It's been awhile since the last installment of Least Essential Youth Sports Products. This iPhone app certainly meets the criteria - dubious value, inflated claims.
I especially liked the scene at the end of the video when the coach/pitchman looks into the camera and announces: "This is the secret to becoming a professional player - and you can do it!" And only $1.99!
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
Showing posts with label soccer. Show all posts
Friday, March 11, 2011
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
Monday, September 21, 2009
Sportsmanship at an all-time low - or maybe not
It's Professor YouthSportsParents. This fall, I'm teaching a graduate seminar on youth sports and society at McDaniel College outside Baltimore. Tonight's topic: parents, coaches and sportsmanship.
We'll speak with Washington Post reporter Annie Gowen, who wrote this interesting piece about a group of Maryland soccer moms and dads banished from the sidelines for conduct unbecoming a grownup in corduroy slacks - or some like infraction. What I found particularly fascinating was the league's take-no-prisoners attitude about the adults' behavior. In essence, do the crime, serve the time.
Students have been doing their own research, looking into local leagues and associations, speaking with officials, evaluating codes of conduct. They'll share what they've learned about differing approaches to the sportsmanship question.
One issue I'll be raising: Is sideline etiquette at youth sports games truly in decline? The pat - and perhaps even accurate - answer is, of course. This survey underscores the point. The Awards and Recognition Association asked people whether sportsmanship is worse now than when they were growing up. Sixty-three percent said yes. Among folks 60 and older, 81 per cent thought sportsmanship had suffered since their kid sports playing days.
Still, that's hardly conclusive. Could it be that we simply hear more about rude, overbearing sports parents than we did in years past, thanks to CNN, ESPN and niche blogs like this one? That while our behavior at youth sports games can be rude, even loutish, we were just as rude and loutish in the old days? I don't know. And, more important, I doubt anyone truly does.
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
Why to repair a young athlete's knee asap
This sobering advice from a University of Pennsylvania study:
Young kids who injure their knees so badly that ACL surgery is needed should strongly consider having their repairs asap. This despite the fact that such operations, when performed on youth athletes, can disrupt normal bone growth.
Kids whose operations were delayed more than 12 weeks faced multiple risks, including:
- about a four-fold increase in irreparable medial meniscus tears.
- an 11-fold increase in lateral compartment chondral injuries.
- a three-fold increase in patellotrochlear injuries.
More on the study here.
Young kids who injure their knees so badly that ACL surgery is needed should strongly consider having their repairs asap. This despite the fact that such operations, when performed on youth athletes, can disrupt normal bone growth.
Kids whose operations were delayed more than 12 weeks faced multiple risks, including:
- about a four-fold increase in irreparable medial meniscus tears.
- an 11-fold increase in lateral compartment chondral injuries.
- a three-fold increase in patellotrochlear injuries.
More on the study here.
Tuesday, April 21, 2009
Soccer parents make headlines for wrong reasons
What could be worse than being banished from a kids' soccer game for ref baiting? Here's something: Being banished from a kids' soccer game for ref baiting, then having your suspect behavior chronicled in the Washington Post.
This happened today to parents of the Legacy travel team in Bethesda, Maryland.
Post reporter Annie Gowen has the interesting story of a bunch of parents punished for berating an official during a heated game at the end of last season. To its credit, the Washington Area Girls Soccer League took aggressive action, calling the behavior "nothing less than egregious" and banning the adults from the sidelines for two games. A referee stood sentry to make certain that the parents complied.
Gowen writes: "The soccer league, home to many of the area's best soccer players with 600 teams and more than 15,000 participants, has a strict disciplinary system, in which players and coaches receive yellow or red cards for rough or unsportsmanlike conduct. Some have to explain themselves at disciplinary hearings. There are also sportsmanship liaisons on each team, who are supposed to keep fellow parents in check.
"Kathie Diapoulis, league president, said the parents had gone too far. The league's disciplinary board has had better luck barring individual parents from attending games in the past three years rather than fining them, because the parents would pay the money and continue the bad behavior.
"We have taken a strong stance," Diapoulis said. "It's important. This isn't the World Cup. . . . And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do. . . . It's not acceptable behavior."
