I'll put a plug in for CYO/school-type sports. We swim in the similar waters. Rec baseball finished up yesterday, XC has a couple more meets. We passed on soccer this fall after deciding not to have the 9 y/o start club and so played baseball instead. What we have found is that school sports (especially Catholic schools) get the balance …
I'll put a plug in for CYO/school-type sports. We swim in the similar waters. Rec baseball finished up yesterday, XC has a couple more meets. We passed on soccer this fall after deciding not to have the 9 y/o start club and so played baseball instead. What we have found is that school sports (especially Catholic schools) get the balance closer between fun, competition, and learning. Part of the fun of playing sports is having rivals that you battle against through the years across different sports. The whole travel world turns the focus onto the individual rather than the team. I do think that one of the temptations that is real is that parents don't feel like they can help their kid even get to competency (which is my goal as a father) and so a camp here, a lesson there becomes a way to make up for a our deficiencies. Unfortunately, that places you before the yawning maw of over-professionalized youth sports. I will say that the arts is every bit as guilty of this move as sports but with even more expensive equipment and worse parents. I do think that for a lot of parents the choice is sometimes structured as sports/arts vs excessive screen time and in that equation all of the negatives of those over-developed cultures trump seeing your kid playing too much Madden or time on Youtube or whatever.
I'll put a plug in for CYO/school-type sports. We swim in the similar waters. Rec baseball finished up yesterday, XC has a couple more meets. We passed on soccer this fall after deciding not to have the 9 y/o start club and so played baseball instead. What we have found is that school sports (especially Catholic schools) get the balance closer between fun, competition, and learning. Part of the fun of playing sports is having rivals that you battle against through the years across different sports. The whole travel world turns the focus onto the individual rather than the team. I do think that one of the temptations that is real is that parents don't feel like they can help their kid even get to competency (which is my goal as a father) and so a camp here, a lesson there becomes a way to make up for a our deficiencies. Unfortunately, that places you before the yawning maw of over-professionalized youth sports. I will say that the arts is every bit as guilty of this move as sports but with even more expensive equipment and worse parents. I do think that for a lot of parents the choice is sometimes structured as sports/arts vs excessive screen time and in that equation all of the negatives of those over-developed cultures trump seeing your kid playing too much Madden or time on Youtube or whatever.