. Replacing dry training methods like drills with game-play will improve skills, tactical understanding (mental plans for game play), creativity, purpose, and motivation. Training Needs Game-Like Practice Opportunities Daniel Gopher, Professor of Cognitive Psychology and Human Factors Engineering at Technion, Israel’s Institute of Science, and one of the world’s leading figures in the field of Cognitive Training says “What we have discovered is that a key factor for an effective transfer from the training environment to reality is that the training program ensures

The Downfall of Youth Sports

“We all need to think more deeply about the insanity of our youth sports culture, with its focus on early specialization in one sport, and, especially its seasons without end.” -Michael Sokolove, author of Warrior Girls “Do you know the girl’s youth traveling basketball coordinator?” asked the Director of Youth Recreation & Middle School Sports in our city. “No, why?” I replied. “I could have sworn that you two have talked because he says the exact things you have talked to me about today regarding youth sports.” “Really? Well, I’m glad I’m not the only one. Something has to change!” Several years ago my son and daughter stepped foot on their own soccer fields for the  first time. My daughter was four-years-old and my son was six. Both of them were excited to play on their own team as they had been attending my husband’s games since they were born. Watching his games, my son and daughter looked forward to hearing the long whistles that indicated half-time and the end of the game. Their little feet would scurry for a practice ball and run out on the field to take advantage of the little amount of time they had to shoot on the big nets. Three years have gone by and both of my children are still playing soccer. My husband and I have been coaching and assist coaching our kids’ teams for the past six seasons, and we have been blown away by the many changes in today’s youth sports culture. Today’s youth soccer is not the same as when we were young. The changes we see today are not helping to instill a love for the game in our young athletes, and I’m hoping to bring awareness to some of the largest issues. Join me in a three part series where we explore: Part 1 – the effects of participating in an adult-centered (direct coaching that includes many drills and very little time for players to practice in game-like situations) vs. a player-centered training model (players spend very little time participating in drills, and spend the majority of their training time in game-like situations that promote player creativity and socialization between teammates). Publish on 12/17/2017 Part 2 – the effects of not keeping score. Publish on 12/24/17 Part 3 – the effects of sport specialization at young ages, and the astronomical price increases to play sports. Publish on 12/31/17   Author’s background: Erin is certified in K-12 physical education and adapted physical education. She is also a long-time soccer player and youth soccer coach who loves to share her love of the game with young athletes.