Balancing sports time, family time

This recent piece in the Washington Post about families spending Thanksgiving on the road at youth sports tournaments - "13,000 players, coaches and parents from across the country flock to Daytona Beach, Fla., and Las Vegas for what is billed as "The Largest Single Weekend Football Tournament in the World" - raises issues of perspective and balance. I've spoken to parents - mostly swim parents - who say they haven't taken a family trip unrelated to youth sports in years. They choose not to, in part because they are told by coaches - or have picked up a vibe from other parents - that missing even a few practices or meets is an unthinkable breach.

In reporting for my book, I learned of a Minnesota non-profit that's pushing against this mindset. The organization, Balance4Success, advocates a family-first approach - interesting, if heretical, ideas such as cordoning off Sundays as "sports free" youth sports days.

We set boundaries of all sorts for our children - no TV on weeknights, lights out at 11. How many of us would embrace the idea of no youth sports on national holidays?

An expensive dream come true

Here is a startling story of a kid with a sports dream and parents willing to spend almost anything to make it happen.

Greg and India Keith live in Charlotte. They don't seem to have been hit hard by the economic meltdown. Their son Cody is a 17-year-old quarterback with ambitions to play in college. Last season, Cody was the backup on his high school team with little chance to unseat the starter.

So this is what the Keiths did for their son.

They sent Cody to California to work with Steve Clarkson, a QB guru who grooms kids to become college and pro players - and charges $1,000 or more per lesson.

Then they scouted for a house near a high school that met a key criterion: it needed a quarterback. When they found one (a QB-deficient high school, that is), the Keiths rented their $2.8 million house in the old district, bought one in the new district for $737,500 and spent the fall watching their kid live his (and, I'm guessing, their) dream.

Read this - including reader comments. It's amazing.

Thanks to Gene Bratek for pointing out the story.

Sportsmanship and J.P. Hayes

Here's my latest post from BusinessWeek's "Working Parents." I'm writing about golfer J.P. Hayes and the stellar example he sets for young athletes.

Notre Dame, snowballs, sportsmanship

Unfortunate scene at the Notre Dame-Syracuse football game this weekend at South Bend. As ND was going down to a startling defeat, a group of restless, ridiculous students on the home side of the stadium pelted Notre Dame players with snowballs.

This from an AP report:

"Defensive lineman Ian Williams got hit in the helmet, defensive end Ethan Johnson was struck on the left cheek and a St. Joseph County police officer on the sideline looking into the crowd got hit in the chest. An NBC camera man also was a frequent target and several snowballs reached the field, although none landed near where play was occurring.

"When the Irish defense held a meeting on the sideline, injured linebacker Brian Smith stood on a bench to try to shield his teammates. But when a snowball hit defensive tackle Pat Kuntz, he stood and faced the crowd and appeared to challenge whoever threw it to come down on the field. At least one fan was seen being led away by police."

There's a teaching moment here for the unruly fans involved. And by extension, those of us who sometimes get carried away at youth sports games. (By way of example, here is the lead paragraph from a recent story in the Beaumont (Texas) Enterprise: "A still-unidentified Lumberton coach will not face criminal charges in connection with an assault on a Bridge City coach during a Pee Wee football game.")

Sports for kids aren't about us, our expectations and our dreams. When we lose sight of that, bad things often follow.

Or, as Knute Rockne, who was casually acquainted with Notre Dame football, put it: "One man practicing sportsmanship is better than a hundred teaching it."

Cheerleading for beginners

My second favorite youth sports video of the week. Good weekend, everyone.

ACL injuries in Albany

ACL stands for anterior cruciate ligament. It seems fewer and fewer girls complete their high school sports lives with their ACLs intact. Mike Sokolove wrote a wonderful book about the epidemic of ACL injuries, why they occur in soccer, lacrosse, basketball, field hockey players, etc., and ideas about curbing them.

The Albany Times-Union and the newspaper's youth sport blogger Joyce Bassett are telling the ACL story in an interesting way. Bassett has turned over her blog to Karly DeSimone, a striker for the Shenendehowa High School girls soccer team. In turn, Karly has been blogging about her experiences as an ACL surgery patient and about her lengthy rehab. The blog has generated feedback from lots of other ACL patients. One wrote a college paper - see November 10 entry - about the ordeal.

I'm also linking to an article written by Times-Union reporter Tom Keyser, a former colleague at the Baltimore Sun. Tom explains the spike in these injuries and the long road to recovery.

High school football and the "creep response"

Youth football is a dangerous game. This is well known. Here is a health risk that I am hearing for the first time: Playing football can make your child shorter.

This from the American College of Sports Medicine:

"Previous studies have suggested that through compression of the spine, the height of an average individual may be reduced as much as one percent during the course of a normal day. This gravity-induced phenomenon is referred to as "creep." In this study, researchers collectively studied whether the protective equipment worn by football players and the intermittent compressive forces they endure during a game would accelerate the creep response."

