Myth 3: “Everyone Else is Doing It So We Have To!”
We spend countless hours counseling our children about the dangers and difficulties of yielding to “peer pressure,” yet when we have an opportunity to practice what we preach, we cave in and join this lemming-like rush onto the sports field. “We have to do this or my child will be at a competitive disadvantage” (which means, they might lose a few more games, not make the team, etc.). Some programs are starting traveling teams made up of seven-year-olds (2), thinking this will somehow make a difference in the kids’ eventual success!
Burnett writes that the unrealistic expectations that some parents have are caused by: “1) Not understanding our kids’ physical and emotional capabilities at any given age, and 2) Becoming caught up in the fantasy of ‘fame and fortune’ through professional sports or college scholarships” (8). Griffin quotes estimates that the odds of entering the ranks of professional football, for example, as being more than 6,000 to 1, and there are forty-three times as many high school football players as Division I college players (9). The odds are even worse for basketball and baseball. Despite these long odds, many parents (and their children as a result) cling to the idea that sports is a sure way to fame and fortune, or at least a free college education.
The situation is similar in soccer. A recent survey by the Soccer Industry Council of America (SICA) (10) reports the number of participants at various age levels, as well as the total number of colleges offering soccer programs. These numbers indicate that the odds of any individual player in the 6 - 11 age range actually receiving a college scholarship is about one in more than 300 (11)! The odds for 12 - 17 year-olds are somewhat better, at one in just less than 200 (12)!
These estimates mean that at any given age level in a typical program of traveling 9 - 14 year-olds, statistically there are likely to be no college scholarships given to anyone in that group! You would have to combine several different programs before you had a chance of even one player getting a scholarship! Anyone with serious dreams of college scholarships for their children should be reminded that the odds are not very favorable. Clearly, those who train and coach soccer, and other youth sports, must be very clear about these realities, both with their own children as well as with the parents of the children they coach. We can join this escalating cycle of more and more sports participation in the hope that it will make a difference, but as we will see shortly, there is no evidence that it actually provides any advantage of any kind. If education opportunity is your primary goal, your time would be better spent encouraging your child to study, since the chances of getting a merit-based scholarship are much higher.
Myth 1: “It’s good for the
kids!"
Myth 2: “It’s what the kids want!”
Myth 3: “Everyone Else is Doing It So We Have To!”
Myth 4: “It’s necessary to separate out the best
performers to help them reach their full potential!”
Myth 5: “It doesn’t do them any harm!”
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