Why I Ended Up Being a Skater

John Robb has pointed to the NYT article about the elimination of walk-ons for college sports. 

What a shame, but this report points to a bigger problem with the entire system:  the US sports system from 9th grade on is much too elitist.  We restrict access to athletics like it was a scarce commodity, treating it different than any other basic education.

He goes on to comment about Intramural Sports and today's high school sports programs...

In contrast, the USAF Academy (my alma matter) had a strong three season intramural program.  They created this program because they felt that every graduate should graduate with some training in sports (and participate in its health benefits).  This great experience is why I am so disheartened at watching my son traverse his large and expensive high school sports program.  While I am confident he will make a team (basketball), he is unlikely to be able to participate in all the other sports he likes because the competition is too fierce for slots.  He is one of the lucky ones.  The overwhelming majority of other kids in school won't be able to play at all.  Given the huge numbers of participants in the jr leagues for almost all sports in my town, there is obviously huge demand for an aggressive intramural program and the support to make it happen. 

Unfortunately, it won't happen.  The entrenched interests of the minority of parents that support the semi-pro elitist culture of high school sports will ensure that all of the towns sports funds get spent on the few and not the many.  This elitism in high school and college sports is a hold over from the bad old days when only a very few were provided access to basic education and most were sent to trade schools (if at all).  The time is ripe for a change in mindset.  The first step is to change how sports are played in high school.  We need to press the point that we would never restrict access to education in math and english education in the same way we restrict access to sports.   We need to create an environment where sports education through three season intramurals is extended to all students as if it was a basic educational requirement.   If we can change the way high school sports are played, college is likely to follow. 

John, I couldn't agree with you more. However where I'm coming from is a little different, naturally. When I was in high school there was no competitive women's sports programs with the exception of Women's Golf. Yes, we had Intramurals but the Illinois High School Athletic Board thought competitive women's sports as "unlady-like" or some such hogwash.  Golf wasn't ever going to be my sport. Because... one look at me and you'll understand why I could never get a golf club past my chest without slicing the ball ala Jerry Ford.  Trust me. I tried.

My sport was skating. However my family demanded that if I skated, my grades in school A's and B's. My skating was never considered a career choice, it was a sport and nothing more.  My parents were deliberately removed from the elitist mentality of being "rink parents." But I shocked the hell out of my folks because I ended up by becoming a very good skater, despite their attempts to get me to stop skating several times. (Another day another story.)

However times have changed today... If you want to talk about expensive, time consuming and political-- put your daughter in Figure Skating, either Roller or Ice. If you are lucky enough to have a child that excels at the sport, you will find yourself looking for a second job or a second mortage real quick. (Ask Rod Kratochwill, who has TWO daughter skating. God bless him.) The average competitive skater who is past the beginner stage and training for the USFSA or Roller Skating USA Association events on a Regional or National level spends an average of $25,000 a year training. There are very few educational or college scholarships around to help pay the freight, so most of it is absorbed by the good olde' family.

Personally I wish schools would focus on EDUCATION. Especially when so many people today in the job market lack the basic skills of being able to write a complete sentence or do basic math. Intramurals and privately operated sports are in my opinion better getting on the hoop-dreams/pipe-dreams mentality where many parents are living their fantasies through their kids. In the end when the kid doesn't make the cut many parents become so alienated from their kids it starts an entire new set of problems.

2:31:29 PM