THE FUN FACTOR
Focusing on what kids actually want — fun instead of specialization — is the first step in fixing a flawed youth sports system
The Marshmallow Test, pioneered by Stanford University psychologist Walter Mischel, was designed to understand the benefits of delaying gratification.
A marshmallow is placed in front of a child, with the promise of another if he or she can resist eating it for 15 minutes. The results were said to predict a child’s future life outcome, a controversial hypothesis that’s been hotly debated in the 50 years since the test’s inception.
If youth sports is the adult version of the test, parents have been failing it in droves.
What’s perceived as progress made through early sports specialization — defined as playing just one sport year-round — sparks a training arms race with negative results that can be measured in fact and data, not hypotheses.
It’s been proven that early sports specialization leads to burnout, overuse injuries and emotional problems, and is one of the key factors in the widely reported statistic that 70 per cent of children quit sports entirely by age 13.
But in the early going, that specialization marshmallow is difficult to resist. It appears to be the quickest and most effective path to the elite levels, and the scholarships and pro careers that come with that.
“You see families that are doing extra here and there, and you see the kids getting better, and you’re trying to be patient and level-headed about it,” said Mike Anderson, who has two children who play sports in Surrey, including one in the lightning rod sport that is hockey.
“I’ve tried to take more of a laid-back approach ... and let the science behind it prove out at the end of the day. But at the same time, it’s hard when you sit there and watch the kids who are on the ice all the time, and you see the immediate improvements out of it.
“I do look at the kids who are specializing, and there are early returns, and the early returns are huge. Hockey is one of those sports where, if you’re just a little bit better skater than the other kids on the ice, you’re going to score 15 goals a game. I can see where it’s easy to get sucked into (specialized training).”
This topic, one of several connected to the problem of dwindling participation rates and reduced physical literacy, is something that’s been discussed ad nauseam for years, with no change.
Until now.
There is a slow, steady groundswell of change to a flawed system that dominates North America, and one of the best examples is right here in B.C.
SINGING IN HARMONY
Hockey is Mitchell Anderson’s favourite sport — this week. Next week, it could be soccer.
But at least the eight-yearold Surrey resident isn’t forcedtopickone.
He’s a member of both Coastal FC and Semiahmoo Minor Hockey, two minor sports organizations that have entered — on their own volition — into an agreement to harmonize schedules. It’s an answer to one of the big problems facing youth sports: kids being asked to choose between sports, many of which are running year-round instead of the seasonal model, in which sports are split between winter, spring and summer calendars.
“He loves playing hockey. But he’d be broken-hearted if he couldn’t play soccer,” said his dad, Mike.
“I want him playing as much as he possibly can, and it lets him do that without having to choose. (There are times) when you’re often at the hockey rink, putting soccer gear right on after hockey practice or game … but that becomes fun in itself. There are about six kids who also play soccer, and we all go at the same time. It becomes a bit of a communal thing.”
South Delta United Soccer and South Delta Minor Hockey will follow suit in the fall, three seasons after the White Rock clubs launched their initiative.
“We wanted to have a collaboration mostly (to fight) the race to the bottom with early specialization,” said SDUS technical director Mark Rogers.
“We wanted to make sure local kids have the opportunity to play both if they so choose, and not be conflicting every step of the way.
“I’m pretty appalled at the race to the bottom. The urgency not just from parents, but from clubs, to get what they perceive are the best players at ridiculously young ages (to specialize). And I don’t see any benefit.
” … To have a system where they’re completely removed from their peers? It’s awful. It’s going to be long-term damaging, for sure. The difficulty is, when it’s your child, you do lose rational thought at times.
“And parents go, ‘Well, that’s fine for every other kid, but my kid is different. He’s special. He can deal with that. He can play two years up. He needs to play with the best kids in Vancouver, and go play the best kids in Toronto.’ And he’s six.”