It did. Before games, the 10 players in the study had an average height of 176.56 centimeters. Afterward, 175.81 centimeters.

"The results indicate that high school football players' heights decrease during the course of a game by almost one full centimeter," said Brian J. Campbell, Ph.D., lead author on the study. "The decrease is likely due to the intermittent high-impact compressive loading of the spinal column during a football game, as well as the low-impact continuous compressive forces from equipment weight."

If your child played high school football, would this give you pause?

"You make me sick!"

A clever, direct and disturbing message to overly invested adults. Little League Baseball deserves much credit for coming up with this one, which apparently is reaching a large audience. Last time I checked Youtube - more than 540,000 views.

Little League Baseball's distinguished alumni club

At its Williamsport, Pa. headquarters, Little League Baseball has a Hall of Fame. It's a small gallery that celebrates a few dozens kid ballplayers who grew up to be stars in politics, movies, music, yes even journalism. For me, at least, the museum makes the statement that success in life comes even to those who were not youth sports prodigies. I'm referring to columnist George Will, a Hall of Fame inductee and alumnus of the Champaign, Illinois Little League.

In The Games Do Count, Will tells author Brian Kilmeade: "I played for the Mittendorf Funeral Home Panthers. Our color was black. I sometimes played second base but I also recall playing right field. But I was a seriously bad ballplayer. I was earnest but I had no talent whatsoever."

This month, Little League is congratulating two more former kid players, Joe Biden and David Petraeus. Apparently, neither was a standout pitcher or hitter - Petraeus's teammates couldn't pronounce his last name so called him "Peaches" - but the last time I checked both were having pretty good years in 2008.

Good Housekeeping seal

Thanks to Jen Singer of Good Housekeeping for citing Youth Sports Parents among three recommended kids and sports blogs. Jen begins her post with an interesting look back at her early sports life and at the barriers she scaled as a girl in a boys sports world.

"Somebody's father was yelling at me. I was only seven, but I understood what his problem was: He didn't like that the only girl on the baseball field played better than his own son. He didn't say that, exactly. Rather, he told me that I didn't belong there. But I watched his son send another errant throw toward (or not toward) second base, and I thought, Yes, I do.

"Thanks to Title IX, I was among the first girls to get to play Little League baseball in my hometown. It was my first experience with organized youth sports. Also, my first experience with parents who really ought to step away from the field and take a chill pill."

Attitudes have shifted quite a bit. Unfortunately, we still need the chill pills.

Injuries on the rise for cheerleaders

One of the most hazardous youth sports is played without pads, a helmet, a stick or a glove. According to the American Academy of Orthopaedic Surgeons, it's cheerleading.

Cheerleading injuries are rising sharply, doubling since 1990. In 2007, there were 74,000 injuries from participating in the sport. Sprains and strains accounted for more than half of those. More than 16 percent of injuries were fractures or dislocations. Nearly four percent involved concussions and other closed head injuries. (This from the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission).

Think about what cheerleaders do, seemingly with more daring each year, and it's not surprising that tens of thousands are injured. The scariest might be the "basket toss" in which a cheerleader is thrown into the air, often up to 20 feet, by three or four other cheerleaders. Ideally, the flying cheerleader is caught on the way down.

Daniel Green, a pediatric orthopedic surgeon in New York, says on the AAOS website that cheerleading injuries can be cut down or prevented by improving "spotter training, mandating the use of floor mats for complex stunts, and encouraging safety education and proper training for coaches.”

And perhaps an altitude limit on the basket toss.

Wealthy school districts and winning

High school football teams from wealthy communities are dominating state championships in Oregon. In a three-part series, Rachel Bachman, a sharp enterprise reporter for the (Portland) Oregonian, is explaining why. In no particular order, she points to expensive artificial-turf fields, more assistant coaches, full-time trainers, better training gear.

Bachman writes, "Measure 5, the statewide property-tax cap that voters passed in 1990, slashed extracurricular spending by an inflation-adjusted average of 30 percent in 10 school districts with prominent football teams. Wealthier communities are better equipped to fill the gap, especially in the flagship sport of football, and supplement athletes' preparation with extra coaches and personal trainers."

This is not only a football problem. Or a high-school problem. The same issues apply all the way down to neighborhood youth leagues. Some families start early with private lessons, summer camps, high-tech equipment. Others can't afford that. As I've said elsewhere, I'm in no position to judge the spare-no-expense parents. My sons - at the insistence of their father - always had the flashiest baseball bats in the rack.

Incredible, growing youth football players

People Magazine, November 10 issue, has an interesting piece on the problem of high school football and obesity.

As reporter Amy Elisa Keith explains, some kids see football as their ticket to college scholarships. And they see rapid, execessive weight gain as a necessary step in the process. So with the tacit approval, and sometimes the encouragement, of coaches and parents, they pack on the pounds.

