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Team of Experts

Focus On Youth In Youth Sports

The stresses of sports competition can overwhelm the coping skills of parents increasingly led by our winner-take-all society to believe that a child who fails at sports will fail as an adult. Given an environment in which survival virtually requires parents to become overly focused on and invested in their children's success in sports it is no wonder so many act out in inappropriate ways.

How To Talk To Your Kids Coach

Since it simply isn't possible to shield our children completely from bad coaches, when we feel that we have something to say, no matter how unpopular, we should speak up. If your intuition is to speak, speak. There is no dishonor in voicing an opinion; there is no dishonor in trying to protect your child.

Suddenly And Silently: Second Impact Syndrome Is Killing Our Children

Each day between 70 and 100 e-mails are sent, redirected or forwarded to me. I try to read, file, redirect or forward each one by the end of the day. The majority of these are directly related to producing our New Media site. Many are press releases, from non-profit organizations to pharmaceutical companies, asking us to plug "the first-over the counter dye-free liquid pain reliever, to publishers with a new book release, and so on.

Team Cuts, Just As Painful For Elite And Youth Athletes

On Monday, December 17th, USA Hockey National Women's Team coach Ben Smith will have to tell 2 women that, after twenty-one games, after months of living out of a suitcase with 25 of their teammates, they won't be going to Salt Lake City in February to play for their country in the Olympics.

Not To Win But To Take Part

The founder of the modern Olympic games, Baron Pierre de Coubertin, first stated the Olympic creed in 1896, and it is as much a cherished ideal today as it was more than a century ago: "The most important thing in the Olympic Games is not to win but to take part."

Kids Just Wanna Have Fun

My sons were just five when they played on their first youth sports team. I can still vividly recall that night in April when the head coach called to tell me that they were on the T-ball "Red Sox" and that the first practice would be held at the high school softball field in two days.

How to Balance Youth Sports with Family Life

Raising sports active kids is difficult, perhaps never more so than today. Parents feel pressure to help their kids succeed and to keep up with other parents in an increasingly winner-take-all society. Too often, parents feel that if they don't do everything for their child, they are bad parents. Some parents seem to take pride in how busy and stressed are their lives and those of their kids, as if it is a measure of how successful they are and how successful they must be as parents.

Officials and Rules: The Washington, D.C. Uniform Incident

It seems that every season a story comes to my attention about a high school track & field athlete being disqualified from a meet for a seemingly minor rules violation. The most recent case to garner attention was that of Juashaunna Kelly, the best distance runner in Washington, D.C., who was disqualified last month because the body suit she races in to comply with the requirements of her Muslim religion did not comply with the rules of the National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) regarding uniform color.

Rethinking Youth Sports

From all that one might think from reading the newspaper, listening to the news or watching the television talk shows lately, the only problem with youth sports today is the out-of-control parent, and that all we have to do is to stick a code of conduct or laundry list of rules under the nose of every parent and ask them to sign on the dotted line, and everything will be fine.

Fighting For Change in a Local Soccer Club: A Letter to the Club's President About the Effect of Cutting

Several years ago, my triplet sons tried out for the travel soccer club in our town. Two of my sons were wait-listed for no apparent reason, along with over sixty other boys who had previously been in the program.

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