Although most kids are not likely to receive scholarships, the potential opportunities that can come from sports abound. New leagues continue to blossom, and the continued shift toward careers where work and play are intermingled gives parents plenty of reason to push their kids in the direction of sweaty pursuits. For a career in any business, the ability to play or discuss sports is almost a necessity. All of this raises the stakes for parents and kids. Once the game begins, they shout instructions from the sidelines, sometimes argue with officials, and go over the game again during the ride home.
Kids feel compelled to win or else.
What s different about all of this is the organized pressure of it all. Parents volunteer to be commissioner of leagues or act as coaches or they lurk behind the scenes as a kind of booster club. With today s high-powered computers in the home, practice and game schedules can be printed professionally, and some leagues go as far as preparing detailed statistics and player profiles online. This is not just kid stuff any more. While the emphasis on sports may seem a bit overheated, the reality is that when kids are involved in sports they are less likely to focus on the distractions of sex, drugs, or violence.