Kids and Sports

[NTP66]

Dance, taekwondo, and swimming for my 6-year old daughter. If she decided to stop doing dance tomorrow, I'd be totally okay with it. Taekwondo and swimming are longer-term activities, IMO, and I'd prefer her staying active in them both. She's mentioned soccer in the past, and I may let her do it if she drops dance. Gotta be one or the other at this point.

[MalkinIsMyHomeboy]

one sport specialization and smart phones are the 2 worst things to happen to kids imo

my 17 year old nephew stayed with us recently. i legit couldn't believe this stupid thing they do where they put every mundane thing in their life on Snapchat or whatever. I have no idea why they think anyone cares.

I have a group of coworker friends in a Snapchat group and some of them feel the need to send a snap out anytime they’re drinking a beer

It’s frustrating

[willeyeam]

brutal. for kids it's just a non-stop competition to get the most likes and views and shares and followers etc

[Tomas]

The absolutely CRAZIEST story of "kids and sports" is the case of Pavel Zacha (Devils 1st round pick from a few years ago). I do not want to look for all the details, but basically the story goes like this:

Even before Pavel was born, his father (also Pavel) KNEW the son WILL be a professional athlete. So, the father quit his job (he was a lawyer!) and completely devoted himself to the goal of raising a professional athlete. Some crazy points:

- in the first days after birth, the father already made the son lift his head and started stretching hands and legs
- at the age of 5 months, the som was already exercising on a "multi-function wall" (whatever that is) , he started running, striking a hanging ball with his hands and legs to improve coordination at 8 months!
- the son knew how to skate well before turning 2, and knew the basics of biking, roller skating, snowboarding, skiing, diving, swimming, soccer, volleyball, handball - before turning 4
- since 4(?) something like 100 sit-ups per day
- school education was not important (the son would go to school just during some mornings and only during winter). Instead, up to 8 different practices every day.

etc.

Anyway, the father is now the founder of his own "University of Parenthood", which he calls "Kameveda" (a word that means nothing in Czech). So if you think he is right - enjoy! (some of the books/articles) are in English:
http://www.kameveda.com/en/philosophy-o ... philosophy

[shafnutz05]

brutal. for kids it's just a non-stop competition to get the most likes and views and shares and followers etc

Yeah...I'm not saying that going to high school at the turn of the century was a walk in the park...it wasn't. But social media seems like it makes being a teenager 100x more stressful than it previously was, and it exacerbates issues that have always plagued kids that age. It's like one more medium to be ostracized in/on.

[DigitalGypsy66]

Woof, my son's former travel team (full of his friends) is in the state little league tournament (he's now "retired" from baseball).

I watched a livestream of the game where one of his buddies blew a 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 7th and a wild pitch brought in the winning run.

Ugh, the kid was devastated and I feel awful thinking about it. Knowing the coaches and parents, they'll blame the kid indirectly - and that's one reason why my son no longer plays baseball. He wouldn't verbalize it like this, but the pressure got to him and he wasn't enjoying playing baseball any longer. At 9 (now 10) years old. That's not good.

[MWB]

I feel like baseball/softball is the worst in terms of pressure of the team sports. So many individual moments where one kid can be seen as a scapegoat. Especially at that age, where there going to be a ton of mistakes. Everyone should just accept that and focus on the good outcomes.

[count2infinity]

I feel like baseball/softball is the worst in terms of pressure of the team sports. So many individual moments where one kid can be seen as a scapegoat. Especially at that age, where there going to be a ton of mistakes. Everyone should just accept that and focus on the good outcomes.

You've clearly never been a goalie... @meow @Freddy Rumsen

[DigitalGypsy66]

Yeah, goalkeeper - in any sport that uses one - is pretty tough. My same son is now playing soccer, where one player (other than the keeper) can't be blamed for a loss (for the most part).

[meow]

Baseball/softball is tough like that for kids. It really is an individual sport masking itself as a team sport.

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

failure isn't necessarily the same thing as taking the blame for a loss

striking out 3 or 4 times in a game is personally humiliating but might not get blamed for a loss.

