YouthevSports Blog

Nine-year-old right-hand pitcher, Jericho Scott, from New Haven, Connecticut, who throws approximately 40 mph, has been told he throws to hard and can no longer pitch in his youth league.

All the fuss surrounding a nine year old boy from New Haven, Connecticut whose been told he can no longer pitch in his youth baseball league, has focused on the wrong culprits.

The pitcher, Jericho Scott, is certainly not to blame because he has superior skills and throws faster than a normal kid his age.  Other kids that are so-called scared to bat against Jericho are not to blame either.  Yet the media and all the pundits have chosen a side, and as a result they’ve blamed the wrong party, the kids.

Jericho Scott has the choice and right to pitch in a league where his peers play.  If he doesn’t want to move up to play with older kids, he should not be forced by adults that would rather have the kid sacrifice his experience than take the time themselves to fix this issue. If what I believe has happened here is actually the case, kids from rival teams have every right to be scared to face Jericho in the batters box.  And this is where we discover the real issue and also the solution.

My problem with this issue is that the people attempting to stop this kid from pitching are the cause of the problem. If they weren’t such lazy coaches, with no desire to teach the kids how to face a situation like this, they are the ones that shouldn’t be allowed to participate in this league.

If coaches were responsible and taught their athletes how to hit correctly, focus, and progress them through a learning process that develops confidence, a child could face anyone pitching at any speed.  A child is not born with courage, you develop confidence through learning correct techniques in a safe environment provided by the coaches, who slowly advances their learning and experiences in order to execute in difficult situations, which develops the courage to perform no matter the situation.  Let’s face it all athletes at any level of competition will face an opponent at some point, that has significantly more advanced skills.  If you don’t prepare your athletes properly for such a challenge you’ve failed as a coach and you’ve failed your players, the athlete should not be blamed.

The irony of this story is the very fact that it exposes the rival adults who pose as coaches and have never put the time in to prepare themselves to teach/instruct their team.  Coaches who get their jollies over dressing and looking like a coach, as if they were playing a part in a play or movie should get out of the sports and allow people who care about kids to get involved.

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By: Scott Lancaster, Youth Evolution Sports

     Just finished the first week of football practices for my son’s 3^rd grade tackle team.  The week was productive and an incredible learning experience for both kids and coaches. I certainly came away from my first week with a much better appreciation for good youth football coaches.  The amount of time and preparation that’s required to host a good practice is substantial.  I often mention on “The ABC’s of Sports”, my national radio program on Sirius Sports Central, Channel 123, that coaching on any level is not easy and requires a tremendous amount of organizational planning and scripting.  But what I learned first hand this week is that it’s imperative to be totally prepared when coaching young kids how to play tackle football for the first time.  If not taught properly they’ll either become frustrated and quit and possibly never return to the sport, or they’ll form bad habits that could possibly lead to a serious future injury.

     Due to the fact that this was the first week, players were required to practice in helmets only, a good first step for those who’ve never played with a helmet.  A total of 34 kids registered to play on this one traveling squad, yes – this is a travel team, despite the fact these kids have never played a down of tackle football.  Twenty-seven kids showed up the first night, on a typical hot August evening.  A handful or more were either on vacation or at sleep-away camp. Another factor that needs to be considered into the overall management and planning of the season. A league rule states that we must have each player participate in 15 practices before they’re allowed to play in any type of official scrimmage or game.  A good rule, maybe for those who’ve played several seasons of football, however for first or second year players I truly believe we need more than 15, and should spend an entire first season teaching the fundamentals of all positions in conjunction with a progression of fun skill oriented competitions. Unfortunately that’s not the case for this league, so we must train our players for 15 days over a period of 18 total days in order to prepare them for their first scrimmage, while managing everyone’s summer vacations, summer camps, other sport commitments, etc.  Fortunately we as a coaching staff completely understand when families schedule vacations, and other commitments, and will not penalize kids with limited playing time but will work with every kid to provide them their required training sessions by scheduling additional practices at the beginning of our season if necessary.

