I remember when I was in junior high I was a huge Oakland A's fan. That's right. I was a west coast fan in the middle of Cardinal/Cub country. I relied on the newspaper box score and baseball cards to know what was going on with the Bash Brothers. I always watched the All-Star game and when they were in the series, I was glued to the TV. You can image my delight when McGuire was traded to the Cardinals. It's like I was 12 all over again.
The 12 year old experience is far different these days. Kids are now showered with media from many different directions. With the internet and improved television coverage, no team is too far away. My nine year old is even more versed about the NBA (his favorite) that I was ever about baseball. He gets up and watches Sports Center and his video games bring him very close to the player experience. He can have an intelligent sports conversation with this 41 year old any day and its kinda cool.
As with all things, you have to take the bad with the good. The side effect of the sports super star on display is that we get to see every bad angle they have. Watch this video of Draymond Green:
I obviously do not know the man personally. He may be a great guy and a pillar in his community. I have no idea but I know he can be disrespectful to officials in a game. I can tune that out and watch the game. Guess who does not have the emotional maturity to do that? You guessed it, our kids.
I get the pleasure of watching a lot of junior high, and younger, players that have huge attitude problems. You know the kids I'm talking about. The ones that are going to be drafted in the first round in 8th grade and they are already sketching what their first shoe line will look like. They feel they are too big for the game before they even start playing high school sports.
I do get frustrated with these kids but as you may have guessed, I do not fault them for this. Somewhere in their very young lives, an adult has convinced them that they are good enough to yell at referees, argue with their coaches, disrespect their teammates and embarrass their school. This adult may have been a parent or a coach, but based on discussions I have with parents and coaches it is always the kid's fault. It seems easier to assign blame to a child then hold the adults around them accountable. Now lets cram their brains full of images of pro athletes behaving poorly on and off the court/field.
I think the real problem is that parents want their kids to be the next (fill in the blank). You know, the next Jordan, Jeter or Elway. The problem with that thinking is that their kids most always are not going to be those people especially at ten years old. We are failing our kids when we place too high of expectations on them. When we tell them they have to play at a certain level or convince them that they are at a certain level is foolish. That eliminates the opportunity for an adult to grow a player. That eliminates the possibility that a player will be coach able and humble enough to grow their talents and abilities. Your kid will not be the next (fill in the blank). Only they have the power to control that and they will not realize their actual level of potential if we set the bar unreasonably high. How about we push them to the next (whatever they want to become)?
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