My Youth Sports Pet Peeves: Volume II
Should you talk about topics unrelated to the game during the game? Um...
Happy Friday! In Wednesday’s newsletter, I referenced a compelling article that dove into the psychological importance of unstructured time in the summer for our youth athletes. The idea is simple. These often heavily scheduled kids in heavily structured teams and leagues need some randomized fun. Like most brilliant revelations, this one is also easier said than done between summer practices and tournaments. But it’s freakin’ Fourth of July weekend so here’s sincerely hoping all our kids get a nice dose of silliness and Zen.
This notion of having to structure time to plan for unstructured time – that’s how all-encompassing youth sports can be – sparked another set of my youth sports pet peeves.( You can read the first edition here.) It’s a list with constant adds as our youth sports journeys evolve. It’s a list I’m guessing many of you have experienced as well.
But it’s also an exercise in self-awareness. I couldn’t possibly do that annoying thing that drives me bonkers when others are guilty? Oh wait ... let’s begin there.
Focus on the Game, Please
🎶 It’s me, hi. I’m the problem, it’s me 🎶
You’re intently watching your kid’s basketball game. It’s a tight back and forth. You’re amid your fellow parents and assorted fans - grandparents, aunts, and uncles in town who want to relish every moment. Your kid gets a rest or maybe they don’t. Your mind wanders. You turn to your fellow youth sports parent, who you know is a Yellowjackets watcher, and start loudly engaging her in the merits (or lack thereof) of the season finale. Then you move onto your child’s travails in another sport. You’re still technically watching the game and still care but your little sidebar has permeated the fanbase and become a distraction.
Save the small talk unrelated to the action for the postgame. If you really must talk about it in the moment, please move out of earshot.
Youth Sports Events are Not Holidays
Labor Day tourneys. Memorial Day tourneys. Why? For parents juggling their kids’ school with sports, not to mention their own jobs, these built in school and company holidays are often the only chance families have to do something not related to youth sports. The years go by fast and that Veteran’s Day weekend tourney is no different in structure than the tourney the week before or week after. But that family whitewater rafting trip, now that’s something the kids will remember forever.
Just say no. Well, unless the tournament is somewhere amazing.
All the Nickel and Diming
You’re at any travel game or tourney. You forgot a water bottle and there are no functioning water fountains. So you mosey up to the snack shack so a little hydration.
A small bottle of water costs $3.50. A crappy burger is $9.50. And the small bag of nuts is $3.00. The nuts are Kirkland brand (aka Costco) only emphasizing the frustrating markup.
This is all after paying an $8.00 gate fee in baseball which is a bargain compared to the $20 and up fees some gymnastic and cheer parents have reported paying.
Conversely, most rec games and local tourneys will charge a very minimal markup for food and beverage, and of course no entry fees.
There’s not much we can do about the tourney fees but we can make a concerted effort to remember our water bottles and not support these greedy snack shacks.
Safety First, Right?
This tweet from Rhiannon Potkey, a softball journalist whose Good4Greatness nonprofit aids low income kids who equipment and league fees, says it all:
Not surprisingly, rec sports are far more caution with dangerous elements like heat and air quality. Many profe$$ionalized youth sports outfits, on the other hand, will let kids play baseball in the rain (just a light sprinkle, they’ll say), in smoky conditions, and high heat, not to mention allowing games to begin after 8:30PM
Potkey did say she knows some tennis events have a strict threshold they must adhere. It’s hard to have much faith elsewhere.
Everyone else be like tennis.
Curb the Trash-Talking
This one deserves its own long-form piece (and that’s a-coming) but to be clear, there is some serious garbage being spewed by kids. Profanity. Threats. Laughing at errors and injuries. There’s a threshold for fun banter but this is the type of crap that strips the joy out of sport. And where do they learn it from? It’s often modeled by their coaches and parents who feel they have more at stake as youth sports becomes more pressurized. Luckily, most kids are still lovely humans who display real sportsmanship.
Be like this kid.
Note: There will be no new posts next week. I’m going to somewhat take my own advice and spend time with my family on vacation before we head to Cooperstown. This will also allow me to progress on some exciting features and guest columns we have coming your way.
In the meantime, please feel free to share Good Game with anyone who would find it useful. Thanks so much, and see you on the other side of the 4th!