     As I mentioned to begin this third installment of my coaching diary, the first week was both productive (kids progressed in both their skills and knowledge of the game), and was fun at the same time.  Personally, despite the amount of time it took to prepare and create each practice, it was fun and definitely a learning experience.  As the late NFL Hall of Fame Coach, Bill Walsh, often told me, “If a coach is not continuing to learn then their not improving as a coach.”

     The one major thing I learned this past week was the fact that younger kids cannot be taught the same way you would teach an older kid (12 years or older). Many youth football organizations make this mistake. There is not one cookie cutter way to teach all your different age groups.  This is very evident when organizations conduct coaching clinics for all their youth coaches and most often only explain one training method and philosophy that applies at best for the oldest age group. Most coaches training programs use high school training concepts and methodologies, and never distinguish or recognize that different age groups have different needs.  USA Football has addressed these issues and continues to provide off-season coaches training clinics that address all ages.

     I also found myself making the same mistake. I used an introductory tackle player development program I had developed for 12 to 14 year olds to begin the week.  As I quickly learned, 8 year olds have a different capacity for learning, so I began to closely observe and make readjustments throughout the week.  The following is a review of each day’s practice the outcome and progression of changes.

Monday, August 4, 2008

If there was ever a time where the best plans were made to be broken it was today. I had spent nearly 90 minutes planning and writing out a 90-minute practice, attempting to prepare for any number of scenarios that may arise. What I failed to consider was that I was dealing with 8-year-old boys.

 I showed up at the field 30 minutes prior to the start of practice to set-up.  After arranging our one third of an official size football field that we shared with the fourth and fifth grade teams, all 5 coaches and 28 third graders showed up.

After an introduction of coaches, attendance, and the rules for practice, we asked each of the 28 players if they knew how to take their helmets on & off.  As expected that’s when chaos erupted with kids running to their parents for help, of course chinstraps were not adjusted correctly and helmets that did not fit correctly became quite apparent.  Twenty minutes later we were 30 minutes into our practice. Originally I had projected, naively, one third of our practice would be complete, when in fact we had not even begun.

The practice objectives were originally to include the following introduced through 5,10,and 15 minute segments.   

• Organization & Team Rules
• Acclimate with Helmets
• Fun/Throwing, Catching, Movement Skill Development

• Fun/Conditioning Drills
• Fun/Skill Development Competitions

Teach:

     - Stances

     - Offensive Position Explanation

     - Throwing techniques

     - Catching techniques

Due to the slow unexpected yet understandable start, and longer than planned water breaks, we were successful to begin to acclimate them to helmets, begin to introduce throwing and catching techniques (which is important when getting them used to their helmets), provide a basic introduction to the three different stances (2,3 & 4 point), and successfully execute a fun conditioning/movement drill. 

What we did not accomplish but I quickly learned was 8 year olds need additional time for repeated demonstrations in conjunction with time to experience either the movement or technique introduced repeatedly & briefly throughout each practice. This allows for muscle memory to naturally take over.  For example, the most important body position and foundation to every stance and movement in football, the breakdown position, is something that we need to repeat throughout every practice on a regular basis.  Kids have difficulty in getting their bodies into this uncomfortable yet vital athletic position.

The breakdown position technique and execution also served as an organizational and focus tool, going a long way in combating an 8 year-olds limited ability to focus for any extended period of time.  What worked wonders and brought the entire team to focus at any given moment was when we required all of the players to immediately get into a breakdown position wherever they were on the field when they heard a whistle followed by the command “breakdown”. To further emphasize this command, and get them to further focus on the stance we required the entire team to also yell “breakdown” when a coach shouted the command out.  This did wonders in bringing everything quickly to order.

For a first day of practice we were successful conducting a fast paced practice by never dwelling for long periods of time on any one drill or technique, and finishing the practice with a fun continuous moving competition called Ultimate Football where everyone was moving, changing direction, throwing, catching, and working together to score points without any stoppage time.  Every kid left with a smile on their face and hopefully excited to return on Tuesday night.

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

     Arriving slightly wiser, yet with much yet to discover and learn, the second day of practice begins. Twenty-seven kids are in attendance; three are missing from yesterday due to soccer practice, while two kids that did not attend the first day are present.

