Congratulations to your son Diane. It is tough on the kids...AND PARENTS...youth sports (of which I am soooo in favor of and supportive of) has become way too competitive for kids at a young age. Fundamentals are not taught, OVER WINNING, in T-Ball for crying out loud!....way too high expectations for the kids from their parents...parents talking about college scholarships for their "6" year olds!!!...AHHHH!

Sorry for the rant...I just see it often since we are a sports/coaching family.

My sister and her husband fight about that constantly. The important thing for her is that her kids have fun doing whatever sport they are participating in. He is constantly analyzing each game and if they lost, what they could have done to won. It drives her INSANE.

Oh, I agree. It can be crazy. I know of people who are pouring a ton of money and time into going to every sports camp they can find, personal instructors, etc, with the idea of big scholarships, professional careers. To use my least favorite phrase from my kids.... WHATEVER! When do they get time to just be kids and have fun?

I'm pretty competitive, but if the kids aren't enjoying being in the sport/club or activity, what's the point? We need to encourage our kids to stay active by allowing them access to sports and fitness. But pushing them to win is just crazy.

Quite frankly, we used to be very active in 4H. But the 4H organization in this area is so legalistic about their rules and paperwork, it became much more of a burden than we could handle. So, we moved on. We still raise our chickens and enjoy the heck out of them, but we just don't "compete" any more.

Sorry for the rant. You touched on something very important to me!!

Diane - congrats to your son and his team for making it to the finals. :carrot: That is quite an accomplishment.

My son, who dearly loves all sports, just finished up a midget league machine pitch baseball season. This is his second year to play in this league (7-10 year olds). I completely agree with what has been said about parents pushing their children to always win. :devil: Sometimes, though, it isn't just the parents; it is the coaches, too. My DS has only won 3 games in the past year, because the coaches in this area stack the teams so badly that one team is the equivilant of an all-star team, and the rest of the teams are average at best. It makes it really hard for the losing teams to ever want to get better because they rarely get to see what it feels like to win.

Sorry - I guess I am ranting, too. :o Being a supportive parent is so much harder than just a casual fan of the game. As a parent, I get to see the disappointment in the eyes of my 8 year old.:(

Oh ELLIES MOM Have I seen the disappointment in my kids eyes too ~ many times....the tears....but also many joyous times.

Maybe I will share a few this week as time permits...right now back to the ALL - STAR game, nephew and I are watching here in the familyroom.

Shame on you Tony LaRussa for not playing Pujols in the All Star Game.

Maybe that GUY isn't any good CLYDEGIRL ;)...hasn't Tony been known to have a "few" from time to time ;)

Hey CARDINAL BABES ~ Looks like you are going to give those Phillies their 10,000th loss...you BIG bullies :kickbutt::frypan::kickbutt: ;)

I feel like I've been watching a train wreck.

Kip Wells needs to go. Mind you the whole team sucked tonight.

Not the big loss for the Phillies tonight...sorry gals.

Well, the Rockies couldn't give the Phillies that loss either! They're hanging on by a thread, I guess!
Rockies won last night!! Woo hoo!

With that big win over the giants my DODGERS are back tied for first, thanks to the D-BACKS win over my :pSIL's:p favorite padres.

D-BACKS and ROCKIES still trying to stay in the hunt.

My first place :carrot: DODGERS won again today! A wild one yesterday over those giants...blew 6-0 and 7-2 leads before winning in the 12th.

Barry BIG HEAD Bonds was 0 for 12!!! Hit into several double plays and struck out several times with chances to put the giants ahead.

We have won 11 straight at their park!!! Oh yeah!!

And Gary my third place Cardinals gave the Phillies their 10,000th loss :carrot:.

I was just glad to see then win a game after those 2 terrible games. Now onto Florida.

My poor Rockies dropped 2 to the Brewers. Hope they can bounce back because they slipped below .500 now. Darn!