The Joy of Childhood

The enjoyment of being a child occurs for only a brief moment in life. Childhood is the only time when one should be able to enjoy freedom from the pressures and stress of the real world. The biggest issue should be choking down broccoli quickly enough to get back outside to play before the sun sets. In the past decade childhood has been snatched from our young, aspiring athletes and I'm not talking about the super-stars. It is the sisters and daughters who are being denied the opportunity of true childhood enjoyment.

Long gone are the days of two or three sport little girls. Every parent appears to be guiding their child toward being a specific sport specialist. At AAU games around the country, parents can be found huddling, conversing and taking note of college coaches that are in attendance; plotting the path for their child to get a scholarship. Irrelevant are the facts that the child is ten years old and the ball is bigger than her head. God forbid little Sally isn't getting enough playing time - her parents will fix that by starting their own AAU team and allowing super Sally to shoot the ball 27 times. No worries if she can't walk and chew gum, she is going to be a SUPERSTAR! This way, by the time players are 16 years old they have spent every single summer of their young lives on the AAU circuit and participated in thousands of games - unfortunately only basketball games.

The truth is that a very small percentage of the total number of high school athletes go on to play college sports at any level. The Division I level has 338 women's basketball teams. With approximately 15 players per team, there are approximately 5,070 DI women's basketball players. To put this number into perspective, the New York City public school system alone has 1,200 public schools and educates one million students a year. In reality less than 4% of female high school players will make it to the college level. (Take that percentage even lower when you evaluate college wrestling and lacrosse, who field less then half that amount of intercollegiate teams) These numbers are not meant to discourage participation in athletics, but to encourage parents to allow children to be well rounded athletes. School athletics are extremely important in the development of young females. It teaches them discipline, hard work, dedication, teamwork and most importantly self confidence. Why not allow a child to experience these intangibles from several sports? As a young woman matures, reaches high school and shows true signs of gifted athleticism, (not to be determined by her proud momma and poppa) then allow her to specialize in a specific sport. Sue Bird is a perfect example of an outstanding basketball player. How many people know that Bird was a tremendous soccer player, who didn't give up soccer until her junior year of high school when she transferred to Christ the King? Bird became National Player of the Year in college, won NCAA titles, was drafted by the WNBA, named to the National Team and participated in the Olympics. Clearly Bird's multi-sport background hindered her development.

Recently, National High School Player of the Year, Elena Delle Donne, left the University of Connecticut after two days of summer workouts. She then enrolled at the University of Delaware as a non-scholarship athlete where she will play volleyball this season. (I'm sure the volleyball coach hasn't stopped jumping for joy yet!) Much speculation has surrounded this young woman and her departure from UConn. Kara Wolters, a former All American out of UConn who finished her playing career a decade ago, felt the need to issue this statement:

She was so good. What a waste. It's the most bizarre thing I've ever heard. To have an opportunity like that to play, obviously at the best college women's program in the world...and she threw it away. It's like an engaged couple. You are glad they broke up before they got married and had to get a divorce. Better now to have her quit, than affect the team negatively and be like a cancer because she is whacked. So maybe it's for the best.

Who knew that Kara Wolters has a doctorate in psychology and can diagnose an 18 year old as "whacked?" It couldn't possibly be that Delle Donne was home sick or attached to her 23 year old sister who has cerebral palsy and is blind and deaf? Or perhaps, is it just possible that this kid is simply burned out on basketball? Yep clear as day, she must be certifiable - call the loony bin.

Delle Donne is a perfect example of why children need balance in their lives. If a child wants to play two or three sports or join the chess club and play the flute, allow them that luxury. Let them know the enjoyment of diving on the hard wood of a basketball court to save a ball, let them smell the grass of a soccer field on a spring day, or hear the crack of the bat as they hit a double. Allow your child to enjoy childhood, it only comes once. Life is short, but childhood is even shorter.