Practice Objectives:

• Acclimate with Helmet
• Fun Movement Skill Development
• Fun/Conditioning Drills
• Fun/Skill Development Competitions

Teach:

·      Introduction of Cadence

·      Introduction of Positions & alignment

·      Review Stances

·      Review Throwing & Catching

We decide the best course of action will be to review what we introduced yesterday (stances and throwing/catching drills) and focus on teaching only two new fundamentals or concepts (Cadence, offense positions/alignment).

The coaching staff decided we needed more time introducing each new fundamental. Rather than spending only 10 minutes on introducing a new fundamental we agreed to spend 20 minutes, however we split the introduction periods in half and returned to finish teaching the fundamental later in the practice. This was done by also installing fun movement skill drills and mini-competitions between the introductory fundamental teaching segments.

Surprisingly today we began to see improvement in their breakdown positions, the first sign that they are beginning to focus. 

Again we finish with the Ultimate Football game and break the group into two games. There are fewer complaints about helmets, and they’re responding well to the command “breakdown”.  More importantly there is a good tempo and there is a sense of excitement throughout most of practice.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

     We move to the third different field in the last three days. Though a small detail, it does affect consistency, especially when you’re trying to establish a comfort level among first time participants. A total 27 kids are in attendance.

Practice Objectives:

• Less is more (Introduce just one additional fundamental & review all others)
• Acclimate to Helmets

• Fun/Conditioning Drills
• Fun/Skill Development Competitions

Teach:

·      Introduce Huddle organization and break from huddle

·      Review of Cadence

·      Review of Positions & alignment

·      Review of Stances

·      Combine all of the above

Practice moves well and players seem to be progressing, with improved stances, good recall of positions and alignment, and are picking up the cadence concept. The trick with our success seems to be breaking the team into three different groups, and providing continuous rotation of learning new roles throughout the stance and alignment portions of the drills. The introduction of the huddle also goes smoothly with about a 50% success rate executing the combined elements of organizing a huddle, breaking from a huddle, proper alignment, proper stances, and reacting fairly well to the cadence. 

We introduced a new throwing and catching competition where four groups of seven have one quarterback and six wide receivers (three lined up 6 yards to each side). We quickly introduce two pass patterns (5 yards down & in, and 5 yards down & out) marked out by cones.  All four groups conduct the competition simultaneously around the field counting the correct number of routes run in combination with successful catches. Each player had the opportunity to rotate to quarterback after throwing once to each of the six receivers.  The group with the largest number of correct routes in combination with successful catches won the competition. A quick review of all the techniques took place just prior and after the completion of the competition.

In order to change things up we ended the practice with the Quarterback/Receiver competition, and inserted the Ultimate Football game into the middle of practice.

Many of the players commented that this was the best practice yet due mostly to the fact that they got more chances to touch the ball.  A fact that will not escape us but still poses a challenge as we move forward and prepare to play 11 on 11 games in 3 ½ weeks.

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0:00 – 2:02  Introduction/Welcome – What is Street Skateboarding and is its image misrepresented?

2:03 – 3:29 Ryan discusses when he started skating and his participation in organized sports.

3:30 – 4:23 Scott and Ryan discuss the use of creativity in action sports and how it relates to organized sports.  Ryan explains how he emulates Kobe Bryan.

4:32 – 5:35 Ryan gives kid’s advice and joins The ABC’s of Sports  - “Revolution”

5:36 – 6:13 Ryan discusses the importance of self-teaching.

6:14 – 7:32 Scott and Ryan discuss Ryan’s training routine

7: 35 – 9:09 Ryan explains “the art of the trick”

9:39 – 10:12 Ryan explains how he learns a new trick

15:34 – 16:20 Ryan discusses his experience at the Summer X Games and why it’s a tougher challenge compared to other competitions.

Click the ‘play’ button below to listen!

