Welcome Message

In August of 2000, with the help of some of the country's most respected experts in the worlds of sports, medicine, psychology, law, technology, business and marketing, I launched MomsTeam.com to address the needs of sports parents. I knew, as a mother of sports active triplet sons, that it would take an entire team of people to give youth sports parents the information and support they needed to be successful.

I recall the day I was standing on the sidelines of my son's first lacrosse game chatting with some other parents. We were comparing notes: where did we go to buy our kids' sticks and pads, did our pediatricians ask the same questions during their pre-participation physical evaluations, is there such a thing as the best mouth guard, how were we ever going to manage getting our kids to all of their games on time and in uniform, did anyone know the coach, and what was the best time and place to talk to him if we had a concern? We stood there sharing our collective wisdom, concerns, and questions for the entire game.
Near the end of the game, one of the parents remarked, "Wouldn't be great if there was a manual for sports parenting?" One of the dads turned to me and said: "Brooke, you could write that one." I responded, "I couldn't do it all by myself. I would need a team. I know a lot from my experience as an athlete, coach, fundraiser, from community activist, from starting a brand new soccer league, and I do seem to be the go-to person when any parent has a question. But, frankly, I have just as many, if not more, questions of my own about sports parenting."

Thus, from a sideline discussion between a lawyer, emergency room nurse, child psychologist and a few other sports parents - what one of my sons so aptly called Mom's team - was born MomsTeam.com.®

Fast forward nearly a decade after that ah-ha-moment; and, instead of standing on the sideline of a youth lacrosse game I am sitting at my desk in the editorial offices of MomsTeam huddling with my staff. Again, everyone was asking questions, but this time the questions were much more difficult to answer: First, was there any way to solve the youth sports crisis in this country, to make it child-centered again, to make it as much about having fun and skill development as it was about winning, to reduce the alarming number of injuries kids are suffering playing sports - not just physical injuries such as concussions and overuse injuries, but emotional ones as well. And, second, how could MomsTeam use its position as a trusted source of information for youth sports parents to advocate for change while at the same time upholding the high standards of journalistic objectivity that had become our trademark?

Three weeks and many meetings extending into the wee hours of the morning later we came up with a plan of action to answer the first question. It was one I had already answered in the conclusion to my book, Home Team Advantage: the solution to the youth sports crisis was to bring all of the stakeholders together in one place to work as a fully inclusive TEAM. In other words, to understand that everyone with a stake in youth sports - whether parent, coach, administrator, health care professional, or sporting goods manufacturer - is part of the same team, and that, like any other team, the only way to put the word "youth" back into youth sports and to make it the best possible experience for our children was to work together as a team.

To that end, MomsTeam has spent the past six months designing and re building our "field house." With a strong foundation we knew we needed a bigger home so that every person who wants to help take youth sports back from the adults who have been running, and in some cases, ruining sports for our children, has a place to express their opinion, to talk to each other, to write their own blogs, to write articles, to share videos and ideas, to be part of a nationwide movement for a better, safer, saner, less stressful and more inclusive sports experience for everyone.

At the same time, we remain committed to providing you with the best and most accurate and objective information on youth sports as we can.

The re-launching of the MomsTeam site has been a huge undertaking. Inevitably, there will be bugs to be worked out along the way. But our message is loud and clear: There will be no cuts from the new MomsTeam team. If you want to help your child - any child - have a more enjoyable and safer sports experience, if you have ideas, or products, or wisdom to share, if you have money-and time-saving tips for sports parents wondering how they are going to pay for gas to and from away games, feed their kids nutritious meals and keep them hydrated or to balance sports and family in our winner-take-all society, our doors are now open. We will host your blog and we welcome your articles, videos, and your comments. You will shape how MomsTeam grows and develops. We are counting on you to help grow your community. We invite you to start a dialog in our forums. In the past we have had to turn many fine folks away because, frankly, we simply did not have the technology. Now we are arming everyone with the Web 2.0 tools they need to make MomsTeam the social community for youth sports that I envisioned back so many years ago standing on the lacrosse sideline.

From my work deep in the trenches of youth sports, from the thousands upon thousands of e-mails I field every month, I know that there is a solution-orientated community of people in this country ready and eager to take a much more active role in youth sports and help everyone have a more enjoyable sports experience - from the first day of T-ball to the last day of high school lacrosse.

In closing, I would like to share one of my favorite quotes, which came from Gandhi:

The change all of us at MomsTeam want to see is a safer, saner, less stressful, more inclusive youth sports experience. With your help - with each others' help - we know we can do it.

All the best,

Brooke de Lench
delench@momsteam.com