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Show Pressure sends mixed message to young athletes Remember back a few summers ago when a group of kids would get together to play ball. The first step was to choose up sides. Each kid eventually ended up on a team. Everyone got to play the entire game even if this meant there were two center fielders and an extra shortstop. If there weren't enough kids for an entire team, the system was modified. Teams caught for themselves and no one could steal home. The ball diamond could be shortened to stop at second se-cond base. If one team ended up with a super-slugger, the rules were changed to make over the fence an out. With no umpires or coaches, changing rules to suit the situation was never a problem prob-lem as long as both sides agreed to the same concepts. Sometimes, the kids wouldn't play an official game of baseball. They might opt to play flies up or work ups. This unstructured, creative, spontaneous play was a wonderful wonder-ful part of childhood. Everyone had fun. The talented athlete developed skills and a liking for the game that would carry him through junior and senior high schools and on into college. Much of this has changed with the evolution of highly structured, struc-tured, professionally staffed city recreation programs. Kids no longer go down to the local playground to find a group of kids, some they don't even know, that want to play ball. Today, kids go to practices once or twice a week and to games where the score counts. I If a kid misses practice, he can't play in the next game J unless he is a super-star and is needed or the team will lose. Organizing a team isn't as simple as choosing up sides. This I is serious play. Adults get together to make sure the better I players end up on the same team. There is a number of ways I this can be accomplished in spite of what the city recreation rules are. If you doubt this statement, just ask a child or the parent of a child that became involved in little league believing this was a game and ended up on a losing team, comprised of average kids that wanted to have fun and were not potential, highly paid major-leaguers. Parents are often responsible for the problems that come with little league participation. They put an unrealistic amount of pressure on an eight-year-old to "hit it out of the infield' during the T-ball games or to "slam it a mile' at the age of nine when the ball comes out of a pitching machine. The longer a child stays in the program, the more intense the pressure becomes. Coaches sometimes tell players they are terrible athletes. Some participants end up playing a minimum amount of time, " often less than one inning per game which is generally contrary con-trary to the rules set up by the recreation department. What official has the time to watch every game and keep track of who is playing and who isn't? At least once, a coach traded one of his quiet bench warmers I to another team. Try to picture a 10-year-old walking into his home and announcing to his parents with tears in his eyes, his head hung low and his knees hardly able to support the heavy weight of his problems, "I've been traded." The damage this act did to this one child was compounded when the coach of the team he was traded to told him 10 minutes into a game in which the boy didn't catch the only ball hit to him, "No wonder you were traded. You're the worst player I've ever seen!" Children get mixed messages from the parents that lose control con-trol at the ball games, then expect their children to be respectful respect-ful and polite. It is difficult to understand a double standard that says it is acceptable to break rules and hurt others if you win the game, but you have to wait your turn in line in the cafeteria or refrain from cheating on a test in school. Little league no longer stops with the baseball season. Today, kids SEE EDITORIAL A-7 EDITORIAL CONT.FROMA-6 can play soccer, football and basketball. These sports are usually conducted while school is in session. Which is most important-homework, reading a book for pleasure, practicing a musical instrument or attending a basketball practice? Should the family sit down to the dinner table together or should mom run one child to a soccer game and another to a football practice? How can a child whose parents are very busy or aren't interested inter-ested in recreational sports compete socially with children who are constantly involved in one recreational program after another? an-other? The child with little support from home is usually the one who needs extra attention and positive reinforcement. This isn't usually achieved through little league programs. Organized recreation programs have become part of our social structure. Children are expected to participate in at least one sport. This will not change. It is to be hoped that parents will leam to be more sensitive to a child's need for creative, spontaneous play and that coaches will get some self-esteem and positive thinking fraining before beginning a ball season. City recreation directors might start to examine alternative sports programs that are less rigid and allow kids to be young. You are an adult for most of your life. It is unfortunate to give up childhood just to win a game. |