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No Rules, No Ref, No Problem
Today's
kids spend 50 percent more time playing organized sports than kids
did in 1980. That's what some college professors discovered when
they looked at what kids ages 12 and under do with their time.
If kids played organized sports six hours a week in 1980, they are
now playing them nine hours a week.
I'm a big sports fan, but I don't think this is a good thing.
Don't get me wrong. I want kids to play sports. But I think kids
spend too much time on organized sports and not enough on disorganized
sports.
What's the difference? Let me explain.
Organized sports are the stuff of most kids' Saturdays. Little League
Baseball. Youth soccer. Pop Warner Football. Beltway leagues in
basketball.
Organized sports have referees, uniforms, playoffs, practices, protests
and lots of cheering (and screaming) parents.
Disorganized sports are completely different games. Sandlot baseball.
Pickup basketball. Touch football. Soccer with sweatshirts for
goals.
No uniforms. No parents and no referees setting the rules or making
the calls. Just kids playing.
I think kids should play more of these games. Don't you?
You can. It's easy.
I coached my son's organized basketball team for years. During the
basketball season in sixth grade, the kids couldn't get enough hoop.
So they started meeting at their old elementary school every Friday
afternoon to play basketball on their own.
The kids ran the show. They picked the teams, kept the score, called
the fouls. And they loved it. They also got better at basketball
and learned real sportsmanship.
Without referees or coaches, the kids had to work out stuff together.
They had to play fair or the game would fall apart. If the teams
were not even or kids argued every call, no one was going to come
back the next Friday.
The kids didn't give up on organized sports--and I'm glad they didn't.
But their Friday games at the school were so much fun that they
have continued them through every basketball season since then.
They are now going into their junior year of high school!
So call up your buddies and "organize" you own games.
Even kickball in the back yard is great fun.
Maybe your parents don't want you going to the park or the school
playground without a grown-up. That's okay. A grown-up can come
too. But tell them to bring a book to read because you won't be
needing them to referee or keep score.
Tell them the name of this game is: Kids Rule.
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