All play, no fun: Pushing back on the pressures of youth sports – By Martin A. Davis Jr. (CS Monitor) / Aug 18 2021
Melanie Redd is feeling the heat as coaches and other parents set their eyes on her daughter Laila, an athletically gifted 12-year-old. From basketball, touch football, and volleyball, to family ski and snowboarding vacations, Laila loves sports – and seems to excel at most everything she tries.
But the world of youth sports has become a pressure cooker – one that, for now, the Redds have managed to resist. “All we ask when she comes home,” says Ms. Redd, “is how was practice and did you have fun?”
Others around the Redds aren’t so laid back. When Laila was 10 years old and shooting baskets at a local gym, she was approached by a male coach who gave Laila his card and told her he wanted her on his travel team.
WHY WE WROTE THIS
Amid increasing pressure to treat youth sports like a career, some families and educators are pushing back – demanding playtime be fun again, and offering solutions to make it equitable and affordable.
That experience unsettled Ms. Redd. She didn’t appreciate a male stranger approaching her daughter and giving her his number – and she was angry that an adult would bypass the parents about a decision that potentially could involve thousands of dollars.
