Tracy Tanguay – Time to Rethink Youth Sports

Tracy is also passionate about changing the current culture that has developed throughout youth sports.  This is something that really resonates with me because I saw firsthand how the approach to youth sports has changed over the 30 years that I had been involved.  Sadly, that culture shift has not been for the better.  We have shifted from a team mentality to an individual focus.  Sport specialization at a young age is becoming more and more prevalent, which is leading to more injuries at younger ages.  The increase in injuries early the current MLB season could arguably be attributed to early sport specialization, too many pitches on too little rest at a younger age, and max-effort performance.

Tracy is an expert in her field, so she is speaking from a professional perspective as well as a concerned mom.  Our shared opinion is that we need to focus more on teaching the fundamentals, letting the kids have fun playing the game, and falling in love the sport as opposed to chasing weekend trophies, and a win at all cost approach.  We also agree on the fact that kids should multiple sports for as long as they possibly can.

Sports have a wonderful way of teaching us life lessons, the key is that we have let the game teach those lessons.

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