Psychology Today Blogs - Psychology of Sport

When Winning Is Peanuts and Cracker Jacks

Richard D. Ginsburg, Ph.D. — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:29:30 -0700

Last Sunday, I took my three-year-old son to a Red Sox game. Given his fascination with Red Sox hats and T-shirts as well as baseball players in general, I was certain this was going to be a big occasion for him. As we walked up the ramp and caught a glimpse of the perfectly manicured green field at Fenway Park, we heard, "Batting third, designated hitter, David Ortiz" followed by the roar of the crowd. I thought to myself, "Wow, he will remember this day for the rest of his life."

But he's three. I knew that he would be unable to follow the game much less see it from our seats in right field. I thought he might be fascinated by the players or perhaps seeing a real live baseball. But he could care less. The only thing that captivated him besides the friendly older kids sitting next to us and the music was the peanuts and cracker jacks I bought for him. He was perfectly happy snacking but unimpressed by all facets of the game. And he had no idea about the score.

Some argue that when children reach age four or five, they start to become competitive. Many parents will report this as well about their children. They say that their kids cry when they lose and therefore must really care about winning and losing. Researchers indicate that children become aware of competitive tasks by age four and five, but do children really understand winning and losing? Are tears after losing really about the game or about those who are watching them play? Or maybe these children are simply frustrated in their drive to learn a new skill.

Recently, I was speaking to a coach who was a former college athlete. He told me a story of how both he and his best friend believed that their T-ball teams were undefeated, even though they played on different teams in the same league. But in their eyes, they actually were undefeated. They got to hit the ball and run to first base. They celebrated their small successes as they developed a comfort with the game. This was winning.

So when does a child truly understand what competition is all about? Some sport specialists argue that children do not fully understand the meaning of winning and losing until they reach adolescence when they are capable of abstract thought. If this is true, think of how many children are unsuited for the intensely competitive environments in which they play.

In the past few years, new movements have developed across the country where no score is kept, where cheering is not allowed. But the problem is not the score, nor is it about cheering or competition. Anyone working with children in sports recognizes that while most kids may keep score, the outcome of the game is gone from their minds shortly after the game is over. After the last out, their concerns lie in plans with their friends and a trip to their favorite ice cream joint. Not so with the adults. The outcome of the game often plays into our ambitions and fears about our kids' development as athletes and happy people. We want to ensure that they feel good about themselves and win in the process. It is hard for many of us to focus on skill development and joy of the game when our kids lose. Each game is a step toward making that next team, solidifying our kids' self-esteem while perhaps increasing the likelihood that sports will be a vehicle for college acceptance down the road.

The problem lies with us and our culture. We are influenced by the belief that we must start early and often with our children in sports - we must push and challenge them. And in our efforts to provide what is best for our children, we engage them prematurely in overly competitive and demanding tasks that fail to mesh with their developmental readiness to play and compete. I was reminded of this very fact when taking my son to the game. Without question, he absolutely enjoyed himself. Yet, winning wasn't about how well the Red Sox played or whether he saw Jason Varitek. Winning was about peanuts and cracker jacks and time alone with his father.

Bad Sports or Not Enough Sports: What’s the real problem?

Richard D. Ginsburg, Ph.D. — Thu, 17 Apr 2008 18:35:39 -0700

Did anyone read Robert Lypsyte's article, "Jock Culture' permeates life" in USA Today (4.10.08)? His central point is: "A ‘winning is everything' notion starts in the littlest of leagues. Lessons of hard work and fair play give way to ‘gain the edge at any cost.' But what happens when this type of thinking is adapted by CEOs, police officers, or politicians?" Is the desire for immediate gratification permeating all aspects of our culture? Are the some of the negative lessons of sports stronger than the values of families and schools?

These are particularly worrisome questions as we are seeing parents with young children in sports devote most weekends to games and travel looking to provide for their children and gain the "competitive edge." But as Lipsyte recognizes, his most significant point is about the kids who are "weeded out" of sports at young ages. Many sport experts suggest that youth will drop out of sports at high rates by the time they are 13-years-old. Often the number one reason for dropping out is that children no longer are having fun. In fact, the elephant in the room is that not enough kids are playing! Mahoney and colleagues (2006) conducted a social policy report on organized activities and revealed that in contrast to what many folks believe, an alarmingly large majority of young people are not engaged in any form of organized activities at all. Many of us know that the highest rates of delinquency in children and adolescents occur between the hours of 2 and 6 PM. The biggest problem for our country's youth is that we don't have enough teams, fields, coaches, teachers, and activities available for them. Either the programs are too competitive, too expensive, or simply nonexistent. Physical education alone has been dropped from many public school programs.

