Wanger

I'm of the age that I was one of those playing a different sport every season kid. When growing up, I played baseball, soccer, and basketball (football instead of soccer in high school). I started off in the rec leagues, as that was all we had, at the time. With baseball, there was a short travelling season after the rec league season was done. In 7th grade is when there were travelling leagues, and there were no more city leagues for us. The player pool had shrunken enough by then to that point.

My parents never told me they wanted me to play anything. I always had the desire to play sports. In fact, punishments were to not let me play, occasionally. I couldn't go to practice or a game if I got in trouble (which, thankfully was very rare). They never pushed me one bit, and I've always been more critical of my own performances than they were. I remember after some basketball games in high school, my dad would said I played well, and I'd proceed to refute that with examples from during the game that I screwed up or could have done better. Just how I've always been wired.

As for the specialization, I understand that it's a different game than it used to be, with all the AAU teams and such. I have mixed feelings on it. By being in those, the kids can get further in a faster fashion than if they played multiple sports. However, I believe that for me, playing all the different sports I did made me a better overall athlete. By not being specialized, I was able to learn more body movements, control, etc. that I could apply to each different sport. I played goalie in soccer, which I had to have quick reactions, judgement for the movement of a ball coming at me, and good hands. In baseball, I played catcher, which required leg strength, and of course, the quick reactions/reflexes, and good hands. Basketball...the other sports played into making me a better basketball player, with some of the components within the other sports I played. I don't think I would have had the jumping ability I had, if I hadn't been a catcher in baseball, honestly. Then, when I started playing football, applying some things from those other sports helped me even more. Lateral quickness from basketball, the hands from all 3 other sports, and the quickness and explosion from basketball. However it worked, I was able to play Div 2 college football for a couple years. Could I have gotten further by specializing? Maybe. But I don't think I would have had as much fun or be as well rounded as I was. Just my opinion.

As for the scorekeeping. I really dislike that they don't do it. I understand they want to boost the morale of the kids, but I also feel that it doesn't teach them the lessons that they need to learn. When they get into the "real world", they won't always be a "winner". They need to learn how to both win and lose gratefully, and that is a lesson that pays dividends as an adult. The life lessons it teaches is very important. You can't always win, so you have to work hard and always give it your best. At least that's what I got out of it. Additionally, how hard you try will always matter, whether you're up big or down big. I was always someone who would play as hard as I could until the very end of whatever game it was. I see too many kids that have that entitlement attitude, and think that a decent portion of it is coming from the lack of scorekeeping and participation trophies that are being handed out nowadays. I've had people work for me that have the attitude that I owed them for just showing up at work, and not for doing top quality work. VERY frustrating to deal with as a supervisor.

Well...I think that about sums up what I've seen and how I feel about this particular subject.