She writes, "Today the average NFL lineman is nearly 30 pounds heavier than 20 years ago. And as the bigger-is-better mentality has trickled down to youth leagues, the average lineman in a top high school program now weighs in at a hefty 232 pounds with coaches and parents encouraging teenage boys to engage in extreme eating so they can adapt to this new body standard."

There have been several recent studies on this subject, all raising the question: why aren't adults pushing children away from the table?

In 2007, a study of more 3,600 high school linemen in Iowa discovered that 45 per cent were too heavy and nine per cent of those obese. That compares with 18 per cent of male children and adolescents judged overweight in the general population. In Michigan, another study of 653 youth players (ages 9 to 14) found that 45 per cent were overweight or obese.

"Being big is encouraged, because you need that weight on the field," one high school coach tells People. "But we as coaches don't look at the ramifications of gaining 70 pounds in four years on the health of a teenager."

Much is made of how youth sports are safer with adults around to supervise, inspect and protect. Here is an example of just the opposite.

The high price of sports gear

Here's my latest post on BusinessWeek's "Working Parents." I'm writing about the high price of youth sports gear. Do 11-year-olds really need baseball bats powered by "CNX technology"? No. Do we happily buy these expensive toys for them? Absolutely. Want to see my credit-card bill?

Play golf, start young

From a press release received this week.

"This year, a future Tiger Woods, Michael Jordan, Chase Utley or Amlet Monacelli can get started on a road towards having fun and success in sports when they receive the perfect holiday gift – a starter set that teaches either golf, baseball, basketball or bowling. Now, toddlers can get into the swing of their parents favorite games with the I Can Play lineup which guides kids through the basics of several popular sports.

I Can Play™ Golf from Fisher-Price®

Young golfers can get ready to play like the pros as they learn to sink shots with I Can Play Golf. The set comes equipped with the Sure Score™ guide to lead the ball to the hole and help toddlers gain confidence as they play. The one-step, automatic ball return releases the ball from the set, which is shaped just like a real golf bag. Kids can easily tote their gear across the green by stowing the set’s two clubs, three balls and one flag inside the carry case. No batteries required. Ages 18months and up."

Wondering: How much "like the pros" can an 18-month-old golfer play?

Baseball helmets in high school, continued

More on high school baseball players and face protection.

The issue generates more discussion in the November edition of Pediatrics. Ronald W. Coen, of St. Luke's Regional Medicial Center, Boise, Idaho, writes that to advocate for helmet-wearing infielders is "highly quixotic." (Translation: What were you thinking?) Dr. Coen then raises an issue that I did not in Sunday's post. "Helmets would restrict peripheral vision and restrict the ability of the defensive ball player to dive for balls and also look upward for high fly balls. It is not difficult to imagine a third baseman diving to his right for a line drive only to have his helmet move into his line of vision and batter his face when he hits the ground."

Also in the November edition, Comstock and Collins, researchers and helmet advocates, respond: "Sports have strong traditions and cultures, and historically, introduction of protective equipment has been resisted." (Translation: Get over it). "When helmets were introduced to football, ice hockey, and men's lacrosse, some were concerned that injury rates would increase. Athletes in these sports also use their peripheral vision to field fast-moving hard objects during play; however, few clinicians today would argue that these sports would be safer if helmets were not required."

An interesting debate, well argued on both sides. I maintain that the most formidable obstacle to required face protection is the pro-sports model. If sport goggles were mandatory in the big leagues, attitudes in the amateur/youth ranks would soften quickly.

High school baseball and facemasks

Safety is first in youth sports - or should be. But what happens when safety collides with our notion of what looks and feels like sports?

Recent example: Two researchers from The Research Institute at Nationwide Children's Hospital, Columbus, Ohio, Christy L. Collins and R. Dawn Comstock, collected data from 100 high schools about baseball injuries during the school years of 2005-2006 and 2006-2007. In all, they found 431 injuries. Of those, 60 (11.6 per cent) were attributed to being hit by a batted ball. (Warning: More statistics ahead.)

Blows to the head/face (48 per cent) and mouth/teeth (16 per cent) accounted for the highest percentages of batted-ball trauma. Of kids who were smashed with a batted ball, 18 per cent required surgery. All this, and a lot more, is published in a scholarly article that appeared recently in the journal Pediatrics.

Collins and Comstock conclude their paper with a recommendation, one that, while perfectly sensible, I bet my vintage Mickey Mantle bobblehead will never catch on. "[W]e strongly recommend that helmets with face shields or at least mouth guards and eye protection be used by pitchers, infielders, and batters at the high school level," the authors note.

The recommendations have several things going against them: the added expense of the safety equipment, which most high schools would be hard-pressed to absorb; and the thorny issue of enforcement. Imagine an umpire checking each inning for mouthguard compliance. (I don't want to). Though adults might be loathe to admit it, our most vigorous objection might be on aesthetic grounds. We tend to like kids sports best when they are indistinguishable from the real thing. And who ever saw Alex Rodriguez wearing a facemask?