by Tommy Vaughan

Created on: March 11, 2007   Last Updated: April 13, 2012

Let me just start out by saying that I'm not completely against kids playing sports. I for one enjoyed getting out in the backyard with my friends and playing football or softball or basketball as a kid and a young adult. Where we run afoul is when we build these games up to be so much more than they should be, when we have kids spending every free moment practicing, or when we have kids going right from one "season" into the next without any time to do other things that kids should do. There's nothing wrong with organized competition, but there's something to be said for letting kids be kids, and having play without all the consequence, without the uniforms, and extra pressure, and added hassle. These are supposed to be diversions. Somewhere along the way, the fun got diverted out of them.

A season nine episode of the show South Park chronicled a summer of little league baseball, and all of the teams were desperately trying to lose to avoid having to play the game all summer. My wife and I watched this and immediately concluded that if you asked many of the kids who sign up to play baseball or other youth sports, you'll see a lot of kids who feel the same way. They may have signed up at first because an older sibling or friend was doing it and it looked cool. They may have thought, "Hey, they get uniforms and everything." It seemed like a good idea at the time.

But once parents become involved, I'm pretty sure that's where the fun evaporates. I've yet to meet a parent of a youth involved in sports that didn't take the games way too seriously. The parents inevitably become the ones who drive the engine. I've never heard kids reminding their parents that they have practice, but I constantly hear parents reminding kids about those practices. I have a nephew and two nieces who have a parent like this. And I must say I never hear them discussing the games. I hear it from the parent constantly though. Reminders that there's a game on a particular day, or a recap of a recent contest, or a sales pitch to buy some candy or pizza kits that her children are selling to raise funds to be able to play these games. We have to have fundraisers to fund these youth sports leagues now? When did it get this out of hand?

My daughter has expressed interest in playing soccer lately, and while I would never want to discourage her from pursuing something that she thinks she might enjoy, I suspect that it wouldn't take long for the constant practices eating away at time she'd rather

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