Play Like A Champion

YOUTH ATHLETE ISSUES NEWS

7/23/2008 – Study finds most teens choose the couch over the playing field
Dr. Philip Nader, professor emeritus at the University of California San Diego, recently conducted an extensive study that now appears in a recent edition of the American Medical Association (click to view this study online). Nader and his colleagues selected a number of children of various racial and economic backgrounds. The participants agreed to wear an accelerometer to measure their activity on a daily basis. Nader observed these statistics as the children grew from ages 9 to 15 years old. His findings shows a dramatic drop in activity as children become teenagers. The numbers are startling as boys age 9 dropped from and average of 191 minutes on the weekdays and 184 minutes on the weekends to an average of 43 minutes of activity on the weekdays and 26 minutes on the weekend – a drop of more than two hours each! Likewise, girls dropped by 134 minutes on the weekdays and 147 minutes on the weekends. So where do those 2+ hours of activity go? It is likely that teens are spending more time on computers, playing videogames, and watching DVD/TVs. Why aren’t kids exercising? As one girl says, if you make exercise fun, “you won’t even realize you’re exercising”. It is time to make sports fun for teens!

7/1/2008 – Five teens charged in soccer beating
In June of 2008 five 16-18 year olds were charged with aggravated assault for beating a parent of an athlete of an opposing team according to the Edmonton Sun (Alberta) newspaper. According to Dean Smith, the injured parent in this incident, the young men of the opposing team were following a player on his son’s team when he intervened. Soon a number of players were attacking him. Afterwards, Smith required surgery to fix the five fractures in his face from the attack. Until the soccer association has completed the investigation of this incident, the team has been suspended from play.

7/6/2008 – Slicing up the Scholarship Pie Article
In an article by the Dallas Morning News, Chip Brown discusses the difficulty in earning a college scholarship for sports. Some parents in North Texas spend thousands of dollars on their children’s sports programs but from a monetary standpoint have a small chance of seeing any return on their investment. Typically the NCAA will award full scholarships to the revenue-generating sports of football and basketball, but partial scholarships all additional sports according to an athlete’s place on the team. Even after the federally funded Title IX program there are still not enough scholarships to go around for women’s sports. It is important for parents to know that they should not assume that if their children are good athletes that they are likely to receive a full scholarship. Click on the article link to see a list of the maximum number of scholarships that the NCAA allows schools to give their athletes in each sport.

3/19/08 – Majority of Young Athletes Say They Play Sports for Fun
Of the 6,000 youngsters surveyed by Baylor University, only 2 percent of kids responded that they play sports for competition, a columnist for the Waurika News reports. Those surveyed were kids ages 6 to 8 years, who were involved in a variety of sports. Asked why they play sports, an overwhelming 62 percent of the young athletes said they participate in sports because it is fun. Other responses were “To be with friends,” “To make new friends,” “To become physically fit” and to improve and learn new skills. Other statistics reinforce the Baylor study: the rate of attrition among teen athletes or “burn out” has risen steadily for the past two decades, more and more young people quit playing sports by the time they reach 16, and nearly half of these young people do so because “It’s not fun anymore.” Several reasons for leaving sports were given: teenagers say they are “burned out”, they are being pushed too hard by their parents and coaches, the demand on their time, and peer pressure. To help reclaim sports as a fun pastime, experts recommend that parents and coaches take on the responsibility of seeing a child gain positive attributes from youth sports by supporting and encouraging the kids, helping them learn basic skills, and promoting sportsmanship. “Essentially, their job is to make sure as many kids as possible enjoy the early experience, and that the kids want to come back and play again.”

3/18/08 – Parents and Athletes Benefit from Training in Youth Sport Programs
A study conducted by researchers at the University of Washington found that providing more training programs for parents and coaches influence the anxiety and stress levels of young athletes, the States News Service reports. Coaches and parents in one league participated in a training workshop, and the pre-season questionnaires showed little difference in the athlete’s levels of performance anxiety than the boys and girls in other leagues. However, by the end of the season, athletes playing for trained coaches and whose parents attended the workshop reported that their levels of physical stress, worry and concentration difficulties on the court had decreased. Players in the other league, however, reported an increase in anxiety levels over the course of the season. Sports psychologists say, the problem is not getting coaches to participate in educational workshops, but convincing organizations to offer parent workshops and getting parents to come. To make youth sports a fun, learning experience, sports officials and organizations must provide training programs geared towards coaches and parents alike.