 

 Ryan Sheckler Interview [20:29m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Just two weeks remain until the first day of football practice.  With the exception of one father, who has had football playing experience through college, and coaching experience in high school, no one else to my knowledge has coached youth football.  Yet only three of us (this includes the father I mentioned above) have met once to discuss our coaching philosophies and what the objectives of this season should be moving forward.  No other contact has been made by anyone else to find out what our next steps are prior to this upcoming season of practices.  I guess, the remaining group of fathers who plan to coach this year will just show up the first day and “wing it”.  A frightening thought for every kid involved.  You cannot just show up with a few footballs, no preparation or plan and believe you’re going to be successful.  Unfortunately this is how most youth sports programs are run. In football this is unacceptable.  A kid’s first tackle football practice and experience cannot be unorganized or you set yourself up for failure and ultimately a majority will quit.

            Can you tell I’m frustrated? Yes, our town program did arrange for three coaching clinics hosted by our town’s high school football coach.  A good idea and start yet a majority of the information was too advanced and went over most everyone’s head.  With limited discussion on proper technique and fundamentals and an abundant amount of time spent on the strategy of the wing-t offense, it was basically a waste of valuable time that should have been spent on how to teach blocking and tackling, throwing and catching, and most importantly the best ways to teach those vital skills.  The largest missing factor in all of the training was no explanation was given in regards to how to organize and run a fast paced and effective practice.  When you’re dealing with 8 year olds their attention spans are limited to short bursts of information and engagement.  Practices need to be designed in that fashion in order to have any positive effect or recall.

            Yet we have two weeks to our first practice, and no one besides three fathers have met.  Granted even the three of us have put off some valuable time in preparing pre-season practices and routines.  With this in mind and my experience of designing youth football training programs for the NFL I have begun to outline our four weeks of pre-season practices.  Next week the three fathers, and anyone else who is interested will get together to review those plans, assign different responsibilities, and hopefully arrange to rehearse several practices.  Yes, you read correctly, rehearse practices.  It’s one thing to design and prepare practices it’s another to actually run through the practice in real time to get a feel for the pace and work out the kinks.  This is important because we want to accomplish the following seven things during these four weeks:

·         Teach every athlete basic offense (breakdown position & stances for each position, 6 point progression of blocking, throwing, catching, running with a football, handoffs, QB/Center exchange) and defense (breakdown position and stances for each position, form tackling, backpedaling, lateral movement) techniques.

·         Incorporate athletic/movement development in order to improve every athlete’s agility, balance, coordination, flexibility, speed, strength, and stamina.

·         Teach how-to huddle, play call, and a consistent cadence in order to prepare how we’ll start every play throughout the season.

·         Incorporate basic conditioning drills that are fun, disguised through games that are continuous and include skills taught during particular practice sessions.  No one will run laps, or sprints, or do traditional pushups and sit-ups.  They’ll be conditioned to improve their strength and stamina through creative competitions that take their mind off the actual task by entertaining and engaging them in the drills.

·         Establish what positions the athlete’s would like to play in equal balance with what positions need to be filled.

·         Teach 2 – 3 basic running and 2 passing plays in no more than 2 different formations, while teaching a limit of 2-3 defensive formations and each positions responsibility.

·         Incorporate life skill lessons that each athlete in small groups is responsible for introducing and demonstrating.

A daunting task it is, but if each practice is well designed and choreographed then we have a good opportunity to accomplish what we’ve stated above.  Each practice needs to be conducted for no longer than 90 minutes and broken down into segments that run no more than 10 minutes in length.  A good practice can take approximately two hours to plan correctly and 60 to 90 minutes to rehearse.  Rehearsal is important in order to master teaching a skill and conducting as many reps as possible in 10 minute time periods.  A segment should include a short explanation and demonstration lasting no more than 2 minutes with 8 minutes of continuous repetitions.  If you need to correct, you stop your entire group, do not single anyone out for doing something wrong, but first point out something they are doing well then quickly address in general term what you would like to see all of them focus on (i.e. keeping their head up, driving their feet, rolling their hips, etc.) and get them back to their reps as fast as possible.  Practices need to be fast paced and involve a variety of different activities to keep their attention.

As we move forward I’ll not only keep you updated on our progress but will also include our practice plans and any solutions we used to change things.

Just two weeks remaining.  Have you planned your season of practices yet?