Yes, as Lipsyte and many others suggest (me included), our efforts should be directed to the teaching of character in the context of sports to build strong leaders for the future. But even at a more base level, we need to fund programs and resources so our children have a place to play and are coached by character-driven adults. As we mention in our book and my colleague Dr. Steve Durant often says, "Sports don't build character - People do" (Ginsburg, Durant, and Baltzell, 2006). But until there are resources for more kids and their coaches, we will continue to see a sharp split between those who are good enough to play and able to afford it and those who lack either the talent or opportunity.

Psychology of Sport - Will playing sports get our kids into college?

Richard D. Ginsburg, Ph.D. — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 18:03:09 -0700

What if playing sports had absolutely no influence on college acceptance? What if playing for THE elite travel team meant only that our children were playing more games at a higher level with no free time for weekend relaxation? Would playing youth sports hold the same importance it does in present day culture?

I think not. Families across the nation would be relieved. They could have their weekends back to go to church or synagogue, have a barbeque in the neighborhood, spend time together as a family, save money on gas, and limit the number of hours in the minivan. Everyone would sleep more. Parents might actually have time to do something for themselves. Downtime might return as a realistic option.

The more I speak on this topic to parent groups and schools, the more I come to understand that the number one driving force behind the youth sport frenzy is the hope that athletics will help our children get a scholarship or at least give them a competitive advantage over another child with equal or better academic standing.

The chances our children will play college sports are slim. Less than 5% in most cases as estimated by the NCAA and the National Alliance of Youth Sports. Do the math. Most of our children aren't going to play college sports. It's unlikely they will get a "leg up" in the college application process through sport activities. And scholarships are even more remote. As Bill Pennington wrote in the New York Times a few weeks back, full scholarships are rarely given. In fact, most scholarships fail to match the years of annual youth sport bills that include membership fees and extensive travel bills. Is it really worth our time, energy and dollars to invest in such an unlikely outcome?

Early sport training, early sport specialization, and travel teams do not guarantee success. In fact, there is no solid research evidence that early specialization helps performance. But there is plenty of evidence about the risk of burnout, over-use injury and stress from early specialization and over-training. Ask any pediatrician or sports medicine doctor, and they will tell you that their practices are inundated with child over-use-in-sport injuries.
So why play sports? Why are we enrolling our kids in Little League baseball or encouraging them to try out for the high school team? There are countless reasons why children should play sports. Studies reveal that the benefits range from increased cardiovascular health and reduced risk of obesity to improved social skills and overall mental health, just to name a few. Sports are an opportunity to cultivate character in our young people so that they may be versatile adults capable of independent thought and leadership. Physical activity helps them become more comfortable and confident in their own bodies.

When it comes down to it, I am going to take a leap that these are the reasons most parents want their children engaged in sports. The powerful current of our win-at-all-cost culture plays off of our fears. We worry that our children will miss out and fail to reach their full potential if we don't push them hard enough.

If this were the stock market, would we continue to devote hard-earned dollars to a long-shot of athletic scholarship? And it is not only our pockets that are at risk. Some children pushed to the extremes in sports either become injured, burned out, or even worse, turned off from sports entirely. The safest investment is in our children's overall health which entails a balance in their sport, and academic and artistic activities. There is nothing wrong with encouraging excellence in athletics, but sports are more likely a vehicle to build life skills applicable to life after college as opposed to a ticket to college.

Psychology of Sport - From the games of youth to the big leagues

Richard D. Ginsburg, Ph.D. — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 08:09:05 -0700

Playing youth sports has drastically changed in the last twenty years. When I was young, we played pickup games in my neighborhood. Basketball, wiffleball, and touch football - without the involvement and supervision of adults - were our games until dark. Presently, neighborhood, unstructured play has dropped off. Both parents work. Many of us worry, "Who will take care of our kids? Will they be abducted if we give them freedom to play?" Organized sports seem to assuage these concerns.

But, I am seeing increasing numbers of burnout and overuse injuries among our youth. I am seeing parents under great financial and emotional strain trying to keep up with an overwhelming sports' schedule that overtakes family dinners and dominates weekend activities. And for what? It's unlikely any of our kids will receive athletic college scholarships, despite all of our fantasies (mine included).

The physical and emotional health benefits from playing sports are being undermined by extreme training and intense adult pressures. Among our teen athletes, I am seeing increasing demands on them to perform at exceedingly high levels. Cheating, steroid use, overtraining and rage are rearing their ugly heads in the service of achieving that savored "competitive edge."

In this blog, I hope to address these concerning issues related to youth sports and their connections to the collegiate and professional sport world. I hope to facilitate a dialogue among parents about what is healthy and edifying for their children in a fast-paced, win-at-all-cost sporting world.