The sporting way
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- April
- 12
I’ve been intrigued for some time about athletics and kids.
It’s obviously a positive thing, both for health reasons and in terms of social development. My own son loves to play sports, but has not latched on to any organized teams as of yet  we tried soccer and tee-ball when he was younger. He was good at it, but simply didn’t have the interest in a second season. But we do play sports, whether it’s basketball or hitting a baseball around for hours at a time.
Still, he has and has had friends who are clearly more athletically inclined. At that age (9), it’s still a game, and the joy it brings to the kids is enticing to watch. But I wonder about the pressure those kids may face if they stick to it.
I stumbled across “an article on CNN.com”:http://www.cnn.com/2006/HEALTH/parenting/07/26/ripken.parenting that addresses the issue of pressure on kids in sports. It features an interview with baseball Hall of Famer Cal Ripken, Jr., who runs “The Cal Ripken, Sr., Foundation”:http://www.ripkenfoundation.org, a non-profit group that uses baseball and softball to build character and provide opportunities for disadvantaged kids.
The foundation is a nice thing, without doubt. But I’m not sure I found Ripken’s commentary on kids, sports, parenting and related matters to be overly useful. Still, I think that discussing it is in itself useful.
My instinct tells me that parents play an enormous role  perhaps the only role  in that kind of pressure in kids. Whether it’s academics or athletics, I would like to think that I can shield or expose my son to excessive pressure to succeed. And I think some pressure is a positive thing, primarily as a motivating factor as long as it’s not stifling or forced upon the child.
But is there more to it when we’re talking sports?
This entry was posted
on Thursday, April 12th, 2007 at 4:59 pm by Jorge Fitz-Gibbon.
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Jorge, are you saying that you’re not one of those fathers who will beat up an umpire if he makes a call you don’t like at your son’s game? Or scream curses and insults at kids from opposing teams?
You’re just too old-fashioned for the modern world.
I suppose I am that old-fashioned. But the whole overbearing sports parent thing, that is a whole separate issue. I remember a parent or two when my son played tee-ball who got all worked up. One mom demanded that the coach let her son cover more ground because some of the other kids weren’t as good. This was in tee-ball. TEE-BALL!!!
And, actually, I remember feeling bad for the kid because he was clearly embarrassed by it. That embarrassment is more in line with the pressure I’m talking about.