More things we would like to see

Kris M.
Milwaukee, WI     10/15/2009 8:01 PM

Youth sports, to me, have become too soft. When kids start out at the youth level, the emphasis is on having fun, everyone getting to play, etc. Which is well and good. But I think that all of the rules and standards have coddled kids to such a degree that when it starts to get tough and more competitive, they lose interest. I mean, some sports don't even keep score to avoid hurting kids.. are you KIDDING ME? Instead of finding the drive to practice, work, and get better, they choose to do something else that isn't as tasking or "inconvenient". When I was younger, everyone played, but as we grew older (middle school, into HS) if you weren't on the same level as some of the others, you had to keep practicing and prove yourself. It was up to the kid to find a way. I know about the present-day burden on parents, but c'mon... My sister and I were both in activities all year-round growing up. We had a single mother who worked seven days a week and the shortest drive for us to get to any of our activities was at least 20 miles. If your kid wants to play, and you support him/her, you will FIND a way... Fund raisers and ride sharing have been a part of youth sports forever. If you ask me, the fact that it can sometimes be an inconvenience shouldn't deter people from doing what it takes to get it done.

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Janet B.
South Range, WI     10/15/2009 3:31 PM

There are so many factors that feed into this: there is no such thing as 'neighborhood' sports anymore; everything is miles away, so those minimum-two-job families are trying to fit kids' activities miles away into an already tight schedule. There are overlapping sports: basketball and soccer and football and dance and piano all happen at the same time. All the sports come with their own set of expenses; that two-job set of parents have a hard time keeping up with equipment and travel and refreshment responsibilities for multiple sports. Even at the middle school level, sports often conflict with school. School, itself, is more multi-faceted and demanding; kids don't have as much free time as we did when all we worried about were the 3Rs. I think outside activities are very important; sports were always ranked high in my family. Today's sports for kids get pretty involved; there are no pick-up games anymore; teams are drafted from lists of players; there are practices and picture nights and fund-raisers. Sports just aren't. literally, the same game they were ten and twenty years ago.

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Cindy M.
South Range, WI     10/14/2009 10:43 AM

I think the Superior School District needs to bring back middle school sports!! I feel it would bring unity to the school as well as giving the opportunity to youth who lack parental involvement to participate!!

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