Just recently I signed up to coach my son’s 3^rd grade youth football team.  The following blog will be the first of a series of diary entries that I’ll post on a regular basis throughout the season to allow others the opportunity to follow my first time football coaching experience. I also decided to do this not only to share my experiences with other first time coaches and the football community but to also communicate what I believe will be a journey of challenges, frustrations, continued learning, conflicts in youth sports theory, and most importantly solutions that lead hopefully to a rewarding experience for all involved.

I’ve coached Little League Baseball, flag football, and at higher levels of women’s soccer.  This does not distinguish me from the hundreds of thousands of other youth football coaches that will put a whistle around their neck and spend hours on a football field this summer and fall.  What distinguishes me from others and also places me in a interesting situation is that I’ve spent the past 20 years of my professional career creating youth sports development programs for the NFL (12 years) and US Soccer (6 years) and most recently baseball, basketball, and golf.  For the past 20 years I’ve developed extensive player and coaching development programs with a philosophy that runs contrary to how most local youth leagues are run.  Now I’ll share with you throughout this upcoming season how I will deal with a program that has policies that I disagree with and have actually developed solutions to correct.  Policies such as placing kids in helmets and pads at the age of eight for the first time and asking that they play in a travel league, playing on a 100 yard field, forced to play a wing-t offense, with no weight limits, four weeks to prepare in the heat of August, coached by a group of dads just learning how to coach the game for the first time with no formal training or experience.  Sound overwhelming?  If not, you know nothing about football.  Some of football’s greatest coaches would struggle under these circumstances, unless they incorporated a different, tested, and proven system to develop both players and coaches, something this town does not even want to sit down to discuss.

Now why would I place myself in this type of situation?  I have a son that wants to play football and there is no way I place him in this type of program without my close supervision.  No parent should allow their kid to participate in any youth sports program without closely monitoring how they are taught and treated.  Football obviously comes with a set of different concerns, mainly the fact that for the first time in their young lives they’ll be hitting and getting hit by others.  If this is not taught properly you run a very serious risk of getting injured or at the very least developing poor fundamental habits that place you at a much more serious future risk.  If my son is going to play football he needs to be introduced to the sport correctly, and not rushed into it in order to satisfy a group of town fathers that are only interested in strategizing, scrimmaging, and playing games.

The reason I wanted to write this diary was to provide others that may be experiencing a similar situation with a source to refer to and hopefully find the solutions to issues you may face.  I also want you to share your own experiences and issues along with the solutions you may have created to solve them.  I refer to it as “The Revolution” to effect positive change, drastically decrease attrition, develop better and more passionate athletes, and improving the overall experience of youth sports.

The last thing that I want in my town is to take credit for football.  There are too many others that have put in too many hours, including the people I disagree with, to take credit.  All I want is to see are all kids receiving the best possible introduction, training, and most importantly enjoying the experience in order to grow a passion for the game. 

As a point of reference I’ll be primarily focusing on the first time football player and coach.  An area I feel is vital for the future of the game.  Today we’re lucky to have many new resources such as USA Football to provide football advice for all levels of training and play.  Hopefully this diary in combination with the many training tools you will find on www.youthevsports.com and www.usafootball.com will begin to shed some light on how to provide the best football experience for our kids. 

My diary entries will appear several times a week starting now in July, then will increase in frequency to several per week beginning in August throughout the fall season.  You can also hear me explain in great detail these experiences on Sirius Radio’s “The ABC’s of Sports”, channel 123, every Thursday from 1pm-3pm (ET), repeated every Sunday morning 6am-8am (ET) Channel 122, and again from 8am-10am (ET) channel 123, or every Wednesday afternoon between 4 – 6pm on the Sirius NFL Channel (124) – “Movin’ the Chains” and again on “The Opening Drive” every Friday morning 9am-9:30am.

At 6pm last night, Sunday, June 8, millions of kids were in their houses eating dinner and most likely watching Sponge Bob.  When we were kids at this point in June, we were in the house at 6pm developing a passion for one of the best rivalries in sports, the Celtics vs. the Lakers.  This is the very reason ABC and the NBA wished for this match up in the Championship, to take advantage of the fan development we grew to love watching these two teams play in June, while we were still awake.

