| Playing little league baseball or joining your first soccer | | | | and focus on one sport by the time they are 10 years |
| team when you were 9 years old used to be fun, | | | | old in order to get an athletic scholarship to college. |
| entry level experiences for kids to be exposed to the | | | | This has increased stress related injuries in much |
| fun of learning how to play a particular sport. You used | | | | younger kids as a result of overdoing it on their |
| to try a recreational league for a season and then if | | | | growing bodies. The overuse on the kids physically and |
| you wanted to, could try a different sport the next | | | | mentally has created an entire generation of kids that |
| season. Youth sports have changed quite a bit in the | | | | totally burn out by the time they reach middle school or |
| past 20-30 years and now kids are starting to play | | | | high school which is a real shame. |
| organized team sports as young as 3 or 4 years old | | | | This more intense level of athletics at a younger age is |
| and picking a sport to specialize in and play year round | | | | also seen by the coaches and the parents too. There |
| by the ages of only 10 with special private coaching | | | | have been so many parents that got caught up in their |
| and using the best pitching machines and batting cages | | | | children's games or competitions that they cause |
| in the off season, for example. The level of intensity | | | | problems with their inappropriate behaviors and have |
| for youth sports is the same as it was for high school | | | | to be kicked out. Because of this, most schools and |
| and even some college athletes 25 years ago and this | | | | youth leagues now require parents to sign a contract |
| is leading to a host of new problems. | | | | for acting in a well mannered way. Coaching has also |
| One of the biggest changes is the age at which | | | | become much more intense for kids. In the past a |
| children are now signed up for sports. Years ago, the | | | | parent would volunteer to coach and that would be it. |
| youngest age typically would be about 7 or 8 to try | | | | Now parents are hiring private coaches and personal |
| soccer and 10 or 11 to start basketball. Now it is 3 for | | | | trainers to get their child to be even better than they |
| soccer and 5 years old for basketball. Most of the kids | | | | are. The amount of money parents now spend on |
| at these young ages do not have the physical | | | | their children's athletic pursuits is sky high. |
| coordination or the attention span to be able to handle | | | | Maybe, people will realize that kids need to be kids and |
| an hour long sports practice. Because of this, kids give | | | | do not need the physical or mental stress that is being |
| up on a sport earlier because it was too hard for them. | | | | put on them athletically by their coaches and parents. |
| Kids are also being told that they have to specialize | | | | |