Your Kid Sucks at Sports: Part 1

This blog is probably going to hurt your feelings, but there is something you need to come to terms with: your kid is a pretty average athlete. If you are paying thousands of dollars a year for your child to compete on a “club” sports team then we need talk about one of the biggest scams in America that no one seems to be talking about.

First, let me start by telling you that if your kid were that good at their respective sport, you would know it by the time they got very far along in high school. If you have dreams of your child being in the Olympics, major league baseball, or being a star college player at a major university then your child needs to possess an incredible amount of talent. That kind of talent means your child should be beating entire high school teams in middle school, breaking school records as a freshman, getting scholarship offers from private high schools, or headlining major newspapers. If your kid is that good, you are going to know it the same way you know the milk in your fridge has gone bad. It will be plainly obvious to you.

If you are still unsure about just how good your child is, here is a short list of people not to listen to: the people who you are paying thousands of dollars to coach your child. Ask yourself this question, if this person told you “eh, she’s not that good and will probably never be tall enough to make a big impact,” would you continue to pay them? The answer is probably no. That person’s income is based on you believing your child has a chance to be something great the same way a car salesman’s income is based on your belief that a car is great.

So, who is an objective voice of reason? Well, have you thought about the high school or community coach? Frankly, they are going to get paid whether or not your child is good or are doing it for free anyway. If your child can’t find a starting spot on their high school or other community team, chances are college isn’t go to go much better for them.

Now, before you start with the line of reasoning that the high school coach has a vendetta against your child or your family, stop. These coaches are just regular people who get paid a very minimal amount to coach or are doing it for fun and one of the things that is in it for them is competitive fire. That coach wants to win, believe me, and if your child is pretty good that is going to be recognized and they will play and opportunity will knock. Remember there are usually assistant coaches who have a say in the matter as well. What’s more, there is a good chance that coach, or one of the coaches, has been in the sport for a while either as a coach or player and they have seen the good and the bad. You need to accept the fact that your child might be one of the bad even if the person you pay all that money to and your child’s grandfather says otherwise. In order to accurately gauge the true ability of your child and their potential you need to eliminate the opinions of those who have a strong personal bias for your child and family or a financial interest. Then, look at the opinions of those who should be pretty neutral to your child, all things considered, including high school coaches and reporters.

There are huge financial, emotional, and academic implications to these club sports and I plan to continue this post and cover those next month. In the meantime, you need to contemplate who is telling you your child they are an amazing athlete and how good do they really think your child is.