Money in Kids Sports

The fact that money is now a factor in kids sports is not surprising in our comodified culture where everything is for sale including our politicians (see gridlock). But as a parent there is that ta da moment where you realize money does influence who will  make the team and who wont. My new novel The Pitcher is about a Mexican kid with no money at all and a broken down World Series pitcher who coaches him to make the high school team. On the other side is his nemesis, the kid who has everything and every lesson. The question is then will talent or money win out?

And in real life I was confronted with this as my own son developed a terrific arm but we did not give him the high powered pitching lessons. I had played sports all through high school without one lesson but of course the times have changed. The competion is intense and there are parents who spend thousands so junior can have a leg up. I still remember when we played travel ball and the price tag of about three thousand dollars was batted around at a parent meeting. Was my wife and I the only ones who stared at the people like they had just bought the proverbial Brooklyn Bridge.

But of course then I found out what travel ball was all about and three thousand dollars later we ended up in fields in St Louis and a few other states with a promised trip to Coopers Town. And again we were in the caboose of family Olympic sport spending. We just couldn't compete at the higher end levels of personal trainers and personal lessons. And so when high school came along my son made the team but we found out the real positions were for the few who had logged many hours at Finish Strong camps.

And in my novel I put this maxim to the test. Will talent ultimately win out? Or have we reached a point where cream will not rise to the top...unless it is pushed there by a lot of buoyant greenbacks.

Sometimes a Dream is all you have...The Pitcher

Kid Sports Gone Bad

My sons freshman baseball team now wears T shirts with magic marker numbers on the back. They are no longer worthy of wearing their jerseys. You might think this punishment was done because the players fought with other teams and showed bad sportsmanship. Maybe they were just sore losers. But the truth is actually stranger, they had their jerseys taken away because they could not get along with each other. The competition among players on the team became so nasty the coaches took away their jerseys and their hats and now they play in white T shirts with their names scrawled in magic marker. It would be hilarious if it wasn't so pathetic.

My son is a freshman and he plays on the B Team. Here is the kicker, it is the A Team that had their jerseys taken away. The "best" players are the ones who threw tantrums, swore, called each other names, argued on and off the field and demonstrated such bad qualities the coaches deemed them not worthy of wearing the school letters. And you wonder where this comes from. What would possess kids to act so badly that coaches basically take away their right to represent their highschool?  It comes from us.

Everyone has to be a star. Everyone has to be an MLB player. We have deemed it so and our sports programs and ethos reflect this now. There is  no longer playing for the love of the game. High powered and expensive Travel Leagues starting around age ten obliterated any sense of perspective. Teams are expected to win at a very early age. How early? My daughter is nine and plays softball. The game was tied. Everyone was freezing from spring in Chicago. It was getting dark. We had played our allotted two hours. The opposing coach came up and said we had to keep playing. He whipped out a rule book showing that a new inning had to be started if we had not reached eight o'clock. Why? Because he wanted to win.

You may think that is over the top, that a man in his fifties wants frozen nine year old girls to keep playing so he can have the satisfaction of winning a girls softball game. Pathetic is a word that comes to mind. But sadly it is standard now. It is the way kid sports is played now and the kids pick up on the adults mania. To win at all costs is the mantra handed down to kids wearing expensive uniforms that make them resemble mini MLB players. And so we have moms fighting in the stands. Dads fighting in the parking lots. Kids fighting each other to the point they have their jerseys taken away.

It is our win at any cost any way culture. Better to sleep with a porn star and publish a book than toil away and provide for your family now. Better to raise hell and try and look good on your baseball team so some mythical scout will see you than to play in the spirit of teamwork. In our revved up competive American culture we have become the man who wants to win a nine year old girls softball game at any cost. Maybe we all should wear T shirts now with magic marker numbers to get back our sense of perspective.  Or maybe just a big L on the back.

http://www.billhazelgrove.com/
Rocket Man Blasts off July 26th