11/30/07 - Eight-year-old Hockey Players Get into an On-Ice Brawl (Article)
Six hockey players and two coaches were suspended following a brawl between two teams of eight-year-olds, The Record reports. An scuffle on the ice escalated as both benches cleared and the coaches got involved. Police allege that one of the coaches spit in the face of one of the opposing team’s coaches. It is unclear which coaches were trying to stop the fight and which ones were aggravating the situation. Three players from each team and two coaches were suspended. Parents brushed aside suggestions that their children were at fault for the fight, pointing to the coaches who got involved. One parent claimed, “Kids will sort it out on their own.” The children’s conduct included throwing punches at and choking each other, shoving, and grabbing face masks.

11/15/07 - Youth Soccer Player Banned for Calling Ref a Cheat (Article)
A 10-year-old boy was banned for 35 days from playing soccer and fined £23 (about $46) after calling the referee of a match he was playing in a “cheat,” the Lincolnshire Echo reports. Near the end of a match, the referee gave a penalty against the boy’s team. As the match ended, the boy and his team walked off the field, and he described the referee as a “cheat.” The referee reported the comment to the Lincolnshire FA, and the boy was suspended from playing and fined. His father, who also coaches his team, said his son and the other boys “were worked up about the game and sounding off.” A spokesman for the Lincolnshire FA said that incidents of abusive or threatening behavior were on the increase, and he said that they want to prevent the (often young) referees from suffering abuse or bad language.

10/12/07 – 8th-Grader Dies After Sideline Collapse (Article)
The 13-year-old, apparently in good health, collapsed in his middle school game's final minutes and died shortly later in the hospital, The Charlotte Observer reports. The player was a running back for the team and had carried the ball and was tackled. He got up, walked to the sideline, and fell to the ground. He had said his head hurt after the play. An ambulance arrived to find the boy unconscious, with symptoms of brain trauma. Local officials are investigating the possibility that the boy's helmet did not fit or was not on properly.

10/02/07 – Concussion Studies Show Girls Are More Vulnerable (Article)
Girls competing in sports like soccer and basketball are more susceptible to concussions than boys are in the same sports, The New York Times reports. According to a study to be published in the Journal of Athletic Training, in high school soccer, girls sustained concussions 68 percent more often than boys did. Female concussion rates in high school basketball were almost three times higher than among boys. Girls also consistently took longer for their symptoms to go away. One theory is that girls' neck muscles are less developed than boys', providing less shock absorption during impact. Post-concussion syndrome, in which dizziness, lethargy and the inability to concentrate can cost teenagers weeks or months of school, is the practical concern for youth athletes and their parents. Experts believe that many girls, just like boys, hide injuries because they are not aware of the risks or they do not want to miss playing time. On player describes, "Girls are just as competitive as boys, and they'll push through concussions just like boys would... It's easier not to do anything."

8/31/07 – Youth Athletes Face Serious Risks When Concussions Go Undiagnosed (Article)
A recent study found that 47% of high school football players suffered a concussion each season, and 35% had more than one in the same season, ABC News reports. Multiple concussions increase the risk of long-term damage to the brain, doctors say. Yet, most concussions at the high school level go unreported to athletic trainers. Symptoms of a concussion include nausea, diziness and headache. It is estimated that 85% of concussions go undiagnosed. Precautionary measures include wearing properly fitted helmets and other protective gear and learning proper tackling techniques. Despite these precautions, many experts say that concussions are unavoidable in a contact sport, like football. It is important for cases to be diagnosed, so that players don't risk sustaining multiple concussions, since a player who has sustained a concussion is more likely to sustain another. Players need to understand that it is dangerous, not "tough," to play with a concussion.

8/25/07 – Little Leaguers Spit into Hands Post-Game Handshakes and are Caught on National Television (Article)
Under the glare of the national spotlight, two Coon Rapids Little Leaguers got caught with spit on their hands, the Minneapolis Star Tribune reports. After a 9-2 loss in the Little League World Series, two of the team’s star players were captured on ESPN spitting into their hands before exchanging handshakes with the opposing team. The incident went unnoticed by other players, the coaches and the parents, who learned about the spitting only when they heard about it from people who saw it on TV. Parents and league officials point out that the offenders on the team of 12- and 13-year-olds are “just kids,” but they also quickly note that they need to be accountable for their actions.

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