I entirely agree with you! I did gymnastics for 20 hours a week for over 10 years with the hopes of getting a scholarship. I tore my ACL and shoulder my sophomore year of high school and basically ended that dream. However I had very good grades and got alot of scholarships from that, and I am now a junior in college. I think parents should emphasize academics more, since there are more scholarships out there for that, and because that will truly help kids more in college.

Dr. Ginsburg is right on point with his comments. As a former college athlete, father of two young boys, and part time youth coach, I am constantly faced with the tradeoffs between down time and practice time, travel team versus town team, and support and encouragement relative to pushing and vicarious thrills. Based on my experiences to date, there is a far lower probability of allowing extreme athletic skill to go unrealized due to parental desire for balance in a child's life than creating an unproductive, stressful and long term unsustainable environment through excessive parental involvement.

For sure, there are the few sports that require at least an initial push before the kids can express their true feelings (one needs to learn to skate early enough to be a competitive hockey player), but in general, as long as afternoons in front of the television are not allowed as an option, I believe that the kids will lead you where they want to be athletically and, as a result, where they are likely to be most competitive/succesful and happy.

I was attending a third grade basketball game a few weeks ago and witnessed a pushing and shouting match between a parent, coach and young official because the parent did not like the calls his son's team had been getting. Third grade town league basketball!! We can't and should not re-live our athletic lives through our children, nor can we make up for our own athletic or academic failures through their successes.

As Dr. Ginsburg suggests, let team sports be the healthy, character building, team building experience they should be. Support your kids unconditionally and encourage them, but make sure they have time for other interests and get a life of your own!

On the one hand, your perspective is a relief because all us parents would love to drop the whole sport group-think band-waggon. But I'm curious to know how much of your perspective is colored by your own experience. We can deduce from your bio that you teach at Harvard Med School. Looked at from this forest floor, that seems about as far up the tree as you can get. Presumably, sports was part of you getting there. Would you have gotten to where you are without sport? Is trying and failing (on a certain level, a pre-requisite for success) not a better experience for life learning than not trying at all? --

I agree that Dr. Ginsburg is right on point with his comments. As a current college athlete, focused on my studies and holding high academic standards for myself throughout my entire life, I will say that sports are not the only ticket to college. I currently am on full-scholarship for both athletics and academics, proving that all of my hard work on and off the court truly paid off. However, along the way, over the all the years of playing basketball, I have come across many parents and children placing too much focus and pressure on athletics and performance. The sad part is that they get so caught up in the hype and having to excel, that the love of the game, the “reason” to play to begin with, is often times lost.
It’s true, sports build character, leadership, independence, experience….the list goes on. Sports are truly one of the most beneficial activities to participate in during childhood. All sports have benefits on health and confidence. I will encourage my children to participate in sports without a doubt. However, the key is to encourage, not to force.
The statistics speak for themselves; most kids that play sports do not continue their athletics in college. This only goes to show that, if anything else, sports should be played for the simple fun of it. The benefits will come as long as you’re having fun. The large majority of athletes that do not make it to the college level will use the experiences they’ve gained from their participation throughout the course of their lives.
It is crucial that parents come to the realization of the original intent of the participation in sports…FUN. I have been lucky enough to have parents who never really put pressure on me about sports or college scholarships. Academics were most important, and athletics was just something I loved to do. Fortunately, things fell into place and I received scholarships in both. I wasn’t forced into playing sports, and I truly believe that is a major part of the reason I was successful.

There is so much on which to comment here!

Dr. Ginsburg, I agree with your point of view regarding the odds against college sports, early specialization, and so forth. But I have to take exception to the idea that sports experiences automatically contribute to social skills and build character.

It's an almost unquestioned conviction in our society that sports -- and, by extension, competition -- build character. People can go on and on, expounding the many values children supposedly learn by taking part in competitive sports. But the truth is, people have been parroting that sentiment for generations with very little research to support the theory. There is, however, evidence to the contrary.

For example, research shows that long-term participation in sports results in the display of less sportsmanship and more aggressive behavior -- and that even if athletes learn some prosocial behaviors on the field, they rarely transfer them to other areas of their lives. Studies have also demonstrated that competitive children are both less generous and less empathetic than others, Still, people continue to believe that sports participation builds character.

True character must be taught; it doesn't simply happen because we've enrolled our children in soccer or T-ball. And when other children are viewed as impediments to one's own success, prosocial behaviors are not the likely result.

Bottom line: This is just another reason why parents would do well not to push sports participation. If a child wants to play -- when he or she is developmentally ready -- that's one thing. But, as you say, Dr. Ginsburg, if a child is pushed to play -- and win at all costs -- burnout, injury, and a dislike of sports (perhaps physical activity in general) will result. Another possible result is that the child will LACK character.

Somewhere, lost in the valid observations of some poor adult behavior, is the fact that children love to compete. Any kid who played pickup basketball knows that winners stay on. That doesn't come from the parents. The desire to compete is built into our DNA and rooted in the real life competition for food and the right to procreate.

Most people come through childhood sports with the same experiences - a bad coach once in a while, some stupid parents every now and again, but nevertheless loving the chance to compete in athletic endeavors and loving the games enough to want their own children to have the same opportunties.

Kids don't play for college scholarships. They play because they love to do battle on a field of honor and they prefer to win their battles. They love the glory and the achievement. I recommend Dr Ginsburg sit in for lunch at his local elementary school and listen to the conversation. Those kids care a lot more about who beat who last Saturday than the parents do.

Kids are not born with this love to "battle". It is often beat into their heads by their parents, coaches, and the community in general. Why do they care so much about "who beat who last saturday"? Perhaps its because they are very perceptive about what is important to their parents and what they must do to feel like they are good enough for parents like you.

Sports is the only thing in the world that matters. You are the stupidest man I have ever seen. You think sports don't matter, your stupid. I would be dead without sports.
When I was just a lad i got involved in a bad group of people. I was Gang Bangin all the time and started doin drugs. I met a man down at my local YMCA and he taought me there was more to life than ganges. He taught me the fundementals of Basketball and I became pretty good. I am now in my 14 year in the NBA and having quite a good carreer. You may know me, Kevin Garnett.