Today, even the most avid adult fan struggles to stay up to watch the second half of the NBA Championships. The fan of the future (kids 6 to 12 years old), which developed through watching marquee match ups such as this, has unfortunately fallen asleep (in the eastern time zone) before tip-off. Due to professional sports executive’s greed and their eagerness to get the most money out of everyone today (high ratings mean larger network rights fees) they’re alienating kids, their future fan.

Now let me put into perspective what would happen if games were played during a child’s waking hours.  Kids would not necessarily sit to watch an entire game, but they would consume small doses, then go out and recreate plays in their driveway, or with today’s technology do the same on their Xbox 360.  But they would consume a larger portion of games. Kids today wake up and experience professional sports by watching the highlights on ESPN Sports Center, websites, YouTube, etc. A child’s entire sports fan experience can be summed up as ESPN’s “Top 10 Plays of the Day”. Is that how the NBA wants to develop their future fan?

If so, they need to begin thinking about how they’ll broadcast games in the future. 

Imagine a future where professional sports are telecast as short 90 second highlight segments.  Fans will follow a team’s entire season through brief video feeds captured on  a variety of high tech media gadgets.  No longer will fans sit and watch an entire game.  No longer will fans experience the nuances of how a game or season develops.  Games will be presented as a short and concise wrap up that caters to the small attention spans of their fans, most likely no different than today’s fans.  Professional sports leagues, such as the NBA have helped to create this viewing lifestyle.  As with anything this is not entirely bad, but one thing is certain, traditional professional sports will no longer hold the same passionate place in the hearts of fans.  Fans will be seeking more and more experiences outside traditional team sports.  This will allow any person the opportunity to view and follow sports that are today not considered mainstream. That’s where sports content and viewing is headed.  Not good news for the NBA, MLB, NHL, or the NFL unless they figure out a way to adapt.  Nevertheless sport fans will have many more future options that don’t dictate how, where, and when they consume sports. 

What you’ll see on ABC throughout this NBA Championship Finals is the beginning of the end of how sports will be viewed in the future. And therefore go the rivalries and history that so compels us to become fans.  Enjoy your sports TV  experience now, because you’ll not be able to sit and watch sports the same way with your grandchildren.

Jay discusses the following youth and high school basketball subjects:

•  The best age to introduce basketball to kids.
• Creative ways to run practices and deemphasize scrimmaging.
• What smaller sized kids need to compete at the elite level.
• Provides youth coaches tips on organizing practices correctly
• The role AAU is playing in the recruiting process.
• The most important questions you need answered when your son or daughter is being recruited

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 Enhanced Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Several years ago, Scott Lancaster and Boomer Esiason had the plasure to sit down and talk to legendary NFL and Hall of Fame coach from the San Francisco 49ers, Bill Walsh. The topics they discussed range from teaching youth athletes fundamentals to pro behavior.

 

 Enhanced Podcast: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

 Pro Athletes Should Not Be Your Child’s Role Model

If you take anything away from the Mitchell Report on steroid abuse in Major League Baseball and the Roger Clemens saga that has played out across the media airways for the past month it should be that professional athletes should not be positioned as role models or worshiped by your kids.  Yes we all grew up with heroes that we admired and basically fell in love with over the course of our childhood, but today a parent has to be totally aware of what affect pro athletes can have on your children. 

Roger Clemens takes us all for fools, suckers, easy marks.  He believes that because he’s a sports superstar everyone should believe everything he says.  For the most part many adults see Clemens for what he is, and can rationally dismiss him for what he has become and evidently what he always was, a disloyal, arrogant, and now alleged cheater and liar.  Unfortunately, kids are also seeing this play out throughout the media.  They are also listening to other pro athletes comment in disbelief that they cannot understand why this is such a big deal. Are you kidding me?  You not only want this drug and cheating problem that has permeated your sport to go away, you take us all for fools, including kids, and want us to ignore it!  It’s almost as if pro athletes expect to be given a free pass no matter what they do wrong because they can hit and catch a ball better, run faster, and jump higher, than 99% of the population.  And now we find out that more athletes than we could ever imagine can accomplish these things because they may have cheated and taken performance enhancing drugs. We’re suppose to be ok with that, and we should continue to all allow our children to worship them, buy the products they endorse, and ignore all of this negative stuff.  That’s how stupid they think you are. 

