10.02.06
Team Sports and Competition for Kids Article
Excerpt from CBS News: (See full article here)
(AP) As the final buzzer sounds in the Northview Elementary gym, parents burst into applause and 20 children in red and blue T-shirts line up to shake hands.
Their cheeks are flushed, their hair damp with sweat, and most of them are grinning. But the scoreboard is blank.
“It doesn’t bother me,” says 9-year-old Chelsy Stout. “I just have fun playing.”
In the Harrison County Parks and Recreation basketball league, standings for the under-13 teams are maintained only in the mind. Scores are kept by just a few parents, surreptitiously, on tiny notepads.
Like at least 2,300 communities nationwide, this north-central West Virginia county is taking a different approach to youth sports, toning down the competition to stress sportsmanship and equal playing time for every child, regardless of talent.
Over time, and with parental support, organizers say such changes could help keep children involved in athletics longer and reduce the violence that sometimes occurs at sporting events.
