Let's not forget: they're kids, not pros

I've been thinking about starting a blog on youth sports for a while now.

As a professional sports writer for over 20 years, I've spent most of my working life watching the best athletes in the world playing sports at the highest levels. And as a father of three young sons who all play sports, I spend much of my home life watching my kids and their friends play sports at the youth level. I love sports, at all levels. I love watching the pros do what they do, and I love watching the kids too. But I never look at the kids and mistake them for professional athletes.

Too often, I fear that some other folks have a harder time making the distinction between the two.

Here's what I see happening at the youth level: Youth sports are becoming too serious. They've become -- at the travel level, anyway -- too much like professional sports. The notion of playing sports because they're fun seems to have gotten lost, as coaches seem more concerned with winning than anything else. And everything seems to be about money.

Seven-year-olds are going to speed and agility training to get an edge on (or worse, to keep up with) the competition. Travel teams are being eclipsed by elite club teams. Middle school kids are going to combines and showcase events so that they can get on college coaches' radar before they ever play a high school game. Parents are buying $200 basketball shoes, and $400 baseball bats. And kids are committing to playing a single sport, year-round, way too soon.

Look, I'm not one of those guys who always talks about how everything was better when I was a kid. I'm a realist. Things are different from when I was a kid, and most of the changes are for the better. Kids today, for instance, have more sports and activities available to them, and that's a good thing.

But I sure do wish we could all just dial the intensity down a little, and not make everything a life-or-death proposition. It's true: if my sons want to be better at basketball, they'll need to work on their jumpshots over the summer. But you know, if they prefer to spend their summer days hanging out with their friends at the pizza place instead of shooting jumpers for hours in the driveway, I'm going to be OK with that. And then, when their team gets blown out over the winter in some basketball tournament by some other team that plays together all year round, I'll be OK with that, too.