Having fun a key element in youth sports

Thoughts turn today to the absolute essence of all these games we follow, namely when to concentrate on winning and losing, when to concentrate on teaching the fundamentals of each sport, and when to just have fun.

Triggered by a conversation with a well-known youth sports coach from Corinth, Graham Shearstone, this column comes today as an old war horse’s perspective on all of this.

Like most coaches these days, Graham is confronted with the whys and the wherefores of the points of emphasis for the second-, third-, and fourth-grade girls who participate on his youth softball team.

Through the years, I have fielded a number of questions from fellow coaches, parents, administrators, and fans along these lines, and I thought today might be as good a time as any to address these issues.

With the increased popularity of in-state programs such as Sports Done Right and national organizations such as the American Sports Education Program, there seems to be a move afoot that is attempting to clean up difficulties in athletics, which is good, while de-emphasizing age-old sports-related variables such as competition and winning vs. losing.

If we have evolved into a “feel good” generation of athletics, then the end-result of all this stuff may be intramurals at all levels of play with uniforms.

It has been my own philosophy through the years as a coach that there needs to be a concentration on the teaching of fundamentals from day one in organized sports at all levels of play.

Having said that, it is also important to mention adding the element of fun to the proceedings, and through organization and practice, the need for teaching such nebulous variables such as winning with dignity and how to lose gracefully.

Finding the proper balance is vital, but the trend in some quarters is to de-emphasize winning and concentrate on the social ramifications of just playing the game.

Overemphasizing winning and the total team concept reduces fun and leaves out a lot of individual instruction for participants.

If you follow this space, then you have read about a gentleman named Bob Bigelow. Bob runs several large summer camps for position basketball players in Massachusetts.

As a former All-American hoopster at the University of Pennsylvania, Bob can speak firsthand about playing several positions. He parlayed those skills into an NBA career with the Boston Celtics, and he has taken those skills to a level that has given him a nice paycheck or two.

What Bob doesn’t like is some of the youth sports problems which he has seen grow around him.

Bob once told me of youth hockey travel teams in his own state that played 80 games. Obviously, overkill, Mr. Bigelow’s theory is that we’re wearing out kids at an early age. The plethora of youth stress injuries supports his theory.

This theory, of course, centers around kids “burning out” far too early.

The question arises, then, as to what is a good mix. What is a parent to do to find the correct formula which breeds success, skill training, and, of course, fun?

Assuming that common sense will always be the watchword here may be oversimplifying the problem.

What touched off such foolishness in our country? Why, TV sports, of course. If parents think that there is no relationship between what kids see and how they and their coaches act, then they need to rethink their own evaluation of the situation. And, perhaps most importantly, parents need to rethink their own motivation for enrolling their kids in the sundry programs they do.

It is volunteers like Coach Shearstone in Corinth, who make the experience worthwhile for all participants, which remains the backbone of athletics in our society.

BDN columnist Ron Brown, a retired high school basketball coach, can be reached at bdnsports@bangordailynews.net