Sports4Kids rules the playground

Despite the bad news occasionally reported in this space, there is a constructive role for adults in organizing and managing youth sports. Here's a terrific example, Sports4Kids.

It's a non-profit, conceived by a former Harvard basketball player, that, oxymoronish as it sounds, teaches kids how to play on their own. I'd never heard of it. The concept is simple and makes a lot of sense. As reported this week in the Washington Post, Sports4Kids hooks up with public schools and provides an adult monitor to introduce kids to "traditional playground games," along with supervising team sports like basketball. Arguments among students are resolved the old-fashoned way - the real old fashioned way - rock-paper-scissors.

Paying for the playground program can be an issue, especially for the cash-strapped schools most in need. According to the Post, schools are charged about $25,000 a year, and Sports4Kids raises the rest, about $45,000 per school, from private donors.

Tip of the cap to Ben Hyman for pointing out the Post article.