Leagues can be trouble

Question: My son is entering fourth grade and he plays basketball. He has played in recreational leagues, but should I be getting him involved a more competitive league? do these leagues actually help with fundamentals or is it just unnecessary expense? -Needing your advice in Gilbert

Answer: Club teams, traveling teams, competitive teams are all terms that spell out, "Be careful." This is a trap that too many kids fall into. Although it is flattering to a parent to think that your child was chosen to play on an elite team, and it is affirming to know that you have a child who is a gifted athlete, there are too many down sides to specializing at such an early age.

The realization that many young athletes get hit with in high school (after being cut from the freshman team) is that they had put all their eggs in one basket.

One of two things happens:

• They get burnt out and that once vibrant desire to work hard and practice a lot fades away. The drive is gone.
• Because they didn't play other sports and develop a broad variety of skills, their sports career comes to an early end. They find out that dominating in a sport in the third grade because of early maturation, and depending on athleticism rather that the proper mechanics, doesn't work in high school anymore. The early bloomer has learned to depend on his athleticism, which thwarts skill development and proper mechanics, and it is now difficult to try a new sport.

If the urge to join one of these competitive teams still seems to be best for your child, let me give you some questions that can be used as guidelines that could make this adventure a fun and beneficial one:

• Can you enter on a month-to-month obligation only? This is a good indication that the organization understands the benefit of multisport development for a young child, rather than the commitment being to their club team winning the stat championship. (This is a rare find, by the way.)
• Is the coach more interested in winning or the development of fundamentals? Some coaches would rather have a tall kid stand and shoot with poor mechanics because of early success than to work on changing the shot to proper form, even if it means making fewer baskets at the beginning of the learning process.
• Is the time commitment so great that the family time is compromised, and involvement in other activities like other sports or school functions is no longer possible? There should not be a "playing time" penalty because of an occasional missed practice when the absence was because of family or school priorities.
• Is playing time distributed? Don't expect playing time to be equally distributed, but there should be a fair amount given to each player to encourage success in all teammates.
• Is the financial obligation so high that is causes other family activities and priorities to be compromised? Is the money refundable?
• Do you know the coach or have you talked to other families about their experience?

Club sports can be a beneficial and worthwhile experience. I am a fan of club sports when these guidelines are met. the key is to ensure multiple sport involvement and never compromise fun!

Written by Tom Kuyper for the AZ Republic

Submitted by: Jack Chalupka