I always feel so sad when I watch the evolution of what youth ‘training’ has become.  Led by adults who have forgotten/lost/never-had-the-chance-to play, we are applauding the work our kids do.  We reward effort and discipline instead of creativity and self-fulfillment.  “Be like us!” you say.  “Look at my toddler perform a clean in our Crossfit gym!”  “Watch how great these middle schoolers at performing rear foot elevated split squats!”  #injuryprevention #startthemearly #alegup

What a narrow world of possibility we are setting them up for, guised as a triumphant head start.

A child’s imagination is the most magnificent gift they possess.  Yet, instead of fostering it as something of value we trim it to fit the boxes and spaces we as adults admire — or should I say aspire to.  Getting them to what we have well before we got it will not inherently make them better.  I argue, rather, that it will culminate in making them far worse.  Their window to conjure and inhabit and develop beliefs becomes restrictive early on, and it only gets smaller as they age.

A world where they can do anything and be anything becomes, do this, this way.  The industrial model of schooling has seeped into private and personal lives, typically from parents who have benefitted from this system.  It is wild to observe parents echoing a soccer coach’s demand more effort during a sprint.  It is even wilder that the same coach was spouting off the correlation of 100m times as some sort of justification.  These kids might have been 11.

A generation or two ago they would have neighborhood friends they rode their bikes to and played with until the street lights came on.  They didn’t need anyone to tell them what to do.  If they liked soccer they could figure out how to play it, sans any now ‘necessary’ equipment.  They could go places and explore and find out for themselves.  Taking risks and pushing boundaries was built into the child experience.

They are no longer allowed this freedom of youth.  They are risk averse and afraid, mirroring the mindset of their parents.  And yet, they need to do something.  Put them in a program, pay for the privilege, and watch their childhood erode from a zoom link.  They probably just wanted some time in the backyard or the park, maybe with you.  Those AAU dues are steep, though.  Only the best.  When and why did you remove yourself from that designation?  When did they stop being asked and observed and start being scheduled?

I understand the desire for a hand-off.  I know those tournaments are far and having to drive them to and from (as well as watch!) constitutes a significant investment.  I simply pose the question of what exactly are you investing in?  Is it the child or what you want for/from the child?  Is providing an artificial environment under artificial circumstances an act of achievement?  At what cost?  The ultimate act of critical perception is to ask and answer unbiasedly, “Is this really doing what you think it’s doing?”

[Feature Photo by Mario Heller on Unsplash.]