The following is an article What’s Happening To Our Kids? A Call To Action by guest coach, lecturer and author of the book Just Let the Kids Play, Bob Bigelow.  The former NBA player lectures all around the country address issues involving youth sports.  This is part one of a two part article…call to action

Picture the typical youth sports game – a blur of motion and sound. Some parentsare busy cheering positively or just chatting among themselves, enjoying the day. Others are prowling the sidelines. The prowlers mean business. These parents become field generals, barking orders and commanding their children to excel.

In this world of high volume and hyperventilating, one parent stands out. You can hear him from the parking lot. “Mark your man,” he screams to his little boy. Red-faced and nearly breathless, this father runs up and down the sidelines, keeping pace with every play. “Get to the ball,” he growls. The louder he screams, the more he seems to expect from his son. Just then, an opposing player steals the ball from his son, dribbles around him and heads straight toward the goal. Score!

He is the reason his wife doesn’t enjoy going to the games anymore. This is too often the case in youth sports. More dramatic and disturbing examples of how far adults stray from their proper roles in youth sports occur every day-from assaults on coaches and officials to brawls among parents.

call to actionThere is a disconnect between what adults say versus what children want and need to hear. What adults want and need from youth sports is often not what children want and need.

Today, over 35 million children ages 4 through 14 participate in some form of organized youth sports. The vast majority of programs are staffed by very well-meaning volunteers. In fact, over 70% of kids drop out of organized youth sports by age 13 – missing opportunities for charter development, socialization, character development, exercise and fun (source: National Alliance for Youth Sports.

While kids do migrate to other activities as they get older, the number one reason children drop out is pressure from adults, and no longer finding their sports experiences fun. Kids need exercise, and the fun and values participation brings. The high drop out rate only contributes to America’s problems of childhood obesity.

The solution to these problems is not for children to figure out how to meet adult expectations. Rather it’s for the adults to look at youth sports through the eyes of the children, and to serve their wants and the needs while they are being children at play. This will require not only a change in adult attitudes, but changes in the very sports systems themselves.

I don’t offer this guidance lightly or without the credentials to back it up. I was a first-round draft pick and played in the National Basketball Association for four years, toe-to-toe and elbow-to-elbow with the stars of the game. I played basketball at an Ivy League college, in high school and in the driveways of my hometown, where children of my generation got the best education in sports there is: from each other.

call to actionToday I’m a lecturer, an occasional professional scout, a youth sports coachand an administrator. I’m the father of two sons who have played youth sports since first grade. These days I travel the country talking to parents, coaches and other youth sports administrators about what is wrong and how to give youth sports back to our children.

I also take what I have learned from the best people in physical education, sports science and child psychology. I apply their work to what is happening in the gyms and on the playing fields all over America. I travel to wherever schools and sports organizations can find a room. I look parents and coaches right in the eye and tell them much of what they are doing IS wrong.

Not only can the youth sports systems controlling our children’s lives ruin their fun, but also they often deny individual children fair opportunities to reach their full potential through excessive use of elite teams. With the cruelest irony, these systems can rob us of young athletes who, had they been given a fair chance as children, might have been terrific players as high school seniors or as adults.

Look for Part Two of this article in a few days and share your thoughts below…  In the meantime you can check out Bob’s site by clicking here.