[Mick]

To borrow and mangle a quote from Winston C, 
maybe youth sports are the worst activities for youth, except for all others, and except for no activities at all.

I've historically thought claims of athletics as builders of character are overblown, so I'm going to say this as delicately as possible. There were four kids on my son's club team who were sprinting in the wrong direction. Within the club, the other eight kids on the team were accomplished, both academically and athletically. The club director paid close personal attention to the four at-risk kids (she had two sons of her own, one of whom played at Stanford), and she told me she'd keep them on the straight and narrow. Between the presence of the eight accomplished kids and the club's directors and coaches, those kids at risk ended up succeeding. They attended high-end universities and today are:

- Wall Street trader
- Chief revenue officer at large tech startup
- Professional volleyball player
- Head of recruiting, public company

Lots of benefits to club sports.

I fully believe that youth sports can provide structure and that coaches can become role models and parental figures in cases where the kids feel lost at home.  But the benefits don't scale, and not every coach has an athlete-first mindset.  It would be nice though.  Stories like the above give me hope for the future.  A coach like that deserves all the flowers in the world.

Agree. Sad that some coaches are awful human beings. One coach seemed to pick a kid to mentally beat up, one year it was the best player in school history, she left, playing in Spain her senior year. The next year it was my daughter. She quit the sport, even having D1 opportunities. She hasn't looked back. . . .

I feel for you, I genuinely do. A lot of youth coaches seem to fall into that category. I feel for your daughter, CC.

[Mick]

To borrow and mangle a quote from Winston C, 
maybe youth sports are the worst activities for youth, except for all others, and except for no activities at all.

I've historically thought claims of athletics as builders of character are overblown, so I'm going to say this as delicately as possible. There were four kids on my son's club team who were sprinting in the wrong direction. Within the club, the other eight kids on the team were accomplished, both academically and athletically. The club director paid close personal attention to the four at-risk kids (she had two sons of her own, one of whom played at Stanford), and she told me she'd keep them on the straight and narrow. Between the presence of the eight accomplished kids and the club's directors and coaches, those kids at risk ended up succeeding. They attended high-end universities and today are:

- Wall Street trader
- Chief revenue officer at large tech startup
- Professional volleyball player
- Head of recruiting, public company

Lots of benefits to club sports.

I fully believe that youth sports can provide structure and that coaches can become role models and parental figures in cases where the kids feel lost at home.  But the benefits don't scale, and not every coach has an athlete-first mindset.  It would be nice though.  Stories like the above give me hope for the future.  A coach like that deserves all the flowers in the world.

Agree. Sad that some coaches are awful human beings. One coach seemed to pick a kid to mentally beat up, one year it was the best player in school history, she left, playing in Spain her senior year. The next year it was my daughter. She quit the sport, even having D1 opportunities. She hasn't looked back. . . .

I feel for you, I genuinely do. A lot of youth coaches seem to fall into that category. I feel for your daughter, CC.