Hey, my kid is on Metro Sports....Yuck!

Okay, I was watching, surfing actually, television recently and ran across the Metro Sports report on the 6th grade boy's basketball league including full highlights and uh.....color commentary. This might be one of the most pathetic things I've seen recently.

We complain about our kids growing up too fast, exposed to far too much at ever earlier ages and then we brag about seeing our 6th grader's highlights on Metro Sports? I don't even think it is healthy or smart. As a country we all noted our concern over Labron James being on the cover of SI while he was still in high school. Michelle Wie going pro in golf before she graduated high school?

What are we telling these kids about their 6th grade basketball game? I can see the dad out there diligently recording the Metro Sports spots and showing them to family and friends, making a tape to send to colleges. This whole thing really scares me. My kids are little and I'm worried about them and sports.

See the thing is sports are so wonderful. Playing sports was and is a huge part of my life. It gave me some great opportunities. I was an elite athlete. But when I hear about tryouts for competitive teams when kids are as little as 6 and 7 years old, traveling teams, elite teams it really bums me out. I played every sport. Kids today play a sport all year round.

I have a friend who coaches his kid's baseball team and they are reportedly really good. People want their kids to play for him. He told me he had conversations with the parents of several players suggesting they find another team because they want to play serious ball. The boys are seven.

I was talking to a mom last night and she was telling me her kid's soccer coach decided the team was going to get more competitive, start traveling and that they only wanted 14 kids. They currently have 16 so they were going to have a tryout. These girls have all played together for the past 6 years and 2 of them will get cut. They are not even in Middle School yet. She said her daughter is terrified of getting cut stating the embarrassment would be too much. I don't know if I even let her try out. My dream is that she is one of the best players and her mom says, no, we aren't doing that to 2 little girls. Take them all or we are out.

Look, I'm not one of those who says don't keep score, make them all winners, protect them. I think that stuff is just as important. I was apart of some real stinkers of teams growing up and truly learned how to lose before I learned how to win. I learned how to be a good sport about winning by knowing what it felt like to lose. These kids who play on these teams that are so good that they never lose are not learning these important lessons. What kind of person are we raising here?

As a parent, I made the decision I wasn't going to go that route. I wanted my kids to find some sports they liked and enjoy them and to work hard at being as good as they can be at them. I didn't want my kids to be on traveling teams when they were 10. I didn't want my kid to worry about being cut from his team at 9. So far we haven't really been put in that position. We still try lots of new things. My kids right now plays on a great little team. The coach is great. Very positive. They aren't very good. They lose most of the time. My kid has never scored a goal but her skills are still very much developing. Am I worried she doesn't have the ability of her old man? Sure, to a certain extent I want her to be good, really good. But I'm a little different in that I think if she has some athletic talent it will start to show and then it can develop. I think introducing kids to lifetime sports at a young age is a better idea. By this I mean something they can enjoy all their life, stay active, stay fit. Tennis, Golf, Swimming are good examples.

I'll share a final thought and then let it rest. I knew a lot of kids who peaked by the 9th grade. They actually knew how to play but had less ability than other kids. Don't think starting them young will make them into elite athletes when they reach college. Lots of my buddies who started very young watched me from the stands when it came time for high school and college.

So Metro Sports.......you should be ashamed of yourselves.