Gowen doesn't speak with the Legacy players, 13-year-olds, for their views - under the best of circumstances kids that age are mortified by their parents. But she spoke with several of the moms and dads who, in an encouraging note, seemed genuinely sorry about the incident and the fallout.
She quotes one anonymous parent saying, "It's embarrassing. This is seventh-grade soccer."
Another, who hadn't attended the game in which the bad behavior occurred, told the Post: "We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it. One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."
A multi-generational teaching moment, you might say.
This happened today to parents of the Legacy travel team in Bethesda, Maryland.
Post reporter Annie Gowen has the interesting story of a bunch of parents punished for berating an official during a heated game at the end of last season. To its credit, the Washington Area Girls Soccer League took aggressive action, calling the behavior "nothing less than egregious" and banning the adults from the sidelines for two games. A referee stood sentry to make certain that the parents complied.
Gowen writes: "The soccer league, home to many of the area's best soccer players with 600 teams and more than 15,000 participants, has a strict disciplinary system, in which players and coaches receive yellow or red cards for rough or unsportsmanlike conduct. Some have to explain themselves at disciplinary hearings. There are also sportsmanship liaisons on each team, who are supposed to keep fellow parents in check.
"Kathie Diapoulis, league president, said the parents had gone too far. The league's disciplinary board has had better luck barring individual parents from attending games in the past three years rather than fining them, because the parents would pay the money and continue the bad behavior.
"We have taken a strong stance," Diapoulis said. "It's important. This isn't the World Cup. . . . And for the parents to be shrieking on the sidelines and belittling people goes against everything we're trying to do. . . . It's not acceptable behavior."
Gowen doesn't speak with the Legacy players, 13-year-olds, for their views - under the best of circumstances kids that age are mortified by their parents. But she spoke with several of the moms and dads who, in an encouraging note, seemed genuinely sorry about the incident and the fallout.
She quotes one anonymous parent saying, "It's embarrassing. This is seventh-grade soccer."
Another, who hadn't attended the game in which the bad behavior occurred, told the Post: "We accepted our punishment, and we're abiding by it. One of the functions of sports is to teach sportsmanship. When we as parents violate that, the girls need to see there are consequences to those actions."
A multi-generational teaching moment, you might say.
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Youth sports and the Obamas
I've been on the web this morning trolling for information about the sports-playing lives of President and Michelle Obama's girls, Malia and Sasha.
Here's what I found. Malia, 10, plays soccer. Sasha, 8, enjoys tap-dancing and gymnastics. Both girls have taken tennis lessons. In Chicago, their instructor was a fine player from Paraguay whose name is Valentina de Yeregui. The girls practiced every Sunday for 90 minutes. Ok, enough about tennis.
What I'm really curious about is whether we will see the President of the United States, McDonald's coffee in one hand, the Washington Post sport section clutched in the other, roaming the sidelines at a kids' sports game. (While we're on this vital subject, has there ever been a sitting president with a child registered for youth soccer?)
Given what we know about Obama's devotion to family, we can assume he will be at least an occasional spectator. This is more than idle speculation. (A little more, anyway.) In October, during the heat of the presidential campaign, Obama made an appearance at one of Malia's soccer games in Chicago.
This from a Chicago Sun-Times account:
"Malia's father quietly strode onto the field at 8:15 wearing a dark jacket and blue hat after his workout. None of the other parents or kids seemed to notice him. The game was underway, and Michelle Obama was there.
"Obama chatted with another man while watching his daughter's team play against another team wearing yellow jerseys....At one point Obama took a break from the game to have a brief footrace with younger daughter Sasha."
We promise to stay on top of this story.
Here's what I found. Malia, 10, plays soccer. Sasha, 8, enjoys tap-dancing and gymnastics. Both girls have taken tennis lessons. In Chicago, their instructor was a fine player from Paraguay whose name is Valentina de Yeregui. The girls practiced every Sunday for 90 minutes. Ok, enough about tennis.
What I'm really curious about is whether we will see the President of the United States, McDonald's coffee in one hand, the Washington Post sport section clutched in the other, roaming the sidelines at a kids' sports game. (While we're on this vital subject, has there ever been a sitting president with a child registered for youth soccer?)
Given what we know about Obama's devotion to family, we can assume he will be at least an occasional spectator. This is more than idle speculation. (A little more, anyway.) In October, during the heat of the presidential campaign, Obama made an appearance at one of Malia's soccer games in Chicago.
