Chapter I

The Evolution of Youth Sports

The Evolution of Youth Sports

From a Baseball Perspective

I’ve taken the 75-plus years from my own childhood days up until the present and divided it into four distinct eras:

›  the Sandlot Era during my childhood (the 1930’s to late 40’s)

›  the Little League/Baby Boom Era (the late 40’s, 50’s and 60’s)

›  the Television Era (the 60’s and 70’s)

›  the Mega-$ports Era (80’s to present day).

Now let’s consider each of these eras in detail.

The Sandlot Era

For the most part, organized youth sports did not exist in the Sandlot Era. The country was recovering from World War I and the great Depression, and the Second World War was about to start. Parents were more involved in survival than in their kids' recreational activities. Most kids could only read about their sports heroes in the newspapers, see them in the movies or listen to their games on the radio. The Sandlot kids of this era could only imagine themselves as real ball players.

Player Attitudes: Players in the Sandlot Era were eager, enthusiastic and self-motivated. They played for the sheer enjoyment of the game. With no adults serving as umpires or referees, kids learned to resolve their disputes. Without coaches they were generally self-taught. The first coach I ever had was a junior high school coach and I had been playing for six or seven years. Kids today have been through half a dozen coaches at that age.

Player Expectations: Player expectations in this era were simple--to have fun. Many kids had dreams of playing someday at an advanced organized level.

Player Skills: The skill level of sandlot players ranged from limited to talented and all levels in between. Development of skills and hence readiness for the next level was usually delayed until scholastic participation.

Coaches: As noted, coaches in kid’s sandlot sports were practically non-existent. At the scholastic level, they were generally trained, experienced professional educators. They focused on sportsmanship and learning. 

Parents: Parents were not a part of the sand lot environment, neither as fans, coaches nor game officials. They were generally indifferent, even disinterested and certainly uninvolved. The expectations they had for their children typically were social, educational or career based and had nothing at all to do with sports.

The Little League/Baby Boom Era

Things changed drastically during the Little League/Baby Boom Era. Parents went from being uninvolved to being highly involved. The influence in the Little League/Baby Boom Era was simply that--little league baseball. This highly organized program complete with uniforms, manicured ball fields, coaches, team moms, trophies, All Star teams and a World Series, attracted kids and their parents from all across the country. Kids no longer needed to imagine the thrill of “real” baseball, now they could live it. But the cost to live it became a factor for players’ parents.

Player Attitudes: Competition was keen. While kids remained enthusiastic about the game, they seldom played ball other than during the organized games and practices.

Player Expectations: Player expectations for fun and enjoyment continued but self-motivation declined. A new expectation developed--the expectation of a trophy or reward for winning or just for participating.

Player Skills: Initially, there was a broad spectrum of skills on any team but that would start to change as the less skilled kids slowly became discouraged and stopped playing. Readiness became an issue as over eager parents signed children up to play regardless of whether the child was prepared for that level of competition. 

Coaches Attitudes, Expectations and Skills: Coaches and their influence increased dramatically during the little league era and the influence was both good and not good. Many thousands of outstanding, compassionate and well-meaning coaches served their players well and made organized baseball a fun and positive experience. Regrettably though, thousands of other adults most with no qualifications or training and little compassion for kids also became coaches. These coaches changed the nature of the game. What was intended to be healthy competition between youngsters escalated to hostile competitions to win between adults. Little League Confidential, Bill Geist’s humorous but factual book about his personal experiences as a little league coach, describes perfectly the bizarre mentality of adults mucking up the kids game of baseball. As a result of overly competitive coaches and demanding parents, good sportsmanship suffered. As time went by, good sportsmanship received only lip service and finally it has become an oxymoron.

Parent Attitudes and Expectations: Many parents supported and enjoyed their child’s participation. Others got caught up in the highly competitive turn that games were taking. What had previously been enthusiasm and exuberant support often turned into obnoxious, even hostile behavior at games. Some parents expected their young player to perform at high a level and many became frustrated if the child did not. Pressure mounted on both parents and players as competition grew more intense.

The Television Era

Television was the next significant influence on baseball. Kids could see close up how professional ball players ran, hit, pitched, caught and talked. They diligently copied their heroes. Little league coaches, also, could see how professional managers and coaches behaved and like the kids, they copied the professionals.

Along with television, and the videotape recorders and videotapes that followed, came an abundance of visual training videos for kids and coaches. In addition, mechanical training aids were marketed regularly on television. Parents, coaches and kids everywhere focused on teaching techniques and devices.

Finally, the ultimate impact of television came when the Little League World Series made it to the small screen. The Television Era seemed to compound many of the problems that had started earlier. Improving players' skills, certainly a worthy goal, took on greater importance at all levels of play. Coaches and parents bought videotapes and batting and pitching devices for their kids and their teams. Expensive professional tutors and trainers were paid to help little kids play more like their professional counterparts thus heightening the importance of winning and elevating ordinary regular season games to the level of the World Series. The costs associated with learning to play added to the parents’ financial and emotional burdens. Pressure on players to perform better and better increased and certainly many players did. Others could not or would not cope with the pressure and dropped out.

Player Attitudes, Expectations and Skills: Television put baseball in front of youngsters on a daily basis. Kids could relate to what they saw and were eager to emulate the professionals. They adopted the stances and imitated the styles of major leaguers. They saw themselves in the bodies of their idols, which helped maintain their enthusiasm for the game. Player skills improved as a result of the increased interest in instruction and development. The less skilled players were dropping at a faster rate so the level of play improved. Marginal players no longer bothered to sign up. Highly competitive teams--with very talented players--that did not guarantee playing time were being created. Again, this focused on the importance of winning.

Coaches Attitudes, Skills and Expectations: Television also became the training school for coaches who emulated the things they saw professional managers do on TV. They would coach children the way the pros coached even though much of what they would do was not appropriate for children. I’m sure you’ve seen coaches flashing signs to confused batters and runners who have no clue about what any of them mean. Like the professional manager, winning was also the priority of many youth coaches. They expected to win and they expected their players to play well but they seldom provided the proper instruction to all their players. Too frequently coaches expected and demanded levels of performance their young athletes were simply were not yet capable of delivering.

The Mega-$ports Era

Finally we come to the Mega-$ports Era. Over the years, kids have gotten bigger and stronger as a result of better...