[Tomas]

The absolutely CRAZIEST story of "kids and sports" is the case of Pavel Zacha (Devils 1st round pick from a few years ago). I do not want to look for all the details, but basically the story goes like this:

Even before Pavel was born, his father (also Pavel) KNEW the son WILL be a professional athlete. So, the father quit his job (he was a lawyer!) and completely devoted himself to the goal of raising a professional athlete. Some crazy points:

- in the first days after birth, the father already made the son lift his head and started stretching hands and legs
- at the age of 5 months, the som was already exercising on a "multi-function wall" (whatever that is) , he started running, striking a hanging ball with his hands and legs to improve coordination at 8 months!
- the son knew how to skate well before turning 2, and knew the basics of biking, roller skating, snowboarding, skiing, diving, swimming, soccer, volleyball, handball - before turning 4
- since 4(?) something like 100 sit-ups per day
- school education was not important (the son would go to school just during some mornings and only during winter). Instead, up to 8 different practices every day.

etc.

Anyway, the father is now the founder of his own "University of Parenthood", which he calls "Kameveda" (a word that means nothing in Czech). So if you think he is right - enjoy! (some of the books/articles) are in English:
http://www.kameveda.com/en/philosophy-o ... philosophy

Since Pavel Zacha now rides a 9-game point streak, maybe quitting the lawyer job to turn a newborn into a NHL player is the right parenting!!!???

[Pavel Bure]

My son (first grade) had his team’s first game of basketball today. On the other team was coach roided out and his son. Coach screamed at his son the entire time, his kid looked miserable, stole the ball off his own teammates, if met with any resistance hit, pushed, and tackled other players. If he scored he would tell “In your face, that’s how it’s done.” This happened multiple times.

This is the first parent we’ve encountered through multiple sports and seasons that clearly cared more than his kid and further is molding his kid into a mean person. None of the parents blamed the kid but multiple were talking about the dad. One of the parents even went and said something to the dad after the game. His answer? “Oh yeah, he’s used to playing football so he gets physical.”

My heart goes out to that kid and years of therapy he’ll need but probably never get.

[Tomas]

Some time ago, I wrote about Pavel Zacha's (NJD forward) father who founded his own "University of Parenthood" based on his method of coaching his son to be a professional athlete since the birth (just check the second post above).

Well, Zacha Sr. indeed found his followers. This is the trailer for a documentary movie about a Slovak couple who decided to raise their son to be "exceptional" based on Zacha's philosophy.

The movie is called "Every minute of a life". You probably get a gist of what's going on just by watching, but some interesting details:

- his (Slovak) mother talks to his strictly in German. Also studies English. Since the age of 2: biking, skating, skiing, swimming, gymnastics, tennis, running, piano and tons of other activities. Every day perfectly planned. No friends. Breakfast discussions are supposed to be "mental exercises.", etc.

And, naturally, his parents created a Facebook account for their kid:
https://www.facebook.com/Hanuliak.Michal.Misino/

and Instagram account:
https://www.instagram.com/michal.hanuliak11/?hl=en

and Youtube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCaVbMw ... kVg/videos

AND A FREAKIN' NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION:
https://finstat.sk/53611292

[MrKennethTKangaroo]

sign me up seems like a lot of fun

[willeyeam]

Poor kid

[MWB]

All the specialization with sports at a young age goes hand in hand with mental issues we see popping up. Not that they didn’t exist previously, just think it exacerbates things.

A guy in my area just opened a basketball “academy” for girls, grades 6-12 I think. They offer all training, practices, and a 40-game schedule (against other academies, since they can’t play actual high schools) up and down the east coast. They also offer tutors, but not classes. You need to find your own online class or homeschooling option. There is some decent talent in this area, but not enough for this kind of stuff. The end result will be that the best 1-2 players from each high school team will go there, and high school sports will continue to be devalued.

The stated goal is to get these girls exposure for college. I got news for you: if you can play, you’ll be seen, especially now in the age of social media. This is just going to burn more kids out.