Note to Pro Athletes: Not all pro athletes are guilty of this behavior.  But what all pro athletes must understand is that too many in your profession have been linked to this behavior and it has tainted your industry.  As parents you have placed us in a very difficult situation of explaining why pro athletes cheat and act so badly at times. I’m sorry, but too many people in your profession have continued to by-pass the rules and the law for their own selfish gain.  And don’t think kids are not disappointed and on to your cheating ways.  Your reputation is tainted with them as well.   Remember they watch Sports Center as frequently as anyone else and they’ve seen it become a cross between a rap sheet/police blotter report and Court TV.  And for those kids that follow your lead and don’t care what you do to win or perform better, how does it make you feel that you’re negatively affecting an entire future generation of bad behavior?  But then again you probably don’t care. 

What as a parent can you do about this, when sports continue to dominate the media and product purchases of so many young people?  After all, sports are the true reality shows. Stadiums and arenas continue to be filled, ratings for sporting events continue to rise, and Corporate America continues to find athletes to endorse their products.  Sports are exciting, and much can be learned from participating and watching.  But it’s up to you as a parent to take these situations that kids are exposed to and use them as teaching moments. Explain to kids that cheaters do get caught and do pay a price.  Turn the situation around and show kids that many athletes that lie and cheat do lose a lot of money, their reputations and legacy (something they can never recover - just asked Rafael Palmeiro the former Baltimore Oriole, what he thinks his chances are of ever having his named cleared), and sometimes their freedom (Marion Jones, the Olympic Track & Field Gold Medalist, as she begins to serve time in jail). 

It’s difficult to overcome the glitz and glory that’s poured onto so many athletes and ask kids to put it into perspective and not glorify these individuals.  But due to professional sports strong influence over kids I think it’s important to try. 

Nothing is more frustrating for me then when I hear parents complain about their child’s sports program, yet they never do anything about it.  For the most part the complaints are legitimate concerns, regarding the structure of teaching and level of learning that should be taking place.  When you attend your child’s sports program or practice and you witness disorganization (kids standing in long lines, limited repetitions during drills, coaches delivering drawn out explanations, etc.), and the feeling that this is a play date gone bad, you have every reason to be concerned.  And have every right to speak up and suggest change.

Your child may very well be the one that brings this to your attention or you may begin to witness the warning signs that there is something wrong when your child begins to complain and wants to skip practices all together. 

 With this in mind you have every right to speak up and suggest change.  The following are three things you might find helpful when faced with this situation:

1. Quietly approach other parents and gather their opinions about the program.  Don’t single any one coach or sports program out, but attempt to have a healthy conversation in regards to the future of sports in your community. For example, start by asking each parent if they feel your town should provide additional training for coaches in order to provide those more tools to become successful in developing every athlete.
2. Be prepared to get involved yourself in the solution.  If you’re going to talk-the-talk you better be able to walk-the-walk.  Now I understand that everyone’s time is limited, but with that in mind organize a group of parents (the larger the better) that share in the philosophy of improving equal access and improving upon the presentation of sports for everyone in your community.  Sports should not be an exclusive club opened only to those deemed talented enough to participate.  If sports are presented correctly every child will receive some type of success, enjoyment, and growth from the experience.
3. Allow kids to have a say in their sports programs.  I have always strongly believed that kids could solve most of the issues in youth sports today, yet we place them in adult-run and controlled structured environments, rarely seeking their opinion or feedback. Take a portion of your season and suggest that kids get to run practices and create their own league.  Then closely observe how they interact, solve issues, and create fair playing conditions for everyone.  In order for this to work correctly adults cannot interfere or guide with their visions of what should be happening.  It basically brings back “free-play” to organized sports.  Try it out; you might be surprised what you witness.