It’s damn sad, too.
“Most kids never even sniff the pinnacle of their athletic potential because conniving adults are conditioning them to buy into the specificity narrative because they have financial incentive to do so.
‘We’re about the kids overall development in this organization.”
Mmhmm.”
-Ray Zingler on X
I have no problem at all with youth sports being a business. I’ve said this before, and I’ll always say it.
When we can pay coaches (what they are worth) we invariably gain access to higher quality coaching for our kids. And I will forever vote for not what is “acceptable” for our youth, but what’s best for them.
And paid, private coaching in 2024 is the best option for our kids.
Side note: This does not infer that other options are bad. There are some volunteer coaches out there doing it for the right reasons who are absolute gangsters. Much love to the real volunteers.
All of this said, there is one overarching problem with the business of youth sport.
Sports have off-season’s, right?
Well, if I am an adult working as a paid coach in the private youth sports business, this leaves me with a problem.
Volatility.
Said, differently, unpredictable income.
Not exactly the most exciting thing in the world to have, or, better said, “not have” as a species who evolved to crave security.
So, if I’m Coach Joe in the <insert youth sport> world and I recognize that my season is only 3-4 months long.
I’ve got 75% of my calendar vacant, meaning I’ll need to seek secondary employment at the very least, for a large portion of the year.
But wait!
Hmmm..
What if instead of having one season, we make 2 seasons in a year?
Boom.
Now I only must seek secondary employment for half the year.
Waittttt another minute.
What if we just make this thing year-round, and then fill in gaps with worthless extra “showcases” and “wErK oUts”?
And then what we can do is pigeonhole kids and their parents into believing that if they don’t commit to the year round sport (my year round salary) then we can make them feel inferior and like their kid will be left behind.
Year-Round or bust. FOMO baby!
And there went Coach Joe’s unpredictable income issue, at the EXPENSE of your child’s development.
If you don’t think this is how we got to “where we are” in youth sports take a step back and look at the full picture from an unbiased lens.
We’re cheating our kids out of their potential, every day.