This from a Chicago Sun-Times account:
"Malia's father quietly strode onto the field at 8:15 wearing a dark jacket and blue hat after his workout. None of the other parents or kids seemed to notice him. The game was underway, and Michelle Obama was there.
"Obama chatted with another man while watching his daughter's team play against another team wearing yellow jerseys....At one point Obama took a break from the game to have a brief footrace with younger daughter Sasha."
We promise to stay on top of this story.
Monday, February 16, 2009
Youth sports dysfunction, European-style
Once again, the subject is the global reach of youth sports dysfunction. Last week's bad example, Canada. This week's, Great Britain where "touchline dads" are a major headache.
This comes from the London Daily Telegraph.
"Right now, however, in the midst of the inquiry into England's inability to qualify for Euro 2008, the touchline dad has become more than a joke. He is being cited as one of the reasons for our failure to develop good young players. His overbearing presence, it is claimed, is sucking the joy out of the game, producing a generation of leather-lunged hackers, unable to express themselves through skill, brought up to believe the most important thing in football is to "get stuck in". And, indeed, in eight years managing my son's team I have witnessed some terrible things. The father who stepped on to the pitch, grabbed his under-performing son by the shirt front, lifted him off his feet and, spitting with rage, told him, nose-to-nose, that he would be getting it when he got home, was but one."
There is a strong back-to-sportsmanship movement in the UK, led by groups like Positive Coaching Scotland. There's much work to do, apparently.
Thank you, Doug Abrams.
This comes from the London Daily Telegraph.
"Right now, however, in the midst of the inquiry into England's inability to qualify for Euro 2008, the touchline dad has become more than a joke. He is being cited as one of the reasons for our failure to develop good young players. His overbearing presence, it is claimed, is sucking the joy out of the game, producing a generation of leather-lunged hackers, unable to express themselves through skill, brought up to believe the most important thing in football is to "get stuck in". And, indeed, in eight years managing my son's team I have witnessed some terrible things. The father who stepped on to the pitch, grabbed his under-performing son by the shirt front, lifted him off his feet and, spitting with rage, told him, nose-to-nose, that he would be getting it when he got home, was but one."
There is a strong back-to-sportsmanship movement in the UK, led by groups like Positive Coaching Scotland. There's much work to do, apparently.
Thank you, Doug Abrams.
Monday, January 12, 2009
Kid athletes and the art of the sell
I've made a career - I'm trying, at least - of calling attention to and then lamenting the commercialization of youth sports. The Little League World Series contributes $16 million to the Pennsylvania economy each year and attracts TV ratings higher than many pro sports. One of ESPN2’s highest rated programs on record - second only to coverage of Dale Earnhardt's death - was the net's first telecast of Lebron James as a high school basketball player. On and on.
I'm not expecting to hold back the flood gates of commercialism. But from time to time I will be pointing out examples of youth sports transformed (and reduced) to selling and marketing a product. This ad promotes a noble purpose - Britain's Child Trust Fund. And it's pretty hilarious - six views and I'm still smiling. Still, it's an instance of an ad campaign built around a kid in a sports uniform breaking into the pro ranks.
I'm not expecting to hold back the flood gates of commercialism. But from time to time I will be pointing out examples of youth sports transformed (and reduced) to selling and marketing a product. This ad promotes a noble purpose - Britain's Child Trust Fund. And it's pretty hilarious - six views and I'm still smiling. Still, it's an instance of an ad campaign built around a kid in a sports uniform breaking into the pro ranks.
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
The accelerated program
My friend, Bob Bigelow, predicts that the age of entry for youth sports will continue to drop until some league unveils a new division for...."padded pregnant women." He calls this new concept "pre-natal soccer." Amusing stuff. And, maybe, not so far-fetched.
While I continue my search for in utero sports leagues, I offer these close examples.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Peaceful Kwanzaa, everyone.
Exhibit A: Soccer in diapers
Exhibit B: Soccer for children not yet able to walk, stand or crawl.
While I continue my search for in utero sports leagues, I offer these close examples.
Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukah, Peaceful Kwanzaa, everyone.
Exhibit A: Soccer in diapers
Exhibit B: Soccer for children not yet able to walk, stand or crawl.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
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.
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.
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