girl and soccer
Winning tends to dominate sports culture: from the Little League diamonds and Pop Warner Football fields all the way up to the professional teams, winning is seen as the ultimate goal whenever two squads square off.
The recently-concluded NCAA Division I men’s basketball tournament — March Madness — uses the phrase, “Survive and Advance” to describe how schools try and move on in the winner-take-all, single-elimination competition. That phrase, used by coaches, student-athletes and fans alike, suggests it doesn’t matter how one wins, or the quality of the performance; rather, all that counts is getting the championship trophy or W. Vince Lombardi, the Hall of Fame football coach of the Green Bay Packers who has a nation-wide youth football league with tens of thousands of youth players competing in his honor, was renowned for his, “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing,” mantra.
But shouldn’t developing solid fundamentals, learning the rules of the game and having fun be just as important, if not more important, than the final score?
According to the most recent data, in the United States there are approximately 45 million children between the ages of 5 and 18 who lace up their cleats, don their jerseys and play competitive youth sports. More participate in recreation or developmental sports programs through the YMCA, the CYO or their schools, striving to learn the fundamentals of the game while making new friends and receiving physical exercise. In the best-case scenario, roughly two to three percent of these athletes will receive a Division I scholarship, and an even smaller percentage will take their skills to the professional ranks. Yet, despite these overwhelming odds against making it big in athletics, everywhere you look there is added emphasis being placed on winning.
Parents, seeking to validate the time and money committed to their children’s sports pursuits, are often guilty of overzealous behavior while rooting on their kids. Post-game fights have even occurred when parents or youths are dissatisfied with the game’s outcome. But there are movements locally and nationally to alter or diminish this obsession with winning and losing, especially when it comes to the youth sports landscape.
Putting Fun Back Into the Game
While relying on the final score is the ultimate way to judge who won or lost a competition, it is not the best method for evaluating progress, especially in developing young adults and children who are participating in a sport for the first time. Rather than solely using the scoreboard to assess progress, organizations like U.S. Youth Soccer, the YMCA of Greater Rochester and the Rochester District Youth Soccer League (RDYSL), among others, are trying to put the fun back in youth sports while still allowing for a healthy amount of competition.
Approximately five years ago, U.S. Youth Soccer instituted a rules change where youth teams in the 10-and-under, non-competitive divisions are mandated to not keep score on the field, and to not maintain season-long standings. “At that age, the focus should be on kids learning skills, learning to play together without the focus being on competition and having each game end with a winner and a loser,” says Mary Arter, the RDYSL’s president who oversees 539 teams and more than 10,000 youth soccer players in and around the Rochester area. “The kids always know the score and who scored, but we don’t put an emphasis on the score of these games and I’m not sure those kids are missing out on anything. Based on how children develop, getting beaten badly at ages 8, 9 or 10 doesn’t teach you anything. Now you see a lot more people cheering for good plays made by the players, no matter what team they play on. It’s definitely a more fun atmosphere.”
Arter says when the league first started implementing this policy, some parents expressed their displeasure over not keeping score, but those complaints have subsided. The non-competitive games are still officiated by paid, professional referees, so while the final score is ignored, the rules of the game are emphasized just as much as if the score was kept.
V.J. Stanley is a former college hockey coach and youth coach of multiple sports (baseball, soccer, football and basketball) who echoes the sentiments expressed by U.S Youth Soccer. He feels there is too much emphasis placed on winning, and not enough emphasis on having fun, which is the main reason why children try sports in the first place. Stanley, the founder and president of Frozen Shorts (www.FrozenShorts.com), penned a book, Stop the Tsunami in Youth Sports: Achieving Balanced Excellence and Health while Embracing the Value of Play for Fun. He has conducted research and worked with youth sports organizations and coaches in the Rochester area in an attempt to alter the current win-first paradigm that dominates youth sports. “If winning is so important at an early age, why don’t elementary teachers with master’s degrees in education teach winning to the little kids,” says Stanley, who credits the added emphasis of winning for the main reason why, by age 13, some 70 percent of participants in youth sports have abandoned their athletic pursuits due to burnout. “In youth sports, winning is far less important than learning teamwork, how to get along with each other and having fun. Winning has been made out to be like a cure-all, but it’s not,” he adds. “The scoreboards are for the parents, as 10 minutes after a game has ended the kids have forgotten who won. Get rid of the scoreboards and just let the kids play and have fun. That’s what sports are all about, having fun and learning the game. These are kids, not mini-adults and not future professional athletes.”
A Focus on Skills & Development
With a goal of developing skills for life, rather than just for on-field success in their athletic pursuits, the assorted YMCA branches across Rochester have established both competitive and developmental sports leagues that place an emphasis on camaraderie and skill development as well as competition. Last year, more than 6,000 youths ages 3 and up participated in one of the YMCA’s youth sports programs. Those aged 10 and older participate in competitive leagues in sports such as flag football, soccer, baseball/softball and basketball, where scores are kept and season-long standings updated, but not emphasized as the end-all of their season. In the in-house developmental leagues, open to children ages 12 and under, the children are not discouraged from keeping track of the score.
But Melinda Peck, a youth sports coach for 15 years, adds that scoring isn’t the only — or even the best — measurement of a child’s development. “We’re not hanging all of a child’s self-worth on if they won today or not. We acknowledge the wins and losses but have other goals besides the final score,” says Peck, the Executive Director for the Monroe and Southwest YMCA branches. “Scoring is how we measure our growth as a team, and it’s an important piece, but it’s not the only point. That’s just one piece of the puzzle we use in developing our kids. We want all kids to feel good about moving and getting physical exercise, keeping their bodies healthy while hopefully having fun with a sport they love.” To that end, teams in the developmental programs will assign point values for completing certain tasks. James Smith, Executive Director of the Lewis Street YMCA, coaches an Iddy Biddy (ages 3-4) youth basketball squad, and for these aspiring athletes, points are given out not for scoring a basket, but for completing passes to teammates, dribbling properly and hitting the rim with their shots. These are all tangible goals that will help these children in their development. With a progressive goals system focused on player development and not the final score, both Smith and Peck feel this holistic approach to youth sports fosters a productive atmosphere where children can thrive without the pressures of winning and losing dominating their thoughts.
“Our scores are based on what will help them move to the next skill set, the next talent level,” says Smith. “With a focus on solely winning as the only way to judge a child’s success, you stifle their development. Sports by nature are a great way to bring children together, build these small communities and develop skills and team work. Focusing on the final score takes away from their friendships and the lessons learned over the course of the season. We focus on character development and the positive relationships built through the sports landscape.”
Kelly Lickert has coached youth, high school and collegiate women’s lacrosse. In addition to her coaching duties, the Penn Yan Academy and Limestone College lacrosse standout has also served as a referee for youth games. She says there “absolutely should be a cut-off age for keeping track of the final score,” and recommends starting in the fifth or sixth grade, after an athlete’s fundamental skills and techniques have been sufficiently honed. “The coaches and parents are the ones who are instilling these values of wins and losses to the children,” Lickert adds. “At a very young age, the most important thing is developing these kids’ fundamentals and techniques. The competition aspect will grow as these kids grow, and eventually keeping score is the right thing to do. But fundamentals are jeopardized when the bottom line comes down to your win/loss record.”
John Boccacino is a frequent contributor to Rochester Area & RocParent. He lives in Webster, NY and reported on sports and local news for more than 6 1/2 years with the Democrat and Chronicle newspaper. He is currently the Director of Sports Information for Keuka College.
