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Your PTA can `say yes <br />to better sports. for kids' <br />by Fred C. Engh <br />For the most part, organized chil- <br />dren's sports are run by dedicated <br />parents and coaches, but far too often <br />things get out of hand. Many leagues <br />are organized by adults who have lit- <br />tle understanding of a child's social <br />needs and how much they influence a <br />child's self-image. <br />Some well-meaning coaches get <br />caught up in the standings, champion- <br />ships and all-star teams. The compe- <br />tition begins to mean more than the <br />child. Some parents even live vicari- <br />ously through their children, driving <br />and pushing them to excel, do better <br />and become the star athlete. Sound <br />familiar? If not, think about this story: <br />A young baseball player, after strik- <br />ing out, broke down in tears because <br />he felt he let his team down. The coach <br />tried ,to console the child. "Don't <br />worry, son," he said, "some of the <br />best major league players have struck <br />out in worse situations." The crying <br />child simply said, "But they didn't <br />have to face my father when they got <br />home." <br />Youth sports can be a positive and <br />You can broaden your <br />PTA's community <br />involvement and, in turn, <br />bring about the changes <br />that will improve the <br />quality of youth sports <br />experiences for <br />hundreds of children in <br />your community. <br />fun experience for most children, but <br />only if sports are seen in the right <br />perspective. This means independent <br />leagues run by parent volunteers with <br />standards focusing on, above all, the <br />child's well-being. Volunteers involved <br />in coaching a team must undergo basic <br />training , on the responsibilities of <br />coaching children. Parents should go <br />through an orientation on how they <br />can best support their children during <br />their youth sports experience. <br />Safe playing conditions should be <br />foremost. Children should always be <br />given the chance to learn the skills of <br />the game before being forced to com- <br />pete for positions against the early <br />maturer or bigger and more skilled <br />player of the same age. Above all, no <br />child should be made to sit on the <br />bench the entire season. <br />Perhaps it isn't so ironic that almost <br />70 percent of the children who start <br />participating as young as age 5 will <br />have dropped out of youth sports by <br />age 13. Most say they "burned out." <br />Too much pressure on youth? <br />There is so much concern today <br />about otir nation's dropout rate <br />from school 'that drug prevention <br />groups such as the U.S. Department of <br />Health and Human Services' Office <br />for Substance Abuse Prevention <br />(OSAP) and the Drug Enforcement <br />Administration (DEA) are asking if <br />unnecessary pressures on young <br />children result in their need to cope by <br />experimenting with drugs and alcohol. <br />National Standards for Youth <br />Sports were developed at a national <br />symposium last spring by represen- <br />pta